B20 DC approved for 2007 Cummins

[RLighthall]

Maybe ya'll saw this already; I don't get time to read through the forums very often...



http://www.biodiesel.org/resources/pressreleases/fle/20060123_DCXapprovesB20inDodgeRam.pdf

 

[TowPro]

How many people now run B20 or more in there "pre" 07 trucks?

 

[ddutil]

Should't we have a poll on this? Dan

 

[Dieselnerd]

Last year Minnesota mandated by law that a percentage of biodiesel be added to all diesel fuel for sale in the state. Some trucking companies reported some filter clogging but it was not a major problem for most. They did stop for 30 days or so just before I left for the winter to iron out some supplier formulation problems. I believe the initial percentage added was 5%. I didn't notice any difference with my truck. The percentage will be increased over time, I don't recall the final number but I think it is supposed to be 10%.

 

[TowPro]

I bet because of its cleaning ability it might bring "gunk" out of your tank, into your filter the first time you use it?

 

[Cattletrkr]

MN mandate is 2% I don't know anything about upping that #. I started running B5 back in April and worked my way up to B40. I'm at B2 for winter. Once spring arrives I'll go back to B20 if they don't jack the price.



I had absolutely no probs at all until after the mandate went thru. Then I had 3 filters on the barrel and 2 on the truck go bad. Someone somewhere was trying to give bio a black eye. I for one didn't fall for it.

 

[TowPro]

I read somewhere Bio only has a shelf life of 6 months.

 

[nickleinonen]

i ran b20 in mine for a while, until the station close to me selling it closed down. i guess the geographical location it was in the station wasn't making profit with it

 

[Brock]

On SPIKE tv... they had entire episode on making your own biodiesel and then they ran it in a CTD at 100% and it ran great..... Why the worries about 5% or 20% when I just watched a guy drain his tank... spend a couple hours making his own biodiesel in a kit system... and then smoking the tires running 20 gallons through the Dodge 2500...



Anybody actually bought one of these $3000 systems for making your own Biodiesel? I saw on Willie Nelsons website tehre is only one station selling it in my state and it is in opposite corner... .

 

[Dieselnerd]

Cattletrkr, thanks for the memory jog. I got a little thing in the mail from the state telling about the biodiesel being added but I left it at home and I'm here in AZ for the winter. I never had any problems but I had a new truck so I probably didn't have much gunk in the tank. I thought it was a good thing that they were adding it to the fuel since it's supposed to add lubricity.

 

[Alan Reagan]

On the comment about "cleaning out the system", the B-20 sold here has been having problems with what appears to be glycerin clogging the filters.

 

[nickleinonen]

On the comment about "cleaning out the system", the B-20 sold here has been having problems with what appears to be glycerin clogging the filters.

i think the more common problem is the methanol in the fuel cleans as a solvent all the junk in your fuel subsystem and that junk ends up in your filter. once it is cleaned out though, you shoudn't have too many issues

 

[PKitzman]

It would be nice to see 2% Biodiesel across the county. Unfortunately the US doesn't have the BD production capacity to even make up 1%... yet. Our biodiesel production capacity is increasing very rapidly and should hit the 1% mark in another year or two. I would anticipate that there will be a gradual increase in mandates across the county starting in the midwest. I see a very bright future for biodiesel.

 

[Alan Reagan]

i think the more common problem is the methanol in the fuel cleans as a solvent all the junk in your fuel subsystem and that junk ends up in your filter. once it is cleaned out though, you shoudn't have too many issues

I thought so, too. However, a coworker has been using it for about six months. He had to change out filters twice the first week. Then, last week he had to change again and the filter was clogged with a transparent, light grey coating similar to wax. He's been running long enough that it shouldn't be a problem with "gunk".

 

[Dieselnerd]

The truckers in MN that reported problems described the filters clogged with "Slime" according to an article I read in the newspaper.

 

[Alan Reagan]

That's more like what I experienced... ... slime. I don't think it's coming out of my system. It happened to a coworker who has been using the stuff regularly for six months.

 

[BStoecker]

Think about it. They start adding bio-diesel to the storage tanks that have traditionally held dino diesel. Think about all the gunk that would have built up in those tanks. Add some bio-diesel that naturally cleans all that crap out. It's gonna end up somewhere...

 

[PKitzman]

Don't the gas station pumps go through a fuel filter at the pump before delivery to the customer? I could be wrong, but I've seen some older pumps that have a filter right on the hose just after it comes out of the meter box.



Of course, if the fuel filter is plugging every couple hours from a bunch of gunk in the tank the guy behind the counter or owner may be tempted to just leave it out or stick a more porus filter in...

 

[Alan Reagan]

All very good points. In my case, this is a new fleet fueling center. The B20 and Off Road Diesel tanks were installed at the same time just to handle these added products (big farm area).



There are filters on the pumps. Apparently, they don't stop this stuff from getting pumped through.



Finally, I worked on a fuel storage facility when I was in college. We used to "pull the bottom off the tanks" about once a month. That entailed opening a valve connected to the very bottom of the tank to drain off water/sludge. The crap that came out of that two inch line would gag you. It was black and a combination of water, sulfur, and stuff that arrived out of the pipeline. It was long enough ago that this stuff was drained onto the ground instead of being put into a slop tank for proper disposal.



The pickups for the racks were located about two feet above the bottom. However, as the tanks got low on fuel, they would sometimes stir the product somehow and pick up that stuff. We would usually pull the bottom when we detected about 4 inches of water. That was pretty quick in the tanks that didn't have floating roofs.

 

[PKitzman]

AHHH!!! I think I could have gone a long time without knowing about these last few bits of info... oh well, I guess it's better knowing than having my head burried in the sand. I guess it would be best to fill up at stations that have the highest volume of sales so you get a smaller percentage of **** in your fuel. I have a feeling that just because the station sells a name brand fuel doesn't mean they don't participate in some of these shady practices.



I know that gas stations get checked for pumping accuracy, do they also get periodically checked for fuel QUALITY... if not they should.