Leo Bedford
New Member
@shifty - I'm in the bush is Zambia with what looks like a cracked head (diesel in sump oil, air in fuel line, pressure in rad Hose, and I've just done the injector seals) . Circumstances don't permit a new head, so I need to make do. This siphoning sounds like my only option.
I'm pretty sure I can make up a rudimentary sucker tube too.
Would you recommend making to the length so that it stops at the top of the dipstick 'full' line?
I have been told the diesel will float on the oil, but I've still got what I drained out the sump a week ago when I first discovered the issue and did a full oil change , but that stuff isn't separated at all. Just 8 litres or thin liquid that smells like diesel!
Any advice would be much appreciated. Breaking down here is terrifying!
Leo
Shifty1962
Well-Known Member
Hi Leo.
The diesel will not float it will simply combine and dilute the engine oil. You can however use the diluted engine oil as fuel so don't throw it away.
When I made a suction tube I made it so that when inserted into the dipstick hole a cable tie around the tube stopped it at the FULL level. That way you could easily suck out without taking too much.
Simply remove the dipstick, lay the tubing alongside the dipstick extending from the FULL mark to the handle and zip a cable tie around the tube at the same level as the dipstick stop.
I used a large horse syringe to suck out the oil/fuel as it would not easily syphon. I seem to recall removing about a half litre a day but it all depended on how much mileage you are doing.
It may also pay to run a thicker engine oil which is no problem in the bush or keep some oil additive as used in older engines. You can also get a Teflon additive to help with wear but I'm not sure how available it would be in Zambia.
Don't let the engine oil become too thin.
Good luck.
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Leo Bedford
New Member
Thank you so much.
I've made up my rig, and it works well. Ended up using one of those hand squeezes that sits between a boat fuel tank and outboard engine, for priming I think.
That makes sense to hear that the oil and diesel will mix, as the stuff I've pulled out the top and the stuff I've drained out the bottom looks the same.
My main issue now is dilution. At what point does it become a big problem?
Also, I'm doing about 500km a day at the moment over 7ish hours. That puts nearly 3 ltrs of diesel in the oil, but then it seems to slow down. I.e the next day won't add another 3.
If I had the choice of running 7ltrs oil + 3 ltrs of diesel, or 7 ltrs of oil + diesel mix (at 30% solution) which would be the lesser sin!?
Finally. Just to triple check. Are you certain it's ok to dump the engine oil back in the tank? I currently have 10 ltrs in the back. It's 65% oil, 35% diesel. Can I throw that all In in one hit? It would be the same as putting more than a bottle of neat oil in the tank
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Ian M in France
Well-Known Member
How much is diesel there ? I would not re-use it in the tank as it may have small metal particles in it which might block some thing, keep it for lighting fires or something where it will not do damage
sierrafery
Well-Known Member
IMO it's not OK at all in a Td5, not even filtered, eventually if you have an older TD engine or tractor not a EUI engine then use it in that
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Shifty1962
Well-Known Member
The main problem you need to guard against is engine runaway due to excessive oil levels. I would be checking and adjusting it two or three times on a 500km run just for peace of mind.
The TD5 is designed to run on a relatively thin engine oil so using a thicker oil that becomes diluted is OK. I used 10w40 as I had access to large stocks through work. When I eventually took my engine apart to sort the issue I found that the bottom end was pristine but the cam followers and lobes had started to show signs of blueing and wear. Obviously it is not ideal to treat a precision machine in this way and it is not a long term option.
As for reusing the fuel/oil I ran my TD5 for four years on 100% home filtered reclaimed engine oil with no issues other than a little blue smoke when cold or under heavy load. During the winter I mixed it 50/50 with fresh diesel to aid cold starting. I know one person who runs 90% reclaimed oil and 10% stale petrol mix. It's your choice.
Eventually when I replaced the 10p engine (oil pump sprocket bolt came loose) with a later 15p engine I ran it on SVO with absolutely no issues. It ran quieter and with no noticeable loss in performance. Cold starting during winter was also no problem with a good set of glowplugs and a decent battery.
The TD5 will run perfectly OK on SVO with no adjustment. I have no experience of WVO use so make no comment on that.
Leo Bedford
New Member
Quick update here... I have just driven nearly 10,000km with my issue, and actually had very little drama!
I used my hand-pump-siphoning-rig every night to pump the oil / diesel mix out of the engine via the dipstick tube hole.
It was adding about 2.5ltrs of diesel a day, and therefore I figured if I removed about 5 ltrs of the mix, and then added 2.5ltrs of new oil, I could manage the dilution levels. I would do the maths every day, and then whenever the dilution got down to <50% I would do a full oil change.
This situation was made much harder as it turns out the sump nut was held in with silver loctite, and had in fact already been stripped. I found this out when it basically fell out when I was in a national park some 150km from the nearest garage. Luckily a safari guy came past and gave us some PTFE tape, but that was the last time I could take it out.
This went on for about 2000km, and apart from being a pain, and very expensive (in oil) it worked. Everything was fine. I opted not to try an re-use the oil / diesel mix, as the advice on this forum was to avoid it. The African farmers here use old oil to kill termites, so they were very happy to take it off my hands.
Then one day, after a very heavy off road day, the issue stopped. As in the sump oil level stopped rising / diesel stopped going into the tank. I checked the oil to see if there was diesel in there, and there wasn't. The issue just went away. I don't know why. The day it stopped we did nearly 150km on very badly corrugated road, and also did an oil change. I suspect it was the corrugation that did it, as we had already done a lot of oil changes.
This happy situation endured for another 7500km. I didn't strange the engine, and didn't fuss about with the oil, and everything was fine. HOWEVER, one day, it started again with a vengeance. When it started again, the diesel making its way into the engine oil had increased from 2.5 ltrs a day to 10 l ltrs +.
The car was very unhappy, with loss of power, overheating, and a very alarming knocking noise. Luckily by this time we were only 300km from home, so we limped home doing changing the oil every 100km, and sent the car off to the garage!
When I hear the proper diagnoses I will post back, but I have suggested they start with
- pressure testing the head
- checking the pistons / piston rings for blow by
- fixing the sump nut issue
- new oil & fuel filter
- rad clean & fush
I used my hand-pump-siphoning-rig every night to pump the oil / diesel mix out of the engine via the dipstick tube hole.
It was adding about 2.5ltrs of diesel a day, and therefore I figured if I removed about 5 ltrs of the mix, and then added 2.5ltrs of new oil, I could manage the dilution levels. I would do the maths every day, and then whenever the dilution got down to <50% I would do a full oil change.
This situation was made much harder as it turns out the sump nut was held in with silver loctite, and had in fact already been stripped. I found this out when it basically fell out when I was in a national park some 150km from the nearest garage. Luckily a safari guy came past and gave us some PTFE tape, but that was the last time I could take it out.
This went on for about 2000km, and apart from being a pain, and very expensive (in oil) it worked. Everything was fine. I opted not to try an re-use the oil / diesel mix, as the advice on this forum was to avoid it. The African farmers here use old oil to kill termites, so they were very happy to take it off my hands.
Then one day, after a very heavy off road day, the issue stopped. As in the sump oil level stopped rising / diesel stopped going into the tank. I checked the oil to see if there was diesel in there, and there wasn't. The issue just went away. I don't know why. The day it stopped we did nearly 150km on very badly corrugated road, and also did an oil change. I suspect it was the corrugation that did it, as we had already done a lot of oil changes.
This happy situation endured for another 7500km. I didn't strange the engine, and didn't fuss about with the oil, and everything was fine. HOWEVER, one day, it started again with a vengeance. When it started again, the diesel making its way into the engine oil had increased from 2.5 ltrs a day to 10 l ltrs +.
The car was very unhappy, with loss of power, overheating, and a very alarming knocking noise. Luckily by this time we were only 300km from home, so we limped home doing changing the oil every 100km, and sent the car off to the garage!
When I hear the proper diagnoses I will post back, but I have suggested they start with
- pressure testing the head
- checking the pistons / piston rings for blow by
- fixing the sump nut issue
- new oil & fuel filter
- rad clean & fush
