He will likely increase the maintinence costs and decrease the longevity of his diesel engines due to the corrosive nature of the fuel. I would not reccomend a high concentration at all due to that fact. Chrysler won't support more than B20 I believe, and even then that is simply because they want it to last through the warranty peroid.

OldNavy - There are exceptions to every rule, and plenty of vehicles that may last a very long time. The real questions are: Of the problems that they have had, how many have considered that BD may be why some things are wearing out, and if it lasts 350k miles, how much longer might it last without BD? You can't answer these without empiracle testing, of course, but they are valid. Pointing to anecdotes does not prove anything.

I mentioned it in another thread, but I have a good friend who works for a military contractor. They have done long haul testing on the engine in our Jeeps(and its big brother, a version they use in the military thats heavily modded) and he put it this way: You halve the life of the VM Motori CRD with B100 fuel. They saw it consistantly, and fuel quality was not the reason(controlled environment and sources). You don't have to believe this of course, and I expect that many will not. I can't publish results because I did not run the tests myself(he won't do a writeup, he is not certain what he is allowed to state publicly). I am however a test engineer by trade(although not for cars) and I do trust the methodologies they were using.

OldNavy - There are exceptions to every rule, and plenty of vehicles that may last a very long time. The real questions are: Of the problems that they have had, how many have considered that BD may be why some things are wearing out, and if it lasts 350k miles, how much longer might it last without BD? You can't answer these without empiracle testing, of course, but they are valid. Pointing to anecdotes does not prove anything.

I mentioned it in another thread, but I have a good friend who works for a military contractor. They have done long haul testing on the engine in our Jeeps(and its big brother, a version they use in the military thats heavily modded) and he put it this way: You halve the life of the VM Motori CRD with B100 fuel. They saw it consistantly, and fuel quality was not the reason(controlled environment and sources). You don't have to believe this of course, and I expect that many will not. I can't publish results because I did not run the tests myself(he won't do a writeup, he is not certain what he is allowed to state publicly). I am however a test engineer by trade(although not for cars) and I do trust the methodologies they were using.

G-Funk - Diesel in general is a lubricant, but Biodiesel is a solvant just like gasoline. It will eat away at an engine that was simply not engineered to run with a solvant inside. It will degrade even the metal over time. Ever wonder why gas engines last roughly half as long as diesels despite lower pressures/compression? Diesel people like to believe its 'superior engineering and tolerances' but thats only part of the equation. The fuel is the other part.

Once again, I don't expect certain people here to believe me. I know that biofuels have become a religion to many who do not understand the chemistry or the science behind them. There is nothing I can do about that. But I am qualified to talk about them, and I do understand what is going on here.

For some information on where I am coming from, read my reply to this thread: http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/vie ... hp?t=15586

Wow, a cat fight over biodiesel. Who wudda thunk?

How does B100 differe from the BD they used in europe? there is only one grade that I have seen at the pumps here and that is all.

They have done long haul testing on the engine in our Jeeps(and its big brother, a version they use in the military thats heavily modded)
G-Funk - Diesel in general is a lubricant, but Biodiesel is a solvant just like gasoline.
Once again, I don't expect certain people here to believe me. I know that biofuels have become a religion to many who do not understand the chemistry or the science behind them. There is nothing I can do about that. But I am qualified to talk about them, and I do understand what is going on here.

well.........

I'd put my money on oldnavy and Darby.

An engine, any engine is designed for a purpose. I had a chat recently with a long time Jeep service manager here in Ireland just the other day. I was asking about our 2.8 Vm motor verses the 2.5 sold in the KJ here. The discussion moved along to VM motors generally and then a short discussion about detroitdiesel.

Most of us would be shocked at how many VM "general purpose" diesel engines our military uses and/or has used in the past.

Isn't the U.S. Navy doing research on bio-d?? Anyway....

Isn't the VP-44 a Bosch pump? Shoot, and there was another pump that did really poorly on the more viscus fuels.

However, those pumps and at this point all of our engines have been designed to run on good old #2 dino.

Am I willing to trade longevity to see us begin to use friendlier fuel? Sooooo.... my lil' Italian can get lets say 250k miles instead of 350k miles?? Seeing how its sitting in a Chrysler product to begin with, everything else will have been replaced twice anyway. So, I say yes.

My saying is this, "If you want to come down off the porch and run with the big dawgs, be prepared to get nipped in the arse [higher maintenance costs] once in a while. And, if you don't like the nibble, then stay up there, safe with the other pups." [drivin' a Honda]