Just collected the SDI. My first Lupo!

[mk2]

After 2 hours very close scrutiny-

The bad news:

Very slight rust in one of the roof channels.

Electric windows are not brilliant.

Near side door seal doesn't touch perfectly at the top.

Only one key.

No servicing for about 12 months- Lots needs doing.

Awful tyres (some chinese cr@p).

Remote central locking intermittent.

Very slight rust around rear wheel arches.

A couple of very light scuffs to front and rear bumper- but they're going anyway.

Alloys have been kerbed (new ones or renovate????)

The good news:

New pedal box.

Gearbox is sweet.

Doors, hinges and locks are as new.

Interior as new (seriously!).

New exhaust.

Engine runs like new- very very smooth.

Economy excellent- just did about 80MPG at 60 the whole way home.

No modifications anywhere (that I can see).

60k miles.

£2k

Now I need to spend some money on lots of mods... Service stuff first though. SORN till then.

I'll post some pics of various items of interest as they are now, just purchased.

Now which body kit were people recommending? Some just don't fit, and some go straight onto the mountings.

[mattarosa]

Sod the body kit run it on veg oil!

[Skezza]

Mk2, the rust in the roof gutter is a common problem. I've noticed newer than Y reg, it seems less of a problem. Perhaps they fixed it ?

What's wrong with the Windows?

I think those seals can be renewed.

Hmm one key, dealer or key cutter with correct equipment.

They're an easy car to service. The engines are also bullet proof. Just service as usual. Oil and air filter. New fuel filter if it's feeling sluggish.

Continentals are a good shout on these

I imagine the remote central locking is an aftermarket job. Perhaps follow my guide in the how to section to fix it.

Not heard of rust around arches.

Renovate.

Don't body kit. Looks junk usually. Lower it and run on veg oil

[mk2]

I've played with veg oil (SVO) before and after long usage the result is you end up paying for lots of new parts.

The problem is that the glycerol and fatty acids hydrogenate (turn to a stiff brown plastic like material), when the fuel gets really hot. The engine runs fine on SVO for a while, but the seals and compression pumps start to either stick or leak after a couple of years. This is especually true with canola, sunflower, rape seed and general veg oil. Peanut (groundnut) oil is completely different though. Then it's a case of complete dismantling all of the components ot replacing them. Although adding heating oil up to about 15% did help...

Diesters (where them glycerols have been removed) are great, but you end up paying almost the same as regular diesel. And you don't have the advantage of the added 'detergents' giving you a clean burn.

[mk2]

I have 8 pics

Edited November 4, 2014 by mk2

[Skezza]

I've played with veg oil (SVO) before and after long usage the result is you end up paying for lots of new parts. The problem is that the glycerol and fatty acids hydrogenate (turn to a stiff brown plastic like material), when the fuel gets really hot. The engine runs fine on SVO for a while, but the seals and compression pumps start to either stick or leak after a couple of years. This is especually true with canola, sunflower, rape seed and general veg oil. Peanut (groundnut) oil is completely different though. Then it's a case of complete dismantling all of the components ot replacing them. Although adding heating oil up to about 15% did help...Diesters (where them glycerols have been removed) are great, but you end up paying almost the same as regular diesel. And you don't have the advantage of the added 'detergents' giving you a clean burn.

polymerization is more common in drying oils. Rapeseed is fine.

[mk2]

polymerization is more common in drying oils. Rapeseed is fine.

I wonder what causes it. Any ideas? It doesn't happen with Peanut oil.

[Skezza]

I wonder what causes it. Any ideas? It doesn't happen with Peanut oil.

It's really easy to understand why it happens, what causes it, and most importantly, how to avoid it. I run my Lupo on nearly 100% vegetable oil and have been for a while. I've not noticed any issues yet. Perhaps I'll pay the price in a few months or years, who knows. I've done in excess of 10k miles though on veg oil and at the money I'm saving, I've almost paid for all the unrelated maintenance (e.g. clutch, pedal box) and am rapidly closing in on the entire cost of the car itself. Don't forget that when you're saving money on veg, you're covering the cost of maintenance, so doing it correctly is a good thing.

OK, so the polymerization issue. Almost all polymerization is caused by the same thing. Repetitive heating of the same oil. Simple. That's all there is to it, so understanding that key component is very important. The only other issue is the correct oil to use and this is where it gets dangerous and where I feel WVO is always risky. If you're willing to take that risk in the knowledge that you're effectively saving a lot of money, then that's fair enough but I personally think WVO is a step I'm not willing to take, yet at least. Perhaps once the car has paid for itself and is too old (which it already is really) I might start running on WVO, knowing full well it's coming to the end of its life.

OK, so what happens when you cold start a diesel car? Fuel dilution. I'm not going to go into why, but it happens. When you're running diesel, this isn't so much of an issue. Diesel evaporates at 60 degrees C through the crankcase. Not a problem. Veg oil evaporates at about 160 degrees C, therefore doesn't really evaporate at all. This isn't a problem when you do lots of long trips. I do 38 miles to work, and 38 miles back. The only time fuel dilution will occur is very early in the morning. The later trip will not be as severe. Only a small amount of dilution occurs, but it's important to know that it does occur. Luckily, those clever people at the oil companies know that and most modern engine oils are actually designed to deal with this, including biodiesel, which has the similar problem as veg. That's good.

However, here's the problem, what happens when you do short trips? Oil dilution happens when the engine is cold, right? Short trips don't get the engine warm, so the problem of oil dilution is worsened. This causes your oil to dilute much quicker and with less miles. You are also warming that oil that you've introduced into your engine, repeatedly and adding even more. Give it a few weeks/months, you now have introduced a surprisingly large amount of veg oil into your engine oil. Some of it has been re-heated and may be on the edge of polymerization. The engine oil is still designed to deal with this, but will unsurprisingly become less effective with constant dilution. This is where polymerization and also waxy oil is a serious threat. Constant re-heating inc both short and long trips will cause molecules to form large bonds causing the sploges and lumps of goo that you speak of. This is bad. It will certainly increase wear to the engine. The other thing you will suffer from is low oil pressure in the morning as most vegetable oils freeze at about 0 degrees. So yes, it's a double edged sword. The other thing is that as oil dilution gets worse, it becomes harder to evaporate. So yes, you really cannot win.

Therefore, you need to assess whether you fit the criteria really:

- Regular short trips are bad. They are the main cause of fuel dilution as engine doesn't get up to pace.

- Regular long trips are good. Fuel dilution is minimized to usually once a day.

- Happy to change your oil + filter yourself, after 5k-7k instead of 10k.

- Use reasonable synthetic quality oil as opposed to semi (ECP Triple QX is fine)

I recently did an oil change after 7k miles. 100% of those miles were done on 100% veg oil. The oil viscosity was absolutely identical to any other oil change I've done. No lumps, no nastiness. Simples mate.

If you want me to explain the oils as well I can but it sounds like you've got a decent grasp. It's important to know that GM Soya is a drying oil and will contribute to ring gumming.

[mk2]

Sounds like the complete opposite of running on LPG... I had a play with that a few years back too, and it works really well once warmed up. The engine oil gets runnier and runnier, and the wierdest thing is that the oil never ever goes black. There is no soot generated, as the fuel is in a gaseous form and mixes really well, for a good clean and even burn. The valves get knackerd quick though.

Thanks Skezza

[Skezza]

Sounds like the complete opposite of running on LPG... I had a play with that a few years back too, and it works really well once warmed up. The engine oil gets runnier and runnier, and the wierdest thing is that the oil never ever goes black. There is no soot generated, as the fuel is in a gaseous form and mixes really well, for a good clean and even burn. The valves get knackerd quick though.

Thanks Skezza

No problem