Isuzu Trooper Owners Club UK™

CORNISHMAN · Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 13:11 Post subject: DID RUNNING MY 3.1 RUIN ENGINE?

Hi all I have been running my 3.1 TD Bighorn on a mix of SVO and Diesel for about 3 years and covered about 15000 miles. I have been using only unused SVO mostly a Soya based vegitable oil which at the moment is about £14.50 for 20ltrs from local Bookers. I vary mix depending on temperature this winter due to it being very cold for Cornwall used near 100% Diesel for a few weeks. Have used up to about 85% SVO in the summer (remember them!) . My Truck has always run well on the various mixes just seems to take a little longer to warm up. I have always tried to look after the engine doing regular oil and filter changes I have however had two lots of engine trouble a head gasket failure which I can't see can be contributed to the SVO and a more recent major failure (see EXPENSIVE OIL CHANGE in engine section). Anyone else been using SVO over a resonable length of time have you had any problems? My truck still in garage at the moment hopefully will get back in the next couple of days. Due to the price of Diesel I want to continue to use SVO and diesel mix but must admit that am a little bit concerned after my past troubles. Have I just been unlucky? As a foot note the garage says they want to strip the old engine to see exactly what went wrong I just hope that it proves they were to blame and does not leave me feeling guilty! Will post their findings.

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CORNISHMAN · Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 15:59 Post subject:

That title should read DID RUNNING MY 3.1 ON SVO RUIN MY ENGINE? Embarassed

Trooper John · Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 16:24 Post subject:

What was the engine like when the head gasket was done? If it looked ok, then the SVO aint contributed at all.
I do beleive there is a possability of ring gumming, which people have successfully used water injection to cure it.
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1996 N Isuzu Trooper Duty LWB 3.1TD

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CORNISHMAN · Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 18:23 Post subject:

Had to have a new head as existing one was cracked apparently, did not do the job myself was done by another local garage, I would hope that if they thought there was more wrong with engine they would have told me at the time. Must say that they did have trouble getting the engine to fire up after the new head went on. They said then it was down on compression after the rebuild but said that as the engine had overheated badly this was probaly due to stuck rings which was according to them par for the course in those circumstances. After they got the engine started first time after rebuild it has started fine each time there after as they said it would. They said at the time if they could have tow stared it, would have been no problem but as mine is an auto could not do this, in the end they apparently pushed 24 volts through the starter motor to spin the engine faster. this obviasly worked and as I have said has started fine ever since. They seemed to know big diesels and were dead wright in there prediction that once started everything would be fine. Could ring gumming have contributed? I am going to look into the water injsction root seems interesting.

Trooper John · Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 20:08 Post subject:

Bit of info on Water Injection - http://www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk/forum/viewthread.php?tid=15095
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1996 N Isuzu Trooper Duty LWB 3.1TD

Powered by Waste Vegetable Oil for a Greener World and a fuller wallet

smoo · Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 9:13 Post subject:

My trooper gummed it's piston rings a couple of weeks back....I have been running 90 ~100% vegitrouble oil for 6000 miles. The tell tale sign was large quantities of engine oil on the floor that had been blown past he crankshaft seals ( front and rear ) due to crankcase pressurisation. Having experienced this with my mercedes e class ( also on vegi) I have done much trialling and testing with water injection as John mentioned above. Believe me , WI really works. Both my cars have been cured with WI within 40 miles !! . A WI system can be implemented very cheaply and easily. I now give my trooper a daily WI fix and it has really made a difference to the performance too. It steam cleans the piston rings and clears all the built up sludge from the inlet tract / backs of inlet valves etc.
I wouldn't dream of running any car on vegi now without water injection fitted. It doesn't increase power by some chemical reaction , it simply does it by cleaning the engine internally.

See http://www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk/forum/viewthread.php?tid=16618&page=2#pid182146 . or search my posts (FBM-SPEC )on that forum.
Note ...... some of my early posts were the initial testing of WI into the air cleaner side of the turbo ..THIS IS NOT RECOMMENDED it can damage the turbo if not controlled correctly . Injection after the turbo ( into inlet manifold) is the safest way and the method I use now. To achieve this I use a pump with 80 psi delivery pressure.

Hope this helps ........... If you intend to continue using vegi you MUST consider the above.

CORNISHMAN · Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 19:57 Post subject:

Many thanks for that, I realy would like to give this a go, (when I get truck back!). I followed your link and was hoping to see pictures and a detailed account of how and what you installed on your Trooper, but could not find anything just general discussion that made me want to try this even more, did I miss it? Confused

would you be able to give a detailed account of the parts needed and how to installed it? Seems on the face of it a bit scary, but then again so did pouring SVO into my truck the first time! I would be very gratful if you could provide a blow by blow instalation and useage guide. I think you would be doing many owners a huge favour. Thanks Again! Very Happy

smoo · Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2010 7:58 Post subject:

CORNISHMAN · Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2010 16:50 Post subject:

Thanks SMOO will look forward to seeing your pics after my recent run of bad luck if thats what it is, Im hoping that WI may just help change my luck for the better if I start to use SVO and Diesel mix again, I need somthing to restore my faith in SVO as although I am 95% sure that the oil loss destroyed my engine I must admit to niggling doubts! How long have you bee using the WI set up and how often do you give it a 'squirt'?

CORNISHMAN · Posted: Wed May 05, 2010 11:16 Post subject:

After all my troubles have had my truck back on the road for a a few weeks now and touch wood replacement engine is fine. I must say that I am reluctant to go back to using SVO / diesel mix as i did not get to see the 'insides' of my old engine so will never know if ring gumming could have been the problem or contibuted to problem. Due to price of diesel I would love to go back to using SVO but as I have said am basicaly scared to in case of future problems. come on somebody tell me that you have done a large number of miles in a 3.1 on svo/diesel with no problems or better still explain whats needed and how to install and use water injection to prevent ring gumming!
Thanks in advance.

smoo · Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 10:59 Post subject: