Just got my 2005 F250 Lariat 4x4 with the V8 turbodiesel. saweet.

A friend told be about "biodiesel" (hey, I live in Boulder) and recommended I use it in my truck.

What is it? How is it different from regular diesel? Should I dare bring it near my new truck?

Thanks,
Ron

 

If you make your own biodiesel from waste fryer oil, etc then it has to be extemely clean and the pH has to be right on before you put it into any new direct injection diesel or the leftover resins might cause injector problems.

Mass-refined biodiesel is great stuff. Although more expensive you'll notice pretty much zero black smoke on WOT and it'll smell like french fries to those behind you. No kidding.

Diesel fuel in north america is actually very dirty compared to diesel fuel in Japan and Europe. That's why diesels here have a hard time staying under emissions requirements. That will change in 2006 I believe with cleaner fuel here.

If you've been running fossil fuel diesel for a long time and put bio-diesel into the tank chances are you will clean out your fuel tank and clog your fuel filter because bio-diesel works like a solvent to clean up the residue from conventional diesel so you may find you'll need to change your filter after you first start using it. Otherwise, it really does keep your fuel system super clean. That's the only initial disadvantage, aside from cost per gallon. There are tons of websites on how bio-diesel is made, search on www.google.ca , interesting reading.

 

I recentely examined some engines from a fleet with exact service records, that had run biodiesel for several hundred thousand miles versus engines that had run regular diesel, with the same mileage. The results were astounding different--the biodiesel engines were nasty inside the crankcase, oil gallies, block and oil pan. The regular diesel fueled engines were clean.

I would definetely NOT run biodiesel in an engine I owned. I am not for sure about the consequences of soydiesel.

 

Wow, that's pretty interesting. You'd think it would be the opposite.

Have to do some more research....

 

I'm pretty sure that I read in the owners manual not to run more than a 5% mix of bio. But of course, auto manufacturers recommend all kinds of silly things....