Hi all,

We spent Christmas and New Years in Tennesse. I took a full tank and four 5 gallon cans with us as I get "freesel" at work. Anyway, my good friend Kelly runs bio and is a member of the local co-op. I needed some fuel to make the trip home so I thought, why not?

We filled the already half-full tank and all four cans with B99. I figured this put B50 in the tank and I would see how it worked before running a stronger mixture. The beast ran fine. Halfway home I decided that it was going so well, I refilled the tank with some of the B99 in the cans. The engine ran smooth as could be. In fact, at highway speeds (60/65) the tire noise was just slightly louder than the engine noise.

I found the exhaust did not smell like french fries at all, but, it sure didn't stink like regular dino.

When I get some thime this week, I'll pull the fuel filter and take a look.
I like the golden color too. I'm also looking into local co-ops... maybe even start one of my own??
CedricR.

 

don't pull the filter yet. That really is not enough BD to clean her out yet. Run a few more tanks of at least B20 and then change it out> Or when at idle you see a little white smoke> White smoke means clogged filter. welcome to the cleaner side!

 

You know, I'd posted a separate thread about using a commercial product for cleaning my injectors. But now I think I should just run a few tanks of B20! It would probably cost the same and be better for the environment to boot

 

Also deletes the worry of the ULSD ruining the fuel bowl orings and the lubrication headaches too.

 

I wouldn't bother cleaning injectors. On my MB, which definately revs higher than the PS, IOW more injector cycles, I took them out at 100K for testing. 1 had lower pop off pressure and poor spray pattern. They cleaned that one out and it was fine. I never use those snake oils tho. Some of the forum people clean it regularly by disconnecting the fuel input and output and put them into a container of cleaner and swear it helps. Diesel Purge I think. IMO it is much easier to take the injectors out every 100K and have it professionally checked and cleaned.

My experience with B20 was just nothing. No change in economy and I measure it via filling the tank till it can fill no more. I have tried stronger than B20 on my car and actually lost mileage.

As to the tank cleaning, I took mine apart to do the hutch and harpoon mod. Clean as a whistle except for the filters in the mixing bowl

 

Sounds great Cedman!!! I can hardly wait until spring when I can start driving Big Red filled with BD. He's in storage for the winter, since we use it to pull a 5th wheel trailer primarily. Love to hear stories like yours. Keep us updated!!

If you haven't been there already, you might want to hit the
Bio-diesel, Propane and Alternative Diesel Engine Fuels forum on FTE. Lots of talk about BD experiences.

Congratulations to you for having the courage to do what's right and run BioDiesel!!! Thanks for supporting US farmers, a clean environment and doing something to help get us off foreign oil!!! BIODIESEL POWER FOR A SAFER, HEALTHIER WORLD!!

 

Good article in March 2007 "Diesel World" magazine on bio-diesel....and a good plug for "extremebiodiesel.com" and their manufacturing setup........

 

BE CAREFUL IF YOU LIVE IN COLD TEMPS!!! I spend 4 hours warming the fuel tank, lines and changing the fuel filter when the first cold snap hit...

 

I just run Straight Wasted VO. once converted the fuel is much cheaper (free from resturants) and yes it seems to run better than the low sulfur crap now at the pump.
I made a 2300 mile trip with only using just over 1/4 tank of diesel. Not BD but straight wasted Veggie oil. I would use BD also, but its winter time and not available at my pumps.

 

Run a winter blended B5 if it's available and you get the advantages of added lubricity without the gelling effects. When I had close access to bio, the pumps would switch to that in the winter. Summer time I had the choice of B5 to B100.

 

BD is good but had some cases around here of fungus growing in the tank and plugging it up. Pretty expensive repairs. have to replace all the lines tank and pumps. I want to run it but they need to figure it out a little better.

 

I add an once of biocide to my home brew if it is going to sit longer then a week.

 

ive been running bio all summer long started with b50. we are now down to b10..its been near 0 and no trouble yet..i do notice on them cold 0 mornings she runs quiter then normale...mpg are about the same..and mine does smell like a burger joint..

 

soy gells up at a higher temp than veggie oil if i remember right. So that could be why some of you guys can run the b20 in colder temps. However, we've always had one or two problems with soy gelling a year. We've been running it since the early 90's

 

I don't know about others. I drive a diesel truck. I expect it to be noisy. If I wanted quieter, I'd get a gas. So, a little noise reduction means little to me. What I want to know is whether it is going to help my wallet. So far, the bio co-op here tells me "No". In the summer, they were raping those who cared about the environment, etc, etc by 50+ cents AFTER you paid the $150 membership for the privilage of buying it at 50+ cents higher. If not, it was about 75 to 80 cents higher a gal for B100.