About 40 miles NE of Sacramento, Sierra Mountains. I've been to the site, no pumps in my immediate area (as of last week) and the one pump that shows in Sac doesn't seem to exist...

 

Fortunately, most Excursions seem to come with 44 gallon tanks, so that leaves an extra margin of safety for those owners. If you have one of those tanks and don't fill up with biodiesel every time, I don't see how it would be a mistake to top off a 40 or 44 gallon tank with 10 gallons of B20 if you happen to come across a station that sells it. Also, if something bad does happen and you think you were running maybe B8 or B10, you could always just top off the tank with straight diesel before you bring it in and your percentage will drop below 5

 

I have run pure b100 without any problems. The only concern is that BD is known to clean your fuel system so if you have alot of miles on your truck I would carry a fuel filter with you so that if it gets clogged you can switch them out. I am in agreement with Loonatic, I love the fact that some farmer is making money off of me instead of some terrorist. Dshift-who told you that it would turn into plastic? I would say that he might own large amounts of stock in an oil company. BD will gel lower than petroleum so that is a concern for people further north than me.
I have seriously been thinking about making my own BD, the process isnt that hard.

 

I have also been told that it can turn into a plastic like substance. I've heard this from Ford Dealerships. Their exact response is that over time the BD will begin to coat the injector tips (plasticizing them). Here's the funny part though, they haven't actually SEEN a vehicle running BD, so that tells me they are regurgitating something from Ford. Personally I would never run B100 in my truck since the truck is such a new model. I am however on the lookout for B20 and if I don't find a supplier soon I will begin making my own as well.

 

MRKnight: There was an article in the SacBee about BD and a guy that ran around to all the fast food joints picking up their old fryer oil -- did you read that one? The guy ran it in an old 'Benz. I recall something about him having to have a permit -- maybe it was to pick up the oil or somesuch.

You have a good looking truck there, happen to have seen it on hwy 49 a couple of times (in the canyon) and noticed it was an '05 (we're in Cool too) and recognized it from your pict. Our '05 comes in, in about 3 weeks!

Good thread, keep it up....

 

Didn't catch that article, but there was a full write-up on a guy leading the BD revolution in the February issue of Maxim magazine. Pretty cool... Also there is a large scale supplier of BD in Nevada City but after contacting him he doesn't sell to the general public

Saw me in the canyon huh? Hope I didn't do anything to scare you like sneak up behind you or anything. I recently added the SCMT HP tune and used a lot fo opportunities to test it out. Course with gas prices what they are now playtime with it is mostly over. You'll love the truck when you get it. I do see a lot of these SDs in Cool, town with good taste if I do say so!

 

What about the use of Soy Diesel ?

It is a different animal than bio-diesel ....

bio is "vegetable oil" where "soy" is soybean based ....

I'd be interested in soy diesel ...

 

Supposedly they are working on that too... I'd have to dig around for my sources though. I know I read somethign recently. Check out http://www.biodiesel.org - lots of good info.

 

MrKnight,
You might want to check with your local EPA before you start making bio. Having lived in that state for many many years and dealing with the EPA I can tell ya that they are the tightest bunch of greenie controlled govt I have ever seen. Seen 'em once cite a guy in Sac because his chain hoist came out of a solvent dip tank too fast..... All though, being in Cool has it's advantages like hiding in the woods, unless something has changed since I was last there and your town has grown up

 

Cool, grow up? I think the population is still less than 3000 and as long as people don't subdivide their land I imagine it will stay that way. We still only have one stoplight
Thanks for the tip. I've never dealt with EPA here but have heard they are pretty tough. I will check that out first. Hadn't thought of it.

 

oh, come-on now, MRKnight... You can't really call THAT a REAL stoplight?! (it'd have to have more'n one color, (red), and have to do more'n one thing (flash). I guess we'll be all growed-up when they put one of them new fangled ones down at the corner (with yeller and green in it) and folks really have to stop

It may be the EPA that the fellow I mentioned had to have his permit from -- tho it seemed it was more to do about picking up oil intended for disposal than it was the filtering/making of the BD as I recall. I do remember that the article said his exhaust smelled like french fries... People will be waiting in line to follow you through the canyon!

 

Biodiesel is diesel fuel made from organic matter, whether that is plant or animal, virgin or used. "Soydiesel" is just the term the soybean growers like to use for biodiesel made from virgina soybean oil.

A local Ford dealer had direct experience with a nearby municipal fleet running B20 and the fuel plasticizing on the injector tips of their 6.0L trucks. There really may be something to the theory that the 6.0 has some specific problem with high concentrations of biodiesel. Which would really stink because:

A) I like being able to state that "biodiesel is interchangeable with petrodiesel in any mixture in any diesel engine" and so the more caveats you add, the more complex it is to explain to people, and

B) Once my 6.0L engine is out of warranty (another 55k miles) I was looking forward to running blended biodiesel in it like I have been doing so successfully with the 7.3L truck ('97 F250HD)

Duncan

 

I read that all diesel in Wisconsin is B2 per state law. Anyone from Wis. verify?

 

This is the strange part.I talked to my local fuel dealer and he told me that he doesn't handel it because they did have problems with it and not enough use to make it worth while.The county COOP did have it but said they didn't know much about it good or bad.This is from a county that is full of bean farmers and the farmers arn't useing it ? I don't know about Wisconsin but maybe time will tell. The closes retailer to me is about 45 miles so I don't know if its worth the trip or not.

 

One thing I have read extensively on the use of BD is its tendancy to dissolve rubber components, like are used in the fuel systems of older vehicles. A lot of farm vehicles are older and likely have rubber in their fuel systems.