This page is all about adding a Frybrid WVO kit to a '96 VW Passat TDi Wagon
Read other reports about
Roy's VW Passat Wagon TDi
like removing the dash
Replacing Relays
Troubleshooting and general info
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A Hybrid is a term indicating it runs on multiple fuels. This is a Frybrid, indicating it runs on multiple fuels, specifically (diesel fuel & vegetable oil from restaurant fryers for fuel - Grease4Fuel )
The Frybrid system uses 4 individual heat-exchanging components and is controlled by a microprocessor insuring that vegetable oil below the required safe temperature is never injected into the vehicles engine causing damage.
1. A welded high efficiency coiled heat exchanger in the aluminum, baffled tank with the fuel pickup positioned directly in its center.
2. HoseInHose - a Frybrid heated fuel line, this line is connected directly to the top of the fuel tank, the line is made from Aircraft aluminum fuel line running inside a ¾" coolant hose.
3. Frybrid heated fuel filter, which incorporates a 14-plate flow through heat exchanger through which all fuel must flow before being filtered. 4. Final fuel heat exchanger which on its own is capable of getting all fuel used by the engine to injection temperature as soon as the engines coolant is at 180F. Frybrid GEN-3 microprocessor is the world's first solid-state vegetable oil fuel system controller and raises the bar in this field.
The Frybrid GEN-3 microprocessor control module monitors engine coolant temperature and seamlessly switches the engines fuel supply from diesel or Bio-diesel to vegetable oil only when the vegetable oil is at the proper temperature preventing the injection of cold vegetable oil which results in engine damage. It also warns the operator if the vehicle is shut down on vegetable oil, provides system status indicators and automates the purge cycle allowing for faster engine shutdown. |
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All the images click to show a larger version.
1996 VW Passat TDi Wagon |
I had to find a really good used diesel to start with. You have to have a very good car to begin with, everything depends on it. I purchased this car from the TDi forum in 2009. Drove it for almost a year before making it into a Frybrid. The car was well taken care off and is in really excellent condition. Lots of miles - 185,000 when I bought it! Most all the typical things that go wrong with these cars had been fixed or replaced, and are nearly ready to be fixed yet again. It even had all the vacuum lines replaced! This particular car was only made in '96 and '97, it is a VW 1.9 TDi engine in an Audi body. That will make finding parts and fixing on it a more difficult task than other multi thousand produced car model. Still, it has a great reputation and has become a famous, highly sought after diesel. It was an excellent candidate for WVO, many say this is the ultimate car for WVO - if done properly. |
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I tried to research WVO for a TDi as best as I could. Lots of info on car specific forums like Fred's TDi Forums (How to run WVO in a TDi )and the Frybrid Forum and other sources of info. Many claim this to be the best car every developed by VW. Nevertheless, this car, like all cars; has many idiosyncrasies to deal with. But overall it is a
desirable yet unique model from VW lending itself to Grease4Fuel. Actually this was at first an experimental model diesel - Only 940 cars were shipped to the USA to test the market in 1996 & 1997. Here is a little history & statistics of this particular "Crown Jewel" VW B4 wagon STATS. |
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Picture left shows the Frybrid control buttons / lights. The red button (purge button), the Green light (ON), Yellow light (Purging), Red (off), are just below the radio left knob. I stuck my controller up under the dash/steering wheel area. My main Frybrid ON switch is on the right side of the steering column just below and back from the start key. There are many spots to mount the control lights and switch. I did not want to add anything extra, opting to find a spot in the existing dash area to mount buttons, lights & switches. However, I did have to mount the wvo fuel gauge. I mounted it just below the ash tray/cig lighter. It mounted to the inside of the open compartment. Looks "okay".
I really wanted to hid as much of the FB system as possible. |
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I read about all sorts of stock engine parts that folks were re-designing or making adapt ions so they could get their WVO components installed. I really wanted to keep it looking as stock as possible. I didn't want rip out the stock air cleaner and monkey around with retrofitting a K&N contraption which was reported to look better, but not work as well.
I was able to leave all the engine compartment stock components just as they were. Well, sorta. I did have to jack up the main engine cover with extended mounting bolts, but that allowed me to leave it in place. |
I hid all 3 switching valves under the main cover. The main engine cover hid most all the wiring as well as the plumbing quite nicely once I put longer bolts in to raise the cover about 3".
I wrapped some silver temp foil around the top radiator hose in an attempt to protect it from biodiesel. I'd like to somehow protect other rubber parts like radiator coolant hoses, power steering hoses, air conditioning hoses and anything that might get damage from biodiesel spills. Anytime you mess around with fuel lines that slippery biodiesel will escape and attack the area. |
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 It is really hard to spot the HiH (hose in hose), coming up from the FB tank in the back.
Hoses are routed following the stock fuel lines. They come up at the far left back at the firewall. Nicely hidden. You can spot them in several of the engine pictures if you look closely at the firewall. The hoses just hung in place nicely, but when the engine is running vibration makes the brass fittings clink against other parts. Just had to make some rubber spacers from a split piece of hose or insulation piping and slip on here and there. |
| Below are some shots showing the Frybrid filter and bracket I made. You can barely see the auxiliary coolant pump I added. It is positioned to the right and below from the filter. Great spot to hang the filter. Easy to spin filter unit on/off with plenty of room to remove the filter and also put a rag below to catch drippings during a replacement. The bracket is held in place with 1 bolt through a rather crudely fashioned "T" metal bracket I was able to use an existing mounting hole from a stock bracket holding a few of the stock air ducts. Meantime I will have to keep an eye on it. I'm afraid vibration will eventually weaken and break the bracket. |
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| Below you can also see the FPHE (flat plate heat exchanger), strapped to another little bracket I made. Wires were wrapped in black elect. tape later. Valve bracket bolted between 2 engine cover mounts. You can see the 3 Frybrid switch valves. 2 are on top of the bracket 1 is below. Pretty close plumbing! Pictures tell a thousand words. you can look close and see all the routes for wires and plumbing. Sure, you can't tell what you are really looking at unless you have studied up on some kind of WVO system. But, if you are hear looking, you have already been doing some research and you have an idea of the parts and how they must connect to each other.
I made some simple brackets from constructs metal strips from the hardware store. The 1 1/2" metal strips came with holes the length of metal. The holes were nice to have for bolting or strapping. Just cut and bend to fit. |
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| The Frybrid Aluminum Tank is installed in spare tire compartment. It didn't fit well enough to close the spare tire well cover. The dang tank ports stuck up about 2" taller than the flat cover. The tire well is part of the uni-body rear section that you would not want to try and cut out or alter in any way. I was really disappointed - this meant I could not maintain a flat floor in the back of the wagon. Plus, I had to do something to cover the tank. I cut a hole in the metal cover plate so I could secure the cover and hold in the tank. I put strips of insulation on the tank to build up to the height of the hoses then covered with a sheet of rubber with a hole to slip over the fill cap. I'm really disappointed that the tank doesn't fit so I can completely cover it using the stock spare tire cover plate. The fill cap sticks up about 2" above the cover plate. Every car has different sizes of spare tire wells, so you have to work with what you have. |
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| 10/31/2010 Problems |
 Good Lard, the wvo tank is filling - over flowing - with coolant! Coolant filled Tank  This is really bad. I know some coolant mixed into the wvo while the system was running. I could have grenade my engine - easily. Turns out I caught it all in the Nick of Time as they say. But, it was really close. It took me some time before I figured out what was happening. |
Problem update 11/02/2010
Crack in the weld inside the tank on the heat exchanger. |
Finally got that problem fixed. The Frybrid Heat Exchanger in the tank did have a Crack in it from Frybrid, not from installation. It did leak coolant into the wvo tank - leaked until the tank overfilled on the driveway to get my attention! Frybrid replaced the HE and replenished a couple cheap filters for my problems. I had to do all sorts of unhooking, cleaning out the entire fuel system and the coolant system before re-installing everything. Took a really long time removing all the hoses & cleaning things out. At that, I had to get it all working again as a Stock Diesel, replace all the coolant and fuel with fresh fluids - Pray - and try starting it again. Once running properly on diesel I hooked up the FB kit again and started the system again. What a waste of time and stress. I hope this never happens to anyone else - it is an unusual situation. |
After finally getting the Frybrid kit fixed and re-plumbed I discovered problems getting the car to warm up and run hot enough to trigger the temperature controlled FryBrid system. I found on the forums that it is common knowledge that TDi's don't heat up well anyhow, and these thermostats die out regularly. After frittering away another month trying to get help doing a thermostat I finally took the car to a shop and had them replace the thermostat. I tried to do this myself twice, and both times I just couldn't find my way into the stat.
Anyhow, the stat replacement really fixed the running temperature. Car heats up properly and stays at running temp. The Frybrid system kicks on just as is should. No hesitations, no hiccups, no problems. Man, it is so cool when it runs properly.
The only thing left to make the fuel sending unit on the Frybrid tank work properly. I've tried three times to set the sender unit by the instructions. Gauge will not show me proper fuel level. But, everything else is running GREAT. I've put on about 500 miles on wvo and all is doing perfectly - except the wvo fuel gauge.
Update Shift linkage Fix: Fixed the fuel sending unit! Nick had the
fix. (in an empty tank; set the empty by placing a jumper wire between
the send & ground - turn key power on for exactly 2 seconds and turn key
power off immediately after 2 seconds. Fill tank and place the jumper
wire between the send & ground - turn key power on for exactly 5 seconds and
turn key power off immediately after 5 seconds. Remove jumpers.
You should be good to go.)
I also finally Got replacement filters from the leaking FB tank debacle. Everything is happy, everything is
running great. This car still doesn't heat up very fast - it will
still take 10 miles to switch over. I've covered half the radiator
with cardboard and put foam pipe wrap into the lower front grill to block
cold air. Now it is switching over in about 6 miles in 40 degree
weather. I'll remove the cardboard and pipe wrap when weather warms up. |
NOTES: egr has been set so it hardly ever cycles. I also added a moisture separator filter in-line for the CCV. The car seems to run about the same, perhaps a little longer smoking after cold startup. Power seems the same.
The number 1 rule for successfully using vegetable oil for fuel is the quality of the oil. My WVO is picked up in pretty good condition to start with. I rarely have to process partially hydrogenated oils(PHO), 98% of what I use is straight liquid canola oil. My filtering setup: settled 2-4 wks, pour only the top clear oil though a 200 mesh screen into heat treatment tank & settling 2-4 more days within 2-3 heat cycles in a hot water tank, Crackle tested then process filtered through 100 mesh filter - 25micron 18" canister bag filter - then through a 1 micron 24" canister bag filter into sealed holding tank with DriArz moisture capture.
When I fill my tank the wvo is first crackle tested a second time. Then it is pumped from 10" off the bottom of the holding tank and re-cycled through both of the process filters again on the way into the tank. The WVO I use is just awesome. |
| April 2011 Last week the car died on my wife in the middle of the freeway! Crap, that was bad. I eventually rescued her and we limped home. The TDi died on me 3 more times on the way home. I replaced the 109 Relay and everything is fixed. Thank god for Freds TDi Forum. |
| May 2011 - The Grease4Fuel in the TDi has been working simply wonderful. The car has made several 400 mile trips and plenty of normal driving miles without problems with the Frybrid kit. I love the way it switches between the tanks without any feeling, no loss of power, no hiccups, just smooth unnoticeable transitions. I'm LKING THIS NOW! |
| January 2012 - This is defiantly a car you have to be willing to do some DIY work on or you must be able to run it to a mechanic now and again. I think it is a bit high maintenance and has its fair share of idiosyncrasies, but I still love it. I have had the Relay 109 go out on my wife. The engine just bogs down and dies, and doesn't want to restart. We limped home and the forums again let me to the easy fix. Once this August it stranded me on top of the I90 Pass. Had to get a tow home, then to a shop where they discoed a damaged turbo flow hose on the bottom of the car at the front drivers side. A scrapping wound that let turbo pressure escape, no turbo boost. A common ailment usually caused from scrapping on parking blocks. My door handles keep acting up and falling off or not unlocking. This is yet another very common VW problem. Maybe I don't just love it, but I really like it allot still. I do love the way it coasts - like a huge roller skate. No kidding, it's so cool, I can coast so well I'm sure it is affecting the mileage. The grease kit did just great this year. Ran like a champ and saved me about $2,500.00 in fuel costs. Okay, I'm lovin' it again. |
| I do have an ongoing report about this 1996 VW Passat Wagon TDi |
