I have to report that the Bio-Blended diesel I burned in Illinois was awful and wherever else they sell this stuff, I hope all of you can find a way to avoid it.

It was $3.10/gal. My power was GONE! I thought something was wrong with my engine! I burned 2 tanks of the stuff, first tank was not so big a deal, 2nd tank is where I began to push the throttle to the floor trying to get some torque and it just never came, felt like I went from 800 to under 600 in the torque dept.! Really, really sluggish and I don't recommend it to anyone.

I never would have thought that fuel could make such a huge difference but I know it to be true because now that I am back in the Southeast, all of a sudden my 6.7 feels like the toque monster it is! It was like night and day. I drove 780 miles to get home yesterday, started with the bio-blend, ended with regular diesel down here in the South and I could feel a huge difference in torque. My throttle was being used heavily when on the bio-blend, now I just barely move my foot to get going.

For those of you that live up there, I hope you can find regular diesel somewhere so you can feel what the 6.7 is really supposed to run like!

 

How do I know if it's Bio-Blend when I pull up to the pump, is it a state by state mandate or something?

 

I am in southern IL right NOW and will be for another week. I am on the first tank of the Bio-Blend. I haven't noticed anything bad yet but the second tank is going in today, but not by choice since I gotta have something to burn while driving around here.
Everyone I have talked too here says to stay away from Bio-Blend but I have checked every service station in Effingham, Shelbyville, and the cities in between and nothing but Bio-Blend and they say that nothing but bio-blend available in the area.
I even stopped into the Ford dealer and the service manager said to stay away from it if possible but also that in IL around here I would have to run it and I would need to add an additive to the tank to help it run better.

The pumps have a sticker by the diesel handle that is a blue with a black line that states bio-blend on it.... if I remember I will take a picture today.

Not looking forward to dumping another tank of this crap in my truck but don't have a choice if I want to drive around here.......

 

Well the seat of the pants seems to say major fail, but how about the fuel economy? If the power is off that much you should see a major drop in economy also.

 

do they say what percentage bio it is? if you're seeing that big of a drop, I'd be willing to bet that the fuel you got was either bad or did not meet the federal minimum 40 cetane rating. or both =\

 

The sticker sates a percentage of anywhere between 5% and 20% blend.

I felt the lack of power towing my trailer around. I don't know if it will have as much effect unloaded but I expect that you could tell.

It could have been questionable fuel too, I don't know. If you burn it and don't feel any ill effects, then I may be way off here. I was in and around Springfield, Il.

My mileage was down from 13 to 11 running the blend. I suppose it could also be a winter fuel on top of the bio ingredient?

All I know is that when I got back on regular diesel and felt the power I was missing I just HAD to say something on the boards here. Something was definitely off.

 

It's all a factor of energy content. The winter and bio-blends simply don't have the btu's that the good summer blends do. Nature of the beast I'm afraid.

 

The fuel in IL sucks like the politics!

 

I stopped by to fill up tonight in Effingham, IL and the "bio-blend" sticker was removed from all the pumps. It now has a "winter-blend" sticker on them.... not sure if this has any bio-blend in it or if it is something totally different.
Sorry, couldn't get a pic of the "bio-blend" sticker....

 

Winter blend is typically a mixture of #2 (summer) diesel and #1 (winter) diesel. #1 is more like kerosene and has less paraffin in it to cloud up and clog the filters. I believe the bio-diesel is actually very poor in cold temperatures because it clouds at much higher ambient temps than even pure #2 diesel.

 

There have been a lot of gel ups here in central Il the past 2 winters.