[LRS]

Originally Posted by chunderground

We have been stitched up good and proper the EU and UK legislators and the motor manufacturers.
End of Rant

This is a completley insane situation!

The poor, powerless consumer has no choice but to fill their car with diesel fuel that the EU has deemed necessary to add bio-fuel to save planet earth. This then has a direct negative effect on the engine oil quality because yet another EU planet earth saver - the DPF, has also been deemed necessary...

The poor old consumer will also have no power of recourse from the vehicle manufacturer as they have been able to distance their responsibility away from this diabolical situation.

Does anyone know if the 7% bio-diesel statute applies the same to all diesel fuel types e.g. Shell normal diesel compared to Shell VPower diesel?

What a complete nightmare...

Below is an excerp from the EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM TO THE BIOFUEL (LABELLING) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS 2009
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2...0093277_en.pdf

3.2 Vehicle Compatibility and Fuel Standards

Bioethanol and biodiesel have different properties from petrol and diesel and these can limit the percentage of biofuel that can be added to petrol and diesel if the resultant blend is to be compatible with existing vehicles in the vehicle fleet. Industry fuel standards are developed jointly by the fuel and automotive industries to ensure compatibility of vehicles and fuels. The European industry standards for petrol and diesel are EN 228 and EN 590
respectively. For some years these have permitted up to 5% bioethanol and 5% biodiesel content, by volume, in petrol and diesel. The EU Biofuels Directive 2003/30/EC reflects these constraints in its Article 3(5) which
requires Member States to ensure that a specific label is applied to pumps dispensing fuels containing more than 5% biofuel by volume.
However, recently industry have reviewed the percentage of biodiesel with which diesel vehicles are compatible concluding that a 7% blend level is acceptable for normal diesel vehicles (a few car and van manufacturers warrant vehicles to run on up to 30% blends and some heavy duty vehicle manufacturers produce vehicles capable of running on pure
biodiesel).
The key limiting factor is the introduction of Diesel Particulate Filters (DPF) on new diesel vehicles. This technology is being introduced in response to the stringent ‘Euro 5’ emissions standards that are being phased in for new cars and vans between 1st September 2009 and 1st January 2012, although a small number of earlier vehicles are also fitted with this technology. A DPF physically filters out soot particles from the vehicle’s 9 exhaust; periodically, stored soot has to be burnt off the DPF (a process known as ‘regeneration’) in order to prevent the DPF blocking and bringing the vehicle to a halt. Most
vehicles regenerate DPFs by injecting a small amount of additional fuel into the engine very late in the combustion cycle (a process known as ‘post-injection’) in order to raise exhaust temperatures to a level where the soot stored in the DPF burns. Post-injection inevitably results in some fuel getting past the piston rings and into the engine’s sump, diluting the lubricating oil. The boiling point of fossil diesel is low enough that it boils off, out of the lubricating oil during normal engine operation, preventing significant dilution of
the oil’s lubricating properties. Biodiesel has a higher boiling point and hence tends to accumulate in lubricating oil resulting in accelerated engine wear unless oil change frequency is increased. Vehicle manufacturers have identified a 7% biodiesel content as the level beyond which ‘oil dilution’ becomes a significant issue. As a result of the above, in discussions on amending the industry diesel fuel standard (EN 590) to permit a higher biodiesel content vehicle manufacturers agreed to permitting up to
7% biodiesel content, but no more, in diesel. EN 590:2009, permitting up to 7% biodiesel content in diesel, was agreed by the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) on 12th March 2009.