bio diesel

[hotubinn]

Just ran my first tank of bio diesel through my 2004 Dodge Ram.  Didn't see a difference in power or mileage, plus the exhaust smells good.  Anybody running bio diesel?  If so, anything I should be wary of?  Just to be legit, I do deliver spas in this truck.

[Tman122]

Make sure you use the right type of fuel additive and use it often. Bio deisel will leave a gooey film in your tank that will get worse and worse over time. The proper treatment will help control this and you will avoid the many problems ascociated with it suffered by us Minnesotans that have been required to run vegetable oil for over a year now (clogged filters, poor performance) The treatment is available by several manufacturers already but it has to be specific to Bio. And I believe that alot of the treatment availble in some areas where bio is mandatory has already been put on shelfs as the only one available. I have never noticed any difference, other than the cost. We regularily pay 20-30 cents more per gallon than gas.

[Campsalot]

An interesting thread!  I would think a lot of us northerners would be commenting on this one as we live in the breadbasket states that produce the ag based products that make this fuel.
I run a 2007 3500 Chevy Durumax diesel predominately for pulling my fifth wheel RV and occasionally assisting a neighbor with the picking up of their hot tubs and such.  
I have run the biodiesel and have not noticed any differences.  
I was not aware of the gunk in the tank build up Tman mentioned.  I would have to research that a bit as it sounds a lot like the old "Ethinol will degrade the rubber seals in your engine" bit that was going around during Ethanols first entry into the market.  No offense Tman,  but I have read there are some major truck fleets running biodiesel without any incidents.  Perhaps the gunk aspect is something that is simply dealt with by the additive and using the biodiesel and the additive is the suggested practice.
Alternative fuels are a great idea and will speed our our retreat from foreign oil independence.  One thing that burns my butt though is why we have to pay so much for the stuff.  You would think it would be radically less.
Germany during WWII was very successful in creating diesel from coal (coal gasification) and in fact supplied their war machine with this home grown substance.  Why can't we?  In my state alone (ND) we have enough coal to last a tremendously long time.  We also have a gasification plant that sales it product to Canada.  Montana, I believe is building a major gasification plant also.
I say GO GO biofuels and alternative energy sources.  Once we stop buying the "third world" oil they will lose their ability to make war!

Yes, I have discussed this with others while enjoying a soak!

[tommy tunes]

Check out www.thedieselstop.com. There is a forum dedicated to alternative fuels.  I'm a diesel guy myslef, but have yet to try bio fuels or "runnin' on veggie"  but i've overheard some guys talking to the owner of a reataruant i frequent about getting his used fry oil. Although that site is dedicated to Ford diesels, it's full of information with over 100,000 members (i believe).  Be prepared to spend a few hours reading as your addiction for knowledge grows  

[hotubinn]

We regularily pay 20-30 cents more per gallon than gas.

Price here recently is the same as regular petroleum diesel.  As long as the prices are reasonably close, I think I will buy the bio fuel instead.  Feels kinda nice to not give my money to the oil industry!

[Brewman]

I'd think that the biodiesel makers would treat the fuel to minimize or eliminate fuel system damage, else they'd have a huge problem on their hands.  

That's what's so nice about the diesel engine- many different kinds of fuel can be used.  

There isn't going to be one magic bullet to get us all off of oil.  I think it'll be a bunch of different solutions.  Ethanol, bio-diesel, hydrogen fuel cells, electric, etc...
As investment in alternative fuels increases, technology will come up with other solutions that we don't have right now.

[Tman122]

It's a very good idea to use treatments in all deisel fuel tanks. Bio or regular as this is one of the most common problems with a deisel engines occurance of failure during colder weather and any time, as power reduction and effieciency will be greatly be affected over time. Remember we drive these things for 200-300 thousand miles and alot can build up. Those of you that are in Minnesota if you stayed on top of it or can do some investigating to find out, right after the change over to madatory almost all the major trucking fleets were having problems, and purchasing fuel in Minnesota was passed by to purchase in Wisconsin or ND and Iowa. Fuel filters were clogging as the fuel had a terrible tendency to gunk up as they called it, just like vegetable oil does after it sits. And this gunk was settling on the bottom of talks and glogging filters and affecting performance. Our trucks were struggling last winter (or maybe it was the winter before whenever it became mandatory) with hard starts and on the road failures due to plugged filters. The bio was pulled and regular deisel was allowed to be pumped again as the bio manufacturers struggled to find a solution, yes an addititive was part of the solution but a change in manufacturing was also implemented. Viola problem solved. I never had any problems with my Duramax either but it is highly recomended that a treatment be used a few times a year of more to reduce the likelyhood of a problem down the road. And anyone who has owned a deisel in a climate like ours here knows when your engine bogs down and quits when it is 10-20 below there is a sinking feeling and the first thing you think about is the last time you drained your water from your fuel system or changed your filter or added treatment.

I recieved a questionaire in the mail last week from the state regarding our problems with our fleet.

And we are using B20 or less in this state and I dout you will see much more than that in a while (thats 20% veggie and 80% petroleum) Theres a million pages on it here.
http://www.mda.state.mn.us/biodiesel/default.htm

[cburk0677]

One of my friends has a converter on his Ford diesel that allows him to run straight vegetable oil. He gets used vegetable oil from a couple chinese restaurants in town. Filters the oil in his garage. The cost of the filters comes out to 75 cents per gallon. So he is literally driving his truck for 75 cents per gallon which I think is pretty darn good.

I am contemplating getting a VW diesel to use as my commuter car. I drive close to 50 miles per day just commuting. My friend said he would sell me the vegetable oil at his cost so once I put a converter on the car I could be driving for 75 cents per gallon. I think the converstion costs about $1500.00

I asked him if he noticed reduced power or any other issues. He said power is maybe 10% less but other than that his truck runs great. He did say that the exhaust smells faintly like egg rolls:)

Just a note after reading the above posts. The vegetable oil conversion involves a completely seperate tank for the vegetable oil. So the diesel and vegetable oil do not mix. In summer you can start your car right off the vegetable oil tank. In winter you have to first start the car with diesel, as the engine warms up the heat is transferred back to the vegetable oil tank to heat up the oil. Once the oil is at a hot enough temp you get a light that turns on in the dash alerting you. You then flip a switch and the engine starts using vegetable oil instead of diesel.  My friend has been driving his truck on veggy for the last couple years and hasn't had any problems with starting, clogging or any of the above. He believes that the vegetable oil actually burns cleaner than diesel.

[Brewman]

That's pretty cool- burning waste veggie oil.  Great way to recycle.

[cburk0677]

Pretty cool site if you are interested in learning more about running your car on veggy oil.

http://www.greasecar.com