Transport

Some days I think it's too bad horses and I don't get along. Lately vehicles and I haven't gotten along too well either.

The van has more parts on order. It's a never ending story of vehicle repair. There's a significant air leak on the diesel side of things. My mechanic thinks it's the unit that fits in the fuel tank. The only way to get to it is to drop the fuel tank. Joy.

Just to confuse the issue, there was also an air leak in the fuel filter housing for the waste veggie fuel. That was discovered by bypassing the filter with a cheap in-line. Once the problem was found, I removed the filter housing and was able to tighten the fittings. That took care of 98% of the air leak. There may be a spare filter housing somewhere in my random parts pile, so I'll replace it if I get a chance.

Normally, the van starts on diesel and once the engine heats up, it switches over to the waste veggie tank. I can't shut down over night on waste veggie because the engine won't start on cold solidified veggie fuel.

I did not want to leave the van at the garage while waiting for parts. After driving it home on veggie, I pumped most of the veggie out of the tank. Then I pumped fuel from the diesel tank to the veggie tank. The veggie tank was used as a diesel tank in the past so I know it works. However, I'll have to burn expensive diesel instead of free veggie until the diesel fuel system is repaired. Travel will be limited.

My lovely wife and I had planned on doing a lot of traveling this coming winter. If the van continues to have problems, our plans will have to be modified. These constant repairs have been discouraging and hard on the budget.

If nothing else, it has gotten the old brain cells thinking about unconventional transportation ideas. Who knows what kinds of weird and wonderful things will come out of that?

-Sixbears