Manufacturer's policies on Bio Diesel

Yes I suppose it is a bit of an unknown for Manufacturers at the moment. I myself have been researching whether it will be a good idea for for my 93 80 series 1HZ. I have heard that engines are that much smoother when run on B20 or above. Might make some one day and trial. Nobody sells it where I am at the moment to trial so will just listen to what views anyone else has.
Tim

Yes I remember reading it, basically use biofuel and kiss the warranty good buy.

I asked a diesel repairer today about biodiesel and my 1HD-FTE Landcruiser, and he said it would wipe years off the life of my injection pump. I'd expect him to give a straight answer.

There is a lot of ignorance on this subject. Most mechanics have never received training on it's use, and know little about it, besides some myth or rumour or other.

Manufacturers live on the testing and advice received from the oil manufacturers, most of which have full-time reps onsite with the manufacturers. They don't want people introduced to alternative products, and the manufacturers thus have no reason to provide balanced information on the question. They promote Fear Uncertainty and Doubt instead.

There are a number of real questions:

1. what really matters to you - if the manufacturer's warranty is well and truly over, then at least for me, what they say doesn't matter a toss
2. why do you want to use it? For me, fact is that it is a sustainable fuel, with NO emissions to speak of. I actually pay about 10cpl less than dino diesel too (if you are in SA, you can buy it from a number of SAFF outlets at this price).
3. what will it do to your engine? For most modern engine, and not so modern, like the '99 1HZ I have, it will run smoother, similar efficiency, and cleaner - thus increasing engine life.

It is likely to require an additional replacement of a fuel filter, as it cleans out crud from years of fossil fuel use in your fuel system (Biodiesel is a better solvent). Older engines with natural rubber will need hoses and the like replaced - but they would need this to use Low Sulpher Diesel anyway.

Interesting too that BMW, MB and Volkswagen all positively encourage the use of Biodiesel in Europe (for the same engines).

There is an Australian Standard for Biodiesel which all retailers are supposed to comply with - if they don't you can report them. The standard is more stringent than the standard for fossil fuel diesel.

Lastly, like with any bad fuel, if your engine is affected by Biodiesel from a retail outlet, take a sample of the fuel; report them, and seek recompense from them.

Cheers
Andrew smelling like the fish and chip shop.

My advice comes from a guy who designs bio diesel plants and runs his own bio business. I am also suprised about VW as in europe some of their engines are actually reccommended to use bio, alot like some jap cars ask you to use premium all the time. The VW engines are not different here. Also over here a lot of brands are brought in by aussie distributors who have to personally deal with warrantys. Given that we are way way behind the ball on bio fuels here and most people dont have access, why the hell would they want to warranty bio? Its bad business. But the consumer who does not kick up a stink misses out. As for the crops growing and acting as a carbon sink, if the machines run on dino diesel then its a reduction of 70% in emmissions, you can have zero emissions if all supporting equipment uses bio diesel. So BD is actaually 100% renewable with zero emissions.

The guy I know has a brand new common rail Pug running 100% bio. Runs like a dream. My car on bio also shows much better ability BUT its harder to start. Anything less than 100% bio will fix the starting problems but I recon 100% is best.

Doesn't this all sound similar to the ethanol debate a few years ago?

Just the manufacturers being conservative I would say

Rolande

Gday Mother...:0
We have been running 10% Bio in the Patrol for nearly two years now, without a single problem. We fuel up out at Lorrie's in Kelmscott...they use the stuff Gull make.
As well as the patrol, i run it in our truck, which has a Cat 425hp motor, and i think the old girl runs alot better on Bio. The economy dropped off for a short period when we first started using the Bio, but quickly returned to normal.
So for me at least i have no problem using Bio at all, especially when it is usually about 6cpl cheaper than most other places. And using roughly 500-600lts every three days,,,well there is a big saving over a year.

meow.

rick.

Isn't it about time that the vehicle manufacturers lifted their game so that vehicle can run on bio- diesel. We have just taken delivery of a brand new Mercedes Sprinter and was told not to run it on bio-diesel or are the vehicle manufacturers in the pocket of the big fuel companies????????

All those that buy fuel at Volume Plus (in NSW at least) are running bio at up to (it is suspected) 40 %. I've been running B100 in the warmer months with sero problems, does make cold starts harder as the weather cools though. Usually any mix up with dino relieves the cold start problem.
Having had an injection pump on a 1HZ work vehicle totally rebuilt at 190k as it was totally buggered after running on Dino all that time I'd say things could only improve by running it on bio.
Especially with the increased lubricity, apparently most dino has bio added these days to replace lubricity lost with the sulphur removal anyway.
No advantage to the employer with a tiny fleet to change though when using fuel cards from Shell etc.