Bio-diesel in Fords is a no-no

[ProjectAviator]

I checked with our service manager at work. Bio-diesel is a no-no in a ford diesel. It will destroy your fuel tank, lines basically your whole fuel system. and void your warranty. leaving you with a hefty repair bill( injectors alone are $1800 a set)

Just a warning for fellow members.

Tim

 

[Turdle]

Just because I want to know---explain please?

How does the damage occur?

 

[IZwack]

http://www.raintreenursery.com/bio.htm

Raintree owner Sam Benowitz and his son Dan, age 18, are now back from driving across the country using bio-diesel. They drove from Raintree Nursery in Southwest Washington to Rockland Maine and back in Dan’s 1999 F-250 Diesel pickup truck that now has 178,000 miles on it. The truck has a 40 gallon truck tank and a 100 gallon transfer tank with 12 volt DC electric pump. They got almost 20 miles per gallon. It was a distance of almost 3,500 miles each way. Dan just graduated from Centralia College with a degree in Diesel Technology. With his concern about the future of the planet and his technical knowledge of diesel engines, Dan wanted to see if the truck would perform well on bio diesel and he wanted to spread the word about using renewable resource fuels. Dan also went back to Maine to continue learning glass blowing and he drove an additional 1,000 miles going to several shows throughout the Northeast.

 

[Rick]

Dodge doesn't want biodiesel to be used in the Cummins either. I've heard it's because the manufacturers claim that a lot of the homemade fuel isn't up to factory purity standards.

 

[Turdle]

Dan also went back to Maine to continue learning glass blowing and he drove an additional 1,000 miles going to several shows throughout the Northeast.


Cool, he's making pipes---lol

 

[BrooklynBay]

I think it's just a way for the manufacturer to prevent their vehicles from being altered. There are guys which make a Prius into a plug in hybrid, and have trippled the mileage. The manufacturer discourages people so that they won't make any modifications. They want you to believe that the way it comes off the assembly line is the best it could be. I'm sure that not everything they make is good (the tornado is junk, and came to my mind first). AlDive made his vehicle better than a factory equipped vehicle so I'm sure that there is always room for improvement.

 

['97 V8]

Its becuase of the injectors i think. I' read somewhere on one of the ford tech diesel forums, that a single human blood cell can clog the injector?

 

[briwayjones]

I checked with our service manager at work. Bio-diesel is a no-no in a ford diesel. It will destroy your fuel tank, lines basically your whole fuel system. and void your warranty. leaving you with a hefty repair bill( injectors alone are $1800 a set)

Just a warning for fellow members.

Tim

What kind of Bio-Diesel? There are many different types made from different things.

 

[Doug]

Is that the new 6.4 or is that all Diesels? There are a bunch of people on The Diesel stop running anywhere from 5% bio diesel to 100% with no i'll affects.

 

[dogfriend]

Its becuase of the injectors i think. I' read somewhere on one of the ford tech diesel forums, that a single human blood cell can clog the injector?

You're making bio-diesel out of human remains?!!!

 

[E.B. Cornburner]

I think they're just trying to shy people away from making their own biodiesel that may not be up to the quality of manufactured biodiesel.
Up here, B3 is the highest concentration of soy that we can get at the pump, due to the gelling points being higher than straight diesel.

My boss uses B3 in his Chevy 6.5 diesel wrecker all the time. It smokes less and the engine seems to have less "clatter" both cold and hot.

I was told that B3 has better lubricity than even the old high sulphur diesel, so why manufacturers wouldn't want it is beyond me. Lots of your off-the-shelf lubricity additives are soy based. Schaeffer's Soy Ultra is sold in lots of truck stops and truckers swear by it. IIRC, Howe's Lubricator is another soy based product.

 

[JoshC]

Is that the new 6.4 or is that all Diesels? There are a bunch of people on The Diesel stop running anywhere from 5% bio diesel to 100% with no i'll affects.

Original post said a 99 SD, so it's like yours, 7.3

 

[justin146]

You can get biodiesel at the pump here, and my '06 PSD drank alot of it...

 

[BryanB]

You're making bio-diesel out of human remains?!!!

bio-diesel = soylent green

 

[dogfriend]

bio-diesel = soylent green

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_green

"Soylent Green is people!"

Just keep those red blood cells out and everything should be ok.

 

[Brian1]

From Bankspower.com tech:
"Our final consideration is the compatibility of biodiesel fuel with typical automotive diesel engines. Biodiesel is reportedly usable in any diesel engine with little or no modification to the engine or fuel system. Blends of up to 20 percent biodiesel mixed with petroleum diesel can be used in nearly all automotive diesel applications without modification or concern. Biodiesel fuel can damage rubber hoses and rubber seals. It is always best to check with the manufacturer of your vehicle before using biodiesel, and in any case, it is wise to check hoses and seals after six month’s use of biodiesel. The higher the percentage of biodiesel in the blend, the more important such checks become. Biodiesel has a solvent effect that may release deposits accumulated in the fuel system of the vehicle. These deposits then collect in the fuel filter, which can clog. Clogging occurs most often when biodiesel is first used after a period of operation on petroleum diesel. Filters should be changed after the first several hours of biodiesel use. After that, clogging is less likely to be a problem, but frequent fuel filter checks are a good idea."

 

[Doug]

What Brian posted is pretty much correct. From what I understand Biodiesel won't affect the seals and hoses on newer trucks. I'm not 100% sure where the break is in years but it's the older 7.3s and 6.9s that would have an issue with bio diesel attacking seals and hoses. The older trucks use a different kind of rubber that is more prone to degredation from Bio Diesel.