Anyone thinking of useing bio-diesel?

[STE-MAL]

The other day I carried out a routine six week inspection on an M.A.N truck. It was a 2004 TGA 460A D28 common rail.
Now these vehicles are inspected every six weeks and the fuel pre-filter is checked and cleaned every twelve weeks. The pre-filter is their to catch any large debris before it reaches the main fuel filter, as the fuel filter is only changed every 100'000 km's.
Anyway, this vehicle had been running on bio-diesel for six weeks. The picture below shows a pre-filter (on the left) at a nine week inspection running on regular diesel. The one on the right shows the same filter after suffering six weeks of bio-diesel.
And the fuel filter housings were so swollen they could not be refitted. By the way these should last the life of the truck.

Image000.jpg

[gnhuk]

Jeez.................... Had they filtered the chip fat before putting it in the tank?

[STE-MAL]

Originally Posted by gnhuk

Jeez.................... Had they filtered the chip fat before putting it in the tank?

No mate! That was straight from the fryer. LOL.
And it stinks like a chip pan fire!!

[MissDMeanor]

What is the difference between bio-diesel & the old-fashioned one?

Presumably it is more environmentally friendly??

[STE-MAL]

Originally Posted by MissDMeanor

What is the difference between bio-diesel & the old-fashioned one?

Presumably it is more environmentally friendly??

Bio is cheaper. It's cooking oil and in my opinion it's crap. It is the same as diesel but it is not as refined.

[MissDMeanor]

Originally Posted by STE-MAL

Bio is cheaper. It's cooking oil and in my opinion it's crap. It is the same as diesel but it is not as refined.

Judging by the state of that filter and the fact that it had to be replaced rather than just cleaned I would be very dubious about using it in any vehicle. What other long-term damage is it doing to the engine, I wonder.....

[STE-MAL]

Originally Posted by MissDMeanor

Judging by the state of that filter and the fact that it had to be replaced rather than just cleaned I would be very dubious about using it in any vehicle. What other long-term damage is it doing to the engine, I wonder.....

Exactly Julie!!!!!

[neil stevenson]

Using old chip pan oil, strained or not and mixed with ordinary diesel is not bio diesel.
Properly manufactured bio diesel is clean, burns well and gives off less harmful emissions.
Check out Terry de Whinne's site on bio diesel at www.biofuels.fsnet.co.uk or www.biodiesel.biz .
I have run my 300Tdi Discovery and a 200Tdi Range Rover on it and they both ran quieter and smoother on it.
Try real bio diesel and you will notice the difference.

Cheers.

[Peter Milnes]

Try reading "From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank" by Joshua Tickell. You may not realise it but the first diesel (Dr Rudolf Diesel)ran on peanut oil, which is what it was designed for. I use 100% Biodiesel (B100) made to standard EN14214. All the main manufacturers add Biodiesel to their diesel fuels, necessary to replace the lubricant for the fuel pump which is starved of lubricant by the Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel fuels made today. Their fuel is 5% biodiesel, known as B5and is available throughout the UK. So far few supermarket outlets have taken the plunge. I get my fuel at present from the only B100 pump outlet in Wales. I will shortly be producing my own to the same standard when the cost will be down from 95p/Litre at present to 32p/Litre.

All the best, Peter.

[STE-MAL]

I'll see if I can find out exactly what this vehicle was running on. We have another customer running on so called bio-diesel. They suffer the same as this vehicle did. And they suffer frequent fuel related breakdowns.
It would appear this stuff isn't much good. What does the bio-diesel you guys are using look like? This stuff was very oily and very dark in colour. One thing I did notice is the effect it had on the latex gloves we use when changing the filter. It destroyed the gloves as you would expect but not as quickly as regular diesel. Yet it caused the fuel filter housing cap to swell.