Mazda Bravo / Ford Courier 2.5 Turbodiesel on WVO Blends

[Tony From West Oz Vice Chairperson of WARFA Find all posts View Profile Close Tony From West Oz]

I have some time with my new Courier.
The following issues have caused me some concern. I have probable solutions for them all.

1. Starter motor died 2 weeks into ownership - Pretty cheap replacement from ebay.
2. As usual the diesel bug caused many blocked prefilters, I have installed a Facet style fuel pump and a prefilter to suit a W123 300D (I have 3 of these prefilters). I have used the thumbscrew style hose clamps so I can remove the prefilter easily on the road. I am able to clean these prefilters quickly using a jam jar filled with a weak caustic solution. After an hour, I remove the clean filters from the solution and rinse them before drying them out for re-use. I have done over 200 km on the most recently changed prefilter so, after 8 prefilter changes, I am near the end of the diesel bug residues.
3. Fuel starvation, initially thought to be caused by the blockages of the prefilter, have now thought to be due to the small bore fuel lines causing fuel flow restriction to the viscous WVO blend. I have purchased some 12 mm OD nylon tube (often used for compressed air, but rated for fuel use) and adapters to mate with the fuel tank and the fuel prefilter in the engine bay. I will try to get the fuel tank out this week to install the new fuel line. I plan to zip tie it to the original fuel line en-route to the engine bay. At present I am using a 25% WVO 75% diesel blend. When the fuel line has been replaced, I will increase the proportion of WVO to 50%, 75% and 90% to see how it goes on these blends.
4. Fuel gauge does not work below 1/2 tank, so I need monitor the trip meter to see how far I can go before needing to refuel and I need to carry spare fuel if I get it wrong. I will check out the faulty sender while I have the tank out. I have ordered one on Ebay so I will need to drop the fuel tank again when it arrives.

Other issues with the vehicle:
Drivers seat upholstery and foam pad are damaged - replacements in different fabric, so bought both drivers and passengers seats.
Radio has a varying pitch whistle on AM - and I listen mostly to our ABC station 720AM.
The window tinting is so dark that I need the lights on so I can see the speedometer. I have removed it from the drivers door window and am looking to remove it from the back window so I can use the Rear Vision mirror too. I really miss having a Reversing camera - I need to wait for more money to come in to get that

Overall I am happy with it but it did leave me in the lurch once, so I have not used it on a couple of days when reliability was paramount. Now I am on the 25:75 blend, I am using it all of the time.

Is anyone else fueling a Courier with veggie blends?

[Dr Mark Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Dr Mark]

Re: Mazda Bravo / Ford Courier 2.5 Turbodiesel on WVO Blends

I had one of those - a 2007 model Mazda BT50. Be careful with running blends on those - I tried a 70% blend (70% WVO and 30% Bio) and it destroyed the IP.

Up until that point I'd been running it on a 50% blend with no problems. But the switch from 50% to 70% also coincided with a change of WVO - the stuff I'd been using for the 50% blend was a thinner WVO than the stuff I was using when I switched to the 70% blend. I ran the same blend in my OM613 W210 Merc with no problems, but I stopped after it wrecked the pump in the Mazda. So if yours is running OK on the 75% I'd be happy with that.

I also fitted a facet pump to mine but found it wasn't needed. I also had a Frantz filter fitted to the chassis rail immediately downstream of the pump.

Also, if you haven't removed the catalytic converter yet you will need to do so. The muffler bloke in Armadale did it for $90

[Tony From West Oz Vice Chairperson of WARFA Find all posts View Profile Close Tony From West Oz]

Re: Mazda Bravo / Ford Courier 2.5 Turbodiesel on WVO Blends

Mark,
Why would I need to remove the cat? The Musso has a Cat and it had no issues with veggie oil blends.
Has anyone else needed to remove a Catalytic converter?

[Tony From West Oz Vice Chairperson of WARFA Find all posts View Profile Close Tony From West Oz]

Re: Mazda Bravo / Ford Courier 2.5 Turbodiesel on WVO Blends

I believe that the BT50 has a Common Rail Diesel engine. As such it does not have an injector pump.
The last of the mechanically injected diesels in the Mazda and Ford was in 2006.

[Captaincademan Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Captaincademan]

Re: Mazda Bravo / Ford Courier 2.5 Turbodiesel on WVO Blends

Correct Tony, 2005 / 2006 was the change over year for most manufacturers. I think Ssangyong with the Merc engines was one of the last hold outs?

regardless, The only reason I can think of where you would NEED to remove the cat was if your engine was poorly tuned and belching unnaceptable amounts of soot and unburnt fuel, which would clog the honeycomb.

I WANTED to remove mine for performance reasons listed in the previous post. I think there is a benefit from removing them in older engines as they are probably not working anymore anyway. I understand that they are not a 'work for the life of the car' item and do need replacement in order to continue to reduce the CO and other hydrocarbons. Some say they they are supposed to last 100,000 to 200,000 km. I would bet my butt that most people on this forum are running cars well in excess of this vintage.

I am yet to remove mine on my current courier, its on the to do list well below other more time critical tasks!

[tillyfromparadise Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close tillyfromparadise]

Re: Mazda Bravo / Ford Courier 2.5 Turbodiesel on WVO Blends

Hi Cade,

Correct Tony, 2005 / 2006 was the change over year for most manufacturers. I think Ssangyong with the Merc engines was one of the last hold outs?

As far as I know the Musso was the last IDI engine Utility to be sold new in Australia.

In Australia, the registered year of a new car is the year that the the Australian compliance plate is attached to the vehicle, not it's year of manufacture.
They stopped building Musso's in 2005 in Korea but continued selling them here well into 2006. My car is registered as a 2006 Musso but it has a build date of Nov 2005.

From time to time I have seen ads for 2007 Muso's for sale but I have never actually seen one.

PS I just located this information

Production1993–2005 (South Korea)
1997–2005 (Vietnam)
2001–2006 (China)
2003–2007 (Iran)
2008–2011 (Russia)
http://www.wikiwand.com/en/SsangYong_Musso

[smithw Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close smithw]

Re: Mazda Bravo / Ford Courier 2.5 Turbodiesel on WVO Blends

When I was mechanicing in NZ I would often come across blocked cats on jap imports, possibly because in Japan cars are often left idling for long periods and never go on the open road. Symptoms are the vechlie has poor fuel economy and gutless, if they were really blocked it could cause the sump to pressureize, engine would fume and leak oil.
The last one i did was last year on a diesel muso, didnt make any difference, turns out mussos are gutless from the factory, turned up the fuel on the injector pump and advancing the timing fixed that problem.
If you want to remove the cat you can usually take it off the car, smash out the honeycomb with a drill, and use a rod and hammer to get the rest out, then put the empty cat back on. The advantage is it looks like you still have a cat on the vechile, and im pretty sure it is illegal to remove the cat but they dont have to work. (they are not tested in Victoria for roadworthy, but it has to have one)

[Dr Mark Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Dr Mark]

Re: Mazda Bravo / Ford Courier 2.5 Turbodiesel on WVO Blends

Mark,
Why would I need to remove the cat? The Musso has a Cat and it had no issues with veggie oil blends.
Has anyone else needed to remove a Catalytic converter?

Well it depends what your blend is. Mine was SVO/Bio. If you are running ULP as part of your blend it'll probably act as a homogenous catalyst and help stuff burn off. Having said that it took some time for the cat to clog on my car - about a year of regular driving
W

[Dr Mark Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Dr Mark]

Re: Mazda Bravo / Ford Courier 2.5 Turbodiesel on WVO Blends

I believe that the BT50 has a Common Rail Diesel engine. As such it does not have an injector pump.
The last of the mechanically injected diesels in the Mazda and Ford was in 2006.

It still has a pump. It's obviously a very different setup to the non-common rail engines, but it's still a pump. Funny thing is how quickly it failed. As soon as the fuel reached it, within about 200m of leaving home it failed. I was able to start it but it kept stopping. Got it towed home and it was rooted. I was hoping that it might fail (if it was going to) without damaging the pump, but I wasn't so lucky

[Johnnojack Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Johnnojack]

Re: Mazda Bravo / Ford Courier 2.5 Turbodiesel on WVO Blends

No wonder the build quality of Mussos is so unpredictable, the probably left a few bits behind in each country as they moved.

Hi Cade,

As far as I know the Musso was the last IDI engine Utility to be sold new in Australia.

They stopped building Musso's in 2005 in Korea but continued selling them here well into 2006. My car is registered as a 2006 Musso but it has a build date of Nov 2005.

From time to time I have seen ads for 2007 Muso's for sale but I have never actually seen one.

PS I just located this information

Production1993–2005 (South Korea)
1997–2005 (Vietnam)
2001–2006 (China)
2003–2007 (Iran)
2008–2011 (Russia)
http://www.wikiwand.com/en/SsangYong_Musso

[Culley Biofuels Forum Newbie Find all posts View Profile Close Culley]

Re: Mazda Bravo / Ford Courier 2.5 Turbodiesel on WVO Blends

I have recently converted a 2005 2.5TD Courier with an Elsbett (ANC) kit to run on 100% WVO. There is a small fuel pump and a fuel heater during warmup, as well as longer glow plugs and different injector nozzles and a flat plate heat exchanger.

Engine starts well. Experienced a bad cold start once and lots of white exhaust vapor at 4 degrees c in extremely humid conditions.

Idle is rough and fluctuates. Turning up the idle speed a bit helps but hasn't satisfied me. Possible ideas are fuel starvation (cold oil in tank too thick), blocked injector nozzle or filters. Engine being at full running temperature doesn't improve the idle.

Engine handles loads fine.

Conversion is recent. Have done almost 1000kms.

[Tony From West Oz Vice Chairperson of WARFA Find all posts View Profile Close Tony From West Oz]

Re: Mazda Bravo / Ford Courier 2.5 Turbodiesel on WVO Blends

Hi Culley,
I had similar issues with a blend until the IP died. I have now found the cause of the IP failure. someone had water in their fuel tank and added a heap of metho to the tank to clean it out. I was given this fuel to use for blending. I did this in the fuel I added to the Courier. which resulted in the IP failure. I only found out by chance when I caught up with the donor of the fuel and asked him about it.
I have a sample of it in a bottle and there is a definite line between the petrol and the water / metho mix. I threw some of the bottom layer onto a fire and it reacted just like petrol would, with no sounds pof sizzling (water boiling off).

Lesson learnt.
Do a thorough visual check of all fuel used for blending, drain off any suspect fuel. Ask questions of the people giving the misfuel so you know why they are giving it away.