Author Topic: three way valve. (Read 11860 times)

GedsJeep · « **on:** October 11, 2014, 05:20:32 PM »

i have a twin tank fitted in winter (just to save the battery really). now ive just been looking at the set up and it seems the three way has jammed shut. i have left it soaking in petrol overnight and will see whats happening tomorrow.

is there any bits inside that would prevent a caustic swill out?

cheers.

oh, if worse comes to worse, im in the market for one.

Ged

greasemonkey · « **Reply #1 on:** October 11, 2014, 05:40:53 PM »

I'd be inclined to warm it, maybe with boiling water. Once it has moved once, it might be ok, it's probably only a bit a sticky old veg holding it.
Dunno about caustic. Might be rubber seals in there?

GedsJeep · « **Reply #2 on:** October 11, 2014, 05:58:12 PM »

Thats what was worrying me hence i went for the petrol first. Damaged and all that. although i will admit that heating never crossed my mind.

Jamesrl · « **Reply #3 on:** October 11, 2014, 07:34:18 PM »

It'll be polymerisation of veg oil that's preventing movement.

Boilig water with a good dose of Finish dishwasher powder shifts it or, as I've recently discovered, Barry Scott's favourite is the dogs at getting rid of the sticky stuff.

GedsJeep · « **Reply #4 on:** October 11, 2014, 07:53:09 PM »

Cool will give it a go then.

Jamesrl · « **Reply #5 on:** October 13, 2014, 12:17:29 PM »

Quote from: GedsJeep on October 11, 2014, 07:53:09 PM

Cool will give it a go then.

Let the cillit soak for 5 or so mins and it might take a couple of applications to totally remove the shite.

GedsJeep · « **Reply #6 on:** October 13, 2014, 12:33:00 PM »

Oh bugger. I forgot about it......

It been in petrol all weekend...

Will have a look when I get home

GedsJeep · « **Reply #7 on:** November 13, 2014, 10:12:42 PM »

ok, been at this off and on.

left in petrol, belted it, freed it off.

forgot about it, i seized up again.

tried cillit bang, same thing, left it a week and it was seized again.

more cillit and it freed, but eventually seized again. the flow through the "at rest" side wasnt great either.

closer inspection revealed a varnish of veg oil and a few inaccessible lumps.

got this for £6:99 from halfrauds on recommendation of one of the guys on the ssangyong forum

filled it up, left it an hour, blew through with hosepipe and good as new.

nigelb · « **Reply #8 on:** November 15, 2014, 04:24:36 PM »

What's the active ingredient in that Ged?

GedsJeep · « **Reply #9 on:** November 15, 2014, 04:57:01 PM »

the ingredients box says......

"contains xylene".......

GedsJeep · « **Reply #10 on:** May 05, 2015, 07:03:46 PM »

so, after this happened a few times i started looking at alternatives.

i decided to splash out on this

http://www.biotuning.co.uk/ShopValves.htm

the VSV8 valve

ive got to say, im not very impressed so far.

its made very well and the detachable power supply socket is a brilliant idea, but thats where it ends.

firstly, its supposed to run energised all the time.

ok, but after an hour, it was too hot to touch.....

also running energised means that if power fails, it returns to diesel.

now, 99.99999% of twin tankers in the world run the small tank as diesel....

so the first you know that a problem has arisen is when you run out of diesel.

secondly, there was a "restriction" on the unenergised side when you blow through it.. ok if you run diesel through the "unenergised" position as its thinner, but not if you run veg through it.

finally, the one first thing i was told to do when running veg was carry a spare filter.

the second was to fit larger bore fuel lines, preferably 10mm.

so why does it come with 8mm tails......

instructions

Rotary-Motion · « **Reply #11 on:** May 05, 2015, 07:50:58 PM »

you can change the barbs for bigger

GedsJeep · « **Reply #12 on:** May 05, 2015, 08:07:21 PM »

i know, but its sort of not the point.

it adds to the "not well thought out" feeling.

simonallen · « **Reply #13 on:** May 05, 2015, 08:18:57 PM »

I too found it strange that I need to run the solenoid energised all the time for veg oil. Ive had two observations,

1) When I ran it energised only to purge with diesel, I noticed that when I switched the ignition off and it defaulted back to veg, I could see the veg slowly mix into the fuel line and consequently into the pump (clear fuel line) which made it a pain to start the next morning agin.
2) then when I have run it energised all the time for veg and defaulting back to diesel, my diesel was leeching through the system from the small tank into the veg oil tank through the return line. I've had to fit another inline cutoff which is normally closed for this. Now, I have to rely on one solenoid being energised the whole time my car is running. Either the biotuning one for running on veg, or if that fails I need to hope that the cutoff doesnt fail and default to closed, cos then I will have no fuel supply whatsoever.

As said, the unit seems sturdy enough, but time will tell how long it is happy being energised for.

GedsJeep · « **Reply #14 on:** May 06, 2015, 08:54:30 AM »

i fired off an email to biotuning yesterday.

it seems that due to the coil size, there IS a smaller port internally on the unenergised side.

it also seems that the coil getting red hot is normal.

when i pointed out that others werent having the same problem, i was told that they were running different valves, or they were in draughtier parts of the engine bay.(they aint and it aint)

so, i need to either run the veg side energised, and pray the valve doesnt fail on the motorway and watch the oil and diesel leach through of a night, or run it unenergised and pray that the oil can get through the restriction in winter.

oh, it was also suggested that the moving fuel would remove some of the heat, and it was indeed a benefit as it would heat the oil.......

maybe these companies should talk to us.....

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three way valve.