The photos make the pump look very bad, but it cleaned up really nicely, after the "Ray Mears does diesel pumps in the outback" cleaning process. Veg oil lubricates much better than modern pump diesel, as long as it's de watered and not too acidic, the problem was caused by it being left in the pump, the more volatile fractions evaporate, leaving gummy thick gunge behind. We didn't bother using the original high pressure pump head, not easy to ensure all the narrow internal fuel passageways were clean, but used the one which came from the donor pump we used to supply the LDA top and control levers (Rover Montego, for all you Ford purists

) We also replaced the vane pump, which was seriously gunked, with one lifted from one of the many failed VP30s that I have from the Mk6s, they are nearly always in better order than the VE ones, because the electronics fail so early in the pump's potential life.
I have always run a twin tank system for veg oil in direct injection engines , start and warm up on diesel, switch over to veg oil, switch back to diesel when you near your destination, so you have a pump full of diesel for your next cold start and avoid any potential piston ring gumming problems, which can occur when running veg oil in cold direct injection engines. I recently dismantled a Di pump, which I had run in my old Sherpa Di, on veg, it had then stood for three years+ and it was pristine, a bit different than this one

I shall continue to twin tank.

I have just scored 1000 litres of new veg oil in an IBC, 45p/litre

I won't be going common rail any time soon
