Your thoughts and experience with bio diesel blends.

[Sergey]

I've run B20 all the way up to B100. I personally prefer B100 over diesel, but it is hard to get in my area (state of TX

One word of caution, biodiesel (especially B100) is an effective paint remover, if you spill it on your paint, clean it off imediately.

In here in western WA there is B99 in Seattle (dedicated biodiesel only fuel station). But I use biodiesel fuel very rarely for several reasons, some mentioned by another forum members
a) B99 here is considerably more expensive than regular #2 diesel
b) that B99 is like acetone towards rubberized underbody coating or even when on fuel tank rubber coat, one splash or leak and rubber coating is destroyed in area or leak
c) my truck sits a lot more than driven, and leaving B99 in fuel tank will lead to fungi, rot and clogged pump

Other than that, my 85 6.9 runs fine on B99, no obvious difference.

PS. Honestly I don't know how, given the solvent-like nature of biodiesel, B99 can rot and fruit fungi etc.

 

[rreegg]

Surprised to hear about the idling issue running a bio blend. Would assume it’s fuel filter related as the bio will “clean out” crud in tanks etc.
I typically run a bio blend in the IDI because most truck stops still have at least a b5. Most I’ve gone is maybe b70 blend and also some r99 when in Cali. Usually mix in some Howes but never had any issues just did routine injector return line maintenance.
The TDI has been running above b50 well for the past couple years.

Put a small amount in the 2 cyl marine diesel but just as an additive.

I just like it for lubricity purposes but it’s expensive in western wa as mentioned by above post

 

[Nero]

Just to toss my 2¢ out there, discussing it with a local fuel pump builder, unless semi daily driving, they advised not running any blend of bio, letting it sit can ruin the fuel pump.
Don't know how accurate the info is, just sharing what I was told.

 

[franklin2]

Like I said in my first post in this thread, sitting is the problem with bio. I am still running the superduty everyday on bio and have no problems.

We had a John Deere 750 tractor (really a Yanmar) and the fuel system was totally clogged with the old bio in it. That's when I found out that 911 in the red bottle will cut the gooey bio diesel. I cleaned the system out as good as I could, but was afraid to put any solvents in the plastic separator bowl where the filter went. I then started it on two bottles of 911, and then put bio back in it. What amazed me is after running it a few days, the 911 ate all the sticky old bio off the plastic reservoir on the filter bowl, and I could then see the new filter inside.

Recently I acquired a John Deere zero turn with a diesel engine. It had been run on the bio, and then it too had been sitting. I have had 5 lift pumps on it already, but I think I am finally winning the battle. I am trying to get it off the bio and run regular diesel in it. I have a feeling if I cleaned it out and started running bio again, that it may have been like the 750 and would have cleared up sooner. But I do not want to run bio in it. I am also on my 4th bottle of 911. I had to pull the fuel tank completely off it, it was full of gooey mess down in the bottom of the tank.

 

[Old Goat]

I don`t run any of that Bio or other krap through my engines, just Diesel, and so far they don`t use the Bio blends here.

Some where around 10 years back, I replaced the Fuel tank in my 85 Mercedes 300D Turbo. MB around 81 decided to go from a 21 gal tank to a 17 gallon, I guess EPA reasons the car weighs less and better mileage or some sort of Govt. garbage.

I found a guy on the MB Forum in Napa,Ca. that had one, only a good 75 mile drive ea way. (A 21 gallon tank)
I knew he was heavy into Bio Diesel etc...
Get the tank home, pulled the sender out and it had this thick stuff looked like "Chicken Skin" what I heard guys call it....OH great.

I had 1/2 gallon of lacquer thinner, threw in 1/2, let it soak, turned it on each side to soak etc....
Had long stick with rag on end to scrub what I could reach through sender hole.

Dumped it out, threw in rest of Lacquer Thinner etc... dumped it and did several flushes with gas. Came out squeeky clean.

I had no experience with any of this stuff before. I had the Lacquer Thinner and thought what the heck...and it worked.

My only experience with Bio anything.


Goat

 

[Cubey]

I put in whatever I run across that's cheapest around, most of the time. A rare exception was a couple days ago in Cedar City UT. Went to a $3.85 Maverik station and it was totally out of diesel. All pumps had yellow bags on the nozzles. Had to pay $4.12 (after discount) at Love's nearby. Cost me an extra ~$9.

Anyway the RV doesn't seem to care what it gets, as long as it's fresh. Only time it's ever had issues was when I first bought it, and it had unknown old diesel. It had weak idle and would stall at idle sometimes. But once I ran a single tank through it, with some antigel (January in the south) it has been fine ever since.

MPG drops a bit short term if it's been sitting mostly for many months, but it also tends to coincide with getting parked with winter blend, so maybe that's why? After a fill-up or two, it recovers. Might also just be that I start out more lead footed or something too.

 

[franklin2]

They use a winter blend with diesel fuel? Never heard that before.

 

[asmith]

All the stations around me have switched to some sort of biodiesel. I tried to avoid it, but the station I go to most and has the best price around is a 76 and they switched to what they call Renewable Diesel. not exactly sure what it is. their website says it is 100% renewable made from vegetable oils and fats. They do differentiate it from Biodiesel, but I don't know if that is just marketing or what. I would like to run just normal diesel, but it is pretty much out of the question now. Least my truck is a daily driver.

 

[Nero]

I saw a renewable diesel pump at a pac pride the other day, first time ever hearing of it. I'll have to look into it.

 

[asmith]

Well after writing my post i was curious enough I went and looked it up. A pretty good read about the difference between biodiesel and Renewable diesel

https://farmdocdaily.illinois.edu/2023/02/biodiesel-and-renewable-diesel-whats-the-difference.html

basically they are made from the same stuff, but the process they go through is different. According to this article renewable diesel is so similar to regular diesel they have to use carbon dating to differentiate the carbons in their chemical formulas.

 

[franklin2]

It's probably like the ethanol gasoline. They found out it causes more pollution to make the ethanol than it would just to go ahead and get the fossil fuel out of the ground. By the time you till the ground (causes pollution itself), all the fuel from the equipment to plant and harvest the bio mass and then the energy needed to process it, you are at a net loss as far as environmental damage is concerned. But the government subsidizes it and won't admit it doesn't work. And the farmers will gladly grow and harvest the crops necessary for it, as long as the gov pays them to do it.

I am not a expert on this, but I saw a interesting show on youtube about it.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

It's probably like the ethanol gasoline. They found out it causes more pollution to make the ethanol than it would just to go ahead and get the fossil fuel out of the ground. By the time you till the ground (causes pollution itself), all the fuel from the equipment to plant and harvest the bio mass and then the energy needed to process it, you are at a net loss as far as environmental damage is concerned. But the government subsidizes it and won't admit it doesn't work. And the farmers will gladly grow and harvest the crops necessary for it, as long as the gov pays them to do it.

I am not a expert on this, but I saw a interesting show on youtube about it.

That sounds about right. I think I may have seen the same video.