2003 Volkswagen Jetta

TDI Wagon

1.9L 4 Cylinder Diesel Fuel Turbocharged

Automatic

wvwsp61j03w444768

Front Wheel Drive

Diesel

Power Windows

2003 Volkswagon Jetta TDI wagon/ converted to use either diesel OR vegetable oil Basics: 109,000 miles Automatic transmission Silver exterior, gray leather interior, sunroof, AM/FM/CD, heated seats, full sized spare, block heater, tow hitch (seriously), loads of extras has a "greasecar" conversion that I've modified- it's an impeccably-done conversion with some really well thought out modifications/improvements- for more technical details please see my link below good condition: has typical wear and tear expected with 2003 car: the plastic on door handles and around the base of shifter shows wear, the arm rest between front seats doesn't stay shut (it falls open if you flip the rest to vertical position- I just keep it down and it's fine), typical exterior dings/marks. Nothing huge and I can send you more pics if you need. I'm asking above blue-book because I've put so much into the car (I don't want to think about that..). The conversion and extras amount to approx 6 thousand. If you buy the car I will throw in lots of vegetable oil equipment (like filters, extra hose, DVD's on the hobby, etc). This is a unique deal on a car that has been extremely well maintained- in addition to all the regular VW maintenance (I have extensive records and receipts) I have maintained the vegetable oil system well too. I'm selling the car because I can't fit my whole family in it anymore and I'm ready to move on. I bought the car with some front end damage that had been cheaply/irresponsibly repaired by previous owner- I had this all redone by a reputable body shop who did top notch work (again, all receipts and records). A few technical bullets about the conversion: Greasecar kit Co-pilot (small computer in front of shifter (see pic) that lets you set your temperature etc so the car "knows" when to switch to vegetable oil automatically). Modifications: replaced standard pex tubing with hose-on-hose replaced some vulnerable greasecar fittings with a "hotfox" heated fuel pickup- way more durable and fail-proof added two flat-plate-heat-exchangers- one back by the fuel tank and one in the engine compartment added a block heater Bottom line: If you are looking for an attractive car that runs well and happens to also run on free vegetable oil, and you're willing to learn the basics of maintenance (not hard) and vegetable oil collection etc (it is a hobby- I collect for an hour or two every 2-3 months) then this is for you. If you do not see yourself ever wanting to tinker or replace a hose clamp- do not buy the car. I am not a mechanic, and I learned the basics very quickly. If you buy the car from me I will give you a tutorial on the vehicle, the conversion, how to collect the oil, filter, and properly and responsibly use it etc. It's not hard and I've enjoyed doing this for 4 years. Check out my link with some more specifics: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Tc7NzpDKdHq4etdg8kffFKgCMbFsWqtHCE2O_ZyG9sk/edit?hl=en_US Please email with any questions/interest. I live in Delaware Co. PA (near Philadelphia). thanks for looking, Brad On Jul-25-11 at 20:01:27 PDT, seller added the following information: I've had a few inquiries about the spare tire: because the spare tire well is taken up by the vegetable oil fuel tank, I keep the spare upright/secured with a tie-down in the back "wagon" part of the car. Takes up some space but really hasn't been a big deal and I can still fit quite a bit of stuff back there. I forgot to take pics of that since the car has just been detailed (looks awesome!) and I haven't put the spare back in yet. Also- the transmission fluid was changed last fall ('10). Mechanic said transmission is in great shape. Keep the questions coming! On Jul-27-11 at 08:18:18 PDT, seller added the following information: A few basics about running a car on vegetable oil I've had quite a few questions about the car and the hobby so I figured a blurb about some basics might be helpful. Perhaps too detailed- but hopefully you'll find it interesting. Overview This car has 2 fuel sources: diesel and vegetable oil. There are 2 separate tanks/fuel lines. The diesel system remains untouched and you can spend the rest of your days driving the car on diesel. But don't do that. The veg tank is a 13 gallon round tank that is installed in the spare tire wheel well. The fuel line runs under the car up to the engine compartment to a solenoid valve. This valve is the "switch" that switches between its two fuel inputs: diesel or veg. The fuel is heated at the tank, along the way, and in the engine. More on that later. You control which fuel the car is using. There is a "co-pilot" (a small computer that you can see is in front of the shifter). You can manually or have is set to auto switch from diesel to veg. I have it currently set to automatic- that way I don't have to even think about when to switch- when the engine is hot enough, it switches. How does this work? Think about oil on a skillet. As you heat it the viscosity decreases. Becomes more "watery." This is why it can, at these temps, be sprayed through the injectors. At these temps it has the same combustion properties as "diesel". In fact "diesel" is a misnomer- Rudolph Diesel (yes, you guessed it) actually used peanut oil in his prototype. So, as you can see, heating the oil is paramount and what is behind a good system. Also, because you can only use heated oil, you start and stop the car on diesel. The co-pilot actually beeps if you shut down on veg oil. How does the oil get hot? A few ways- but they're all based on countercurrent heat exchange. Basically, the system takes energy (heat) from the car's circulating hot engine coolant and heats the veg oil. Here's where: At the tank. The original greasecar kit came with a big coil inside that circulated hot coolant. I didn't like this for two reasons: 1) I don't need heat all that oil- just what I need and 2) I don't want 13 gallons of 165F vegetable oil directly behind my kids. So, I took out the coil, capped off the thru-fittings (used top quality stuff from McMaster- all industrial grade stuff, viton seals). Then I drilled the top of the tank and installed the HOTFOX (heated fuel pickup). This just heats the fuel at the point of pickup- not the whole tank. Plus, this sturdy fitting keeps coolant and veg fuel separated by metal, not plastic like what came with the kit. FPHE's: There are 2 flat plate heat exchangers (FPHE). Basically little metal boxes with loads of interface surface area where heat transfer between coolant and veg oil takes place. Along the way to the engine: I replace greasecar's "hose in hose" (a plastic tube within the coolant line) with "hose on hose" (separate coolant and veg fuel lines bundled together). Way better- less possibility of coolant/oil mixing. Likely less efficient heat transfer, but I haven't noticed any difference at all and I sleep better at night knowing that my veg oil and engine coolant are completely separated by more than plastic (which can crack etc). Veg oil filter: is also countercurrent heated with a loop of coolant. 12V heater: I installed this (vegtherm) but don't use it. There if you want it, but I don't think it does much. I plug it in on really cold days. It's also controlled by the co-pilot.How do you collect this stuff? You find a good source. Buying virgin oil is too expensive. But some do that. Up to you. Most find a good source of used oil. I have found Indian or Japanese restaurants to be best. They turnover their oil very frequently and therefore it tends to be cleaner. Basically, once you have your source, discuss with them when you can pick up it. I collect every 2-3 months. When I collect I wear my "collection clothes" (you can get nasty). I use a manual crank pump to fill up 5 five gallon fuel cans (yours if you want them). Bring it home and settle/filter. So, in my garage I have three 55g drums. Way overkill- you just need one. But I pour oil into 1st drum. Heat it, then leave it for a month. All the particulates and any water settle out. I then pump into 2nd drum passing it through a filter. Then to the 3rd drum through a finer filter. Once I'm ready to fill the car, I heat is and pump it with my 12V pump/racor filter so is enters the tank filtered to 0.5micron. I will be willing to give you LOTS of stuff. I have no interest in dealing with the headache of selling most of this stuff. A few things I'd want to see (like the 12V pump etc) but maybe if you're interested we could figure that out. What kind of mileage do you get? So, the car gets high 30's on both diesel and veg. I've worked so many numbers regarding this- but I think the following, though likely statistically unsound, makes the most sense to me: If I fill my diesel tank and then start/stop the car on diesel but otherwise use mostly veg, I get about 1300 miles in that tank of diesel. In the meantime I have refilled the veg tank 1 or 2 times. So, in other words, for that tank of diesel I am getting about 100mpg for purchased fuel. Not bad. How is the performance? Fine. It's a diesel. I will tell you that I think the pickup is crap. But I think the pickup on all TDI's are crap (unless you get it chipped etc which has its own issues). The local VW guy said by the way that my car runs great and is just like any other TDI. I cannot tell the difference between veggie and diesel. Sometimes you know when the veg filter needs to be replaced if acceleration feels a bit sluggish. I actually keep a spare filter and can quickly do it on the fly. Also, other than an Indian food smell, you can't tell it's burning veg oil. In other words, it DOES NOT belch black clouds of nasty exhaust etc. What kind of maintenance is necessary? I change my veg oil filter whenever I change my VW oil filter. I use clean oil and on only 2-3 times in 4 years have I ever had a filter "get thick" on me. If you used less filtered oil you will need to change filters more frequently. There are also two "chunk catchers" (inline glass fuel filters) that I installed at the tank and just before the IP (injector pump). I change those with the oil filters as well. Takes me about an hour ever 3K miles. I have also had the occasional coolant leak. Most of the time just tightening up the hose clamp is all that's needed. On one occasion I had to replace a segment of coolant hose. In general not a big deal. I've done periodic inspections of the hoses under the car, coolant lines, etc looking for any chafe and so far so good. What comes with this car? As I said I have loads of crap and I'm willing to give lots to you. DVD's on the hobby, books, extra hose. I'll give away the drum heaters, manual crank pump. Heck- take the 55g drums if you want. I will be selling the 12V pump though and probably the unused/new filters. A few words of honesty: if you never want to get dirty and do not see yourself ever troubleshooting a coolant leak/tightening up hoseclamps etc, do not buy the car. It will require you to know it and understand it. I will make sure to review exactly how I converted it and go through some scenarios with you so you understand how to think through the system. It's actually incredibly easy and simple- just intimidating at first and I'll do my best to get you totally understanding it before driving away. If you see yourself doing this as a fun and interesting hobby, plastering a sticker on the back that says "powered by vegetable oil" and then having to explain it to people, buy it. On Jul-27-11 at 20:02:59 PDT, seller added the following information: just to clarify... (sorry for the ongoing ebay chapters here!) I incorrectly wrote that the conversion and additions amount to 6K (pulled that out of my head while writing the add the other night... ). After tallying all of the costs of the system and modifications/additions it comes to roughly $3800. Certainly my total added cost is way higher considering the new turbo, ECU (computer), timing belt, injector pump etc but those aren't modifications/extras. Sorry if that caused any confusion. Also, I didn't make this clear but I am including the tow-tray as well. And additional modications to the system also include: adding two McMaster inline ballvalves to be able to isolate the coolant system (I did that so if there is some coolant leak under the car or in the back you can shut off coolant flow and isolate the system until you feel like dealing with it). I think I'm going to stop adding to this for a while- ebay will probably charge me 99% of total sale. On Jul-28-11 at 17:52:58 PDT, seller added the following information: Hi all- based on a few emails I've been getting I want to be very clear about what this car is and what to expect: this is a car that has been converted to run on an alternative fuel. While I think I've done really careful quality work (if I may say so!) I still want to make it very clear that I cannot guarantee anything. Please- before you bid, understand that you are buying this car in "as is" condition. Also, if you purchase this car, you really need to think of this as learning a hobby, as you will need to understand the basic mechanics of how it's put together so if you run into any issues you can think through it logically. I will do my best to explain everything- ideally I'd love some face-time with you to "walk you through" everything- from the basic periodic maintenance to how to troubleshoot issues should they arise. I just want to be honest and make it clear that if you simply want a car that will never need any maintenance other than basic VW stuff- this isn't it. That said, I've found it very enjoyable to to this and I have mixed emotions about selling something that I've put so much work into. Thanks- and thanks for all the emails- ask me any questions and I'll do my best to get back to you ASAP. Brad