I bumped into a dealer diesel tech yesterday in passing, and heard an interesting tidbit from him about the 6.0. He said injector failures have pretty much *stopped* since they did away with pilot injection (which I figured.) But where they have seen injector failures is with people running B20! As hard as it has been for me to find biodiesel in this area, I asked who on earth was running B20... and it's all these municipal fleets, who are obligated to pursue alternative fuels.

Now I've never seen biodiesel that was anything but perfectly wonderful, so maybe these fleets got a bad batch or something... but this tech said it was literally sticky/tacky to the touch, and smelled like turpentine. It was physically gumming up and jamming the injectors. Ford has that warranty statement about limiting biodiesel to 5%, they sent the fuel from these trucks away for testing and it showed at 20%, so these repairs were not covered under warranty. (And they have stopped using biodiesel!)

So this is really more of a "always be aware of the quality of fuel you are pumping into your tank" story than a "biodiesel is bad" story. It's probably one of those situations where a fuel vendor screwing up once is going to give biodiesel a bad name with these towns forever. But it's something to think about if you're running biodiesel in your 6.0 that's under warranty. (Which is why I only run it in the '97 F250HD and the '82 Mercedes!)

Duncan

 

I just checked with my supplier of fuel and the biodiesel with B20 got superior ratings by Cummings. Service bulletin 9251B5-1 L 10 injector cleanliness test - superior rating
N14 injector corrosion test- superior rating. I have been using it in 5 different diesels ranging from pickups to semi to farm equipment with no problems in 5 years. in fact it has cleaned out fuel tanks very well. Had to change filters after the first few tanks. But after that it was just normal changes.

 

I have an early 03 build and run BioDiesel as much as possible. I think my 6.0 runs smoother and I get 1-2 better milegage. Yes, I have had all 8 injectors changed at ~6000 miles. I have 44,000 on her now and have not had any fuel related problems. I have less trouble with soy diesel in the winter as well.

 

Sounds like bad batch of fuel to me, it happens.

Case in point, my brother-in-law filled his car up on Thanksgiving weekend to find that the fuel truck pumped diesel fuel into the regular gasoline tank at the station. Come to find out it was a mistake made at the transfer station and it caused damages to over 150 vehicles all of which had to get tanks drained and fuel systems cleaned and even several engine replacements.

Goes to show that you should never fill up while the fuel truck is filling the tanks. I would gladly run Biodiesel if I could get it at a good price around here.

 

Did they change all eight injectors at one time or what? Did you have the C94 injectors?

 

Yes, I had C94 injectors. At the time, Ford would only reimburse the dealers to replace the leaking injector, not all of the C94's. My dealer replaced the 3rd injector on the drivers side. I picked it up on Thursday and drove ~600 highway miles over the weekend. Sunday night, it started chugging on hills and showed the signs of a leaking injector again. That evening after getting back it shut down and wouldn't start. I called Ford roadside and had it delivered to my dealer. Monday they checked it and it showed the 2nd injector on the drivers side was leaking and a code that the fuel pump had kicked out. I told my service manager and diesel tech about the FTE site and the C94 issues. They decided to replace all of the injectors at once (against Ford's directive) and deal with ford on the warranty later. They also got my monthly payment from Ford for the hassle (it took 6 months for Ford to release the payment)
I have had the "standard" problemswith my 6, but my dealer has been great about getting them fixed.

Torn turbo inlet elbow and hood blanket replaced
Front main seal replaced
Oil bypass valve o-ring replaced
Gave up my pilot injection.
All of the C94 injectors changed to C95's
Fuel pump replaced - problem with the Ford procedure for testing the injectors after replacement
Fuel tank float replaced

I get 18-20 mpg highway at 2100rpm ~71 mph and 16.5 the rest of the time.

 

While that may be, Ford specifically does not support anything greater than B5 and there is a Ford Bulletin to prove it. I use B2 and I've never had any problems. Sounds like there may be something to Fords Bulletin after all. As always, time will tell.

 

I have the C94's with just under 30,000 miles on it. I use Stanadyne or Power Service in every tank. I drain my fuel/water separator every month. I get the same mileage you posted, 16-17mpg around town, 19-20 on the highway. I still have all eight C94's. So I don't think I will mess with biodiesel yet.

 

When you do get around to trying the bio:
Remember to time that with a fuel filter changing.
Like after the 2nd tank of B20 0r the first full tank of B50 or higher.

 

Bio Diesel is supposed to have solvent like qualities, it is supposed to help clean injectors and engines not clog them.

BTW does anyone know if pilot injection will ever be back?

 

I will try bio when it comes down to a reasonable price. $3.50 a gallon in Austin, TX is outragous!n I'll stick with Stanadyne for now.

PI is gone in the current 6.0's.

 

run away from bio diesel have seen too many issues with it many dammaged fuel system injectors , pumps , etc .

 

Here in Iowa, USA we raise cattle, corn, and soybeans. We do not appreciate people, from certain other countries that have caused major negative impacts to the US farm markets, bashing our value added products. With any developing technology there are going to be some problems along the way that need addressed. However, those of us that have 6.0 trucks know that a few problems are no reason to bad mouth the whole lot. The US aquired our ONLY, verified, case of MAD COW from Canada. Yet, we don't go around Canadian websites saying you should stay away from beef. Please don't start crying wolf, it is not beneficial to anyone.

this is from http://www.biodiesel.org/

Biodiesel can be used in any concentration with petroleum based diesel fuel in existing diesel engines with little or no modification. [B]Biodiesel is not the same thing as raw vegetable oil.[/B] It is produced by a chemical process which removes the glycerin from the oil.

 

yeah but the feed that gave us mad cow came from the states and the cow that was infected came down alot earlier than they said the ear tags in the pictures have not been used for years here

 

oh yeah i am not bashing i am stating a fact