I ran biodiesel in my 04 2500 CTD. I ran 50/50 bio and diesel. WHen I first started using it, on cold mornings my truck had a hard time starting, but once I change the fuel filter it ran great! I would recommend it especially since the diesel price just went over $4.00 a gallon in Tx. The last time
I bought bio it was about $1.75 a gallon!

 

I've been running B20 in my truck since September of 07. I have dropped the tank twice since then, and both time it was clean enough to eat out of. Never had any filter problems. Still use the same filter I get from the local parts store and change it every other oil change. I get better MPG and truck runs quieter. I even tow my 30ft horse trailer with it. The cost is usually right at the same as D2 or a little less. It is certainly cheaper than buying an additive to put in the tank.

 

note the Shell Oil ads running on TV right now
about 'GTL'
which is 'natural Gas to Liquids'
and is bragging about what a great diesel fuel
the chemical
'dimethyl ether'
is

Also note this recent US Air Force request for bids
to build a synthetic fuel plant on an air force base
at Malmstrom in central Montana:

http://tinyurl.com/32zpal

 

Who told you not to? Have they used it? Who did they know that has had their engined gunked because of it.

If a pot head like good ol boy willie nelson can run his bus off of it then anyone can, hell he's been doing this for years now, want to say 5 or more.

Engines can run off of a lot of things other than gas, the Germans liquified coal during WWII to run their airplanes.

 

I have been running B20 in my 05 since I bought it about 1 year ago. I started using it by accident. I have never had a diesel before and I just went to the place down the street and filled up. After a few tanks I saw the tag that said B20 American Biodiesel I figured I wrecked my truck. The next tank I filled up with regular ULSD and noticed right off the bat that it was louder and not as smooth. After a while I started getting worse MPG. So on here I read about bio cleaning the system and plugging filters. Thanks to you guys, I saw how easy it was to change the filter. After that no problems. I run B20 most of the time. My truck just runs better on it. I don't really see any decrease in MPG. I haven't tried B100 yet. There is a place in Salt Lake that does sell it. I might have to try it this summer.
I have thought of brewing my own. Real Bio is pretty distilled stuff. There is a lot of filtration, removing glycerin and water. It is not just dumping in WVO and going. It seems to me that it is about on par with brewing beer. You need some time to do it and make it your hobby. I have a lot of hobbies..... So for now I will be paying at the pump. But if prices keep climbing I might be looking for a source of oil to make my own.

There is a lot of mumbo jumbo about Bio Diesel. If done right it seems to be fantastic. If wrong it can be a huge fricken mess. I am doubtfull of some of the pictures I saw with B20 causing build up of gunk. That goes against everything I have read about the cleaning properties of the stuff. That could have been some seriously unfiltered WVO to cause that kind of problem. And where was the fuel filter?

Here is the page right off the Cummins sight for the use of Bio Diesel. For the Dodge Ram Turbo Diesel they only endorse it for commercial and gov't fleet vehicles. I guess those are special........ At least they are making an effort and researching the use of it. It sounds like they endorse it for a lot of big trucks and heavy equipment.
http://www.everytime.cummins.com/eve..._biodiesel.jsp

 

Howdy all, I'm new to the board, but on my second cummins. My first was a 93 3500, and I just bought a 97 2500. I have run biodiesel, I have also converted several dodges, and other vehicles to run svo, and am currently working to promote sustainable fuels in Vermont, as well as the rest of the country. I will post some more direct responses to some of the posts, which will include as much back up info as I can, as well as links, but in the meantime let me just make a couple of general points:

I have run b-100 exclusively in my old dodge, through the summer months, and b-50 in the winter. I lived in western north carolina at the time. Several observations on bio diesel in 1st gen cummins include, similar fuel economy, similar power, and a distinct reduction in visible exhaust, specifically, my pump was turned up and due to turbo lag, when i would stomp on it would get a nice pleasing black cloud for a few seconds until the turbo spooled up. This disappeared on any blend of bio greater than b30ish, with noticable decrease with as little as b10. I had no issues with rubber degredation, nor with filter clogging, with the exception of initially replacing the filter once about 1000 miles after switching to b-100, after that i went thousands of miles with no problem. I was buying astm certified biodiesel, and did a 'swish test' to check it.

When i was doing svo conversions, I had a fellow with a second gen (I believe it was a 94) come in with a fuel leak on the boot on his lift pump, where it appeared the b100 he was using had weakened the boot, though I had no prior xperience with that truck, so it is possible it was just normal wear, it is also possible he was not using quality biodiesel.

My over all experience with biodiesel, which includes my dodges, mercedes, and several vw's is that anything b-20 or under will not pose any issues, fuel economy is similar, and there were no filter or rubber issues.

Bio diesel has a slightly lower btu density than d-2, however it has a much higher lubricity. Currently in the US there is no biodiesel mandate, however in europe, all diesel sold must contain at least 5% biodiesel.
The combination of btu vs lubricity generally means that any change in performance will be minimal, and not particularly noticable, however anecdotally, and from my own experience you will have a smoother running engine with a decrease in exhaust.

Biodiesel is good for the economy, every dollar spent on biodiesel made from us grown grain supports an american farmer, and the money stays in the US instead of being exported to countries unfriendly towards America.

Biodiesel is good for national security, as it is produced by honest to goodness red blooded americans, here in america, instead of countries that hate our freedom, and are halfway across the world. Ask King george, napoleon and hitler what happens to armies that are dependent on long supply lines (oh wait, you can't, their armies were beaten)

Biodiesel is renewable, once an oilfield dries up its done, when an oilseed field dries up its winter, next spring its ready again. It can also be produced by other means, such as algae, which can use sewage or manure runoff to produce biodiesel much more efficiently than currently done, and also improve groundwater quality, and stream health (I love fishing, but won't eat fish downstream from a sewage plant, would you?)

Biodiesel is non toxic, to paraphrase of crocodile dundee: you can eat it, but it tastes like... rancid soapy grease. It is biodegradeable, so instead of poisoning drinking water like petroleum can, it breaks down if it is spilled.

It is a great solvent (i have found it under its chemical name, methyl ester, in several 'natural' cleaners. )

The majority of incidents involving biodiesel, when traced to their roots, involved either poor quality fuel, or poorly rinsed fuel. The biodiesel process involves methanol and lye, either of which, if left in the finished product can corrode your fuel system. Also, especially if made from waste veggie oil, there is a possibility for a build up of particulate matter (french fry dust, if you will) which can continue to clog filters, or worse yet get through filters. (especially pertenant if you are, err, blessed with a vp-44, where any particulate contamination can wreak havoc). Make sure that the fuel you get meets the astm standard, or at least comes from a reputable producer. I would give any fuel a swish test, put a couple inches of it in a clean 1 liter soda bottle, add a couple of inches of water, and shake vigorously for a few minutes, then set the bottle down and allow it to settle. It will seperate into two layers, hopefully a clean water layer with a clear layer of biodiesel on top. if the water discolors, the biodisel has not been adequately rinsed, and has particulates in it, if you get a white layer in between, not all the lye has been rinsed out, and has saponified (turned some of the oil to soap) and I would not use it, If the biodiesel remains cloudy there is some contamination that has allowed it to emulsify and should not be used (note that 1 when seen from above or below the border between bio and water will seem silvery, sort of like an air bubble and 2 that the biodiesel layer will seem cloudy for a little while due to shaking, and depending on how vigorously it is shaken, if it doesent clear up within an hour I would consider it suspect).
the test is not 100% conclusive, it is a good guideline however.
Also, high quality biodiesel should be good for a vp-44, since it increases lubricity, and the pump is fuel lubricated...

I will add my svo notes later.

~Ben

::edit:: fixed a spelling error

 

The idea that an engine manufacturer will void a warranty for using biodiesel is a common fear, however there are two things to consider. First of all, engine manufacturers donot warrant fuel, they warrant the materials and workmanship of their engine, therefor, any problem caused by fuel, be it a bad batch of petroleum diesel (imagine what would happen to a vp44 if it were fed unleaded by mistake, which could happen if a fuel carrier accidently filled the wrong bulk tank at the station) or biodiesel. If it is a fuel based problem it falls to the fuel producer or seller to stand behind their product. What the manufacturers do is list 'reccomanded fuels' in their warranty, actually most engine manufacturers specifically say they will not void warantees for biodiesel and I do not know of any that specifically say they will void a warranty for using it, it just may not be specifically recomended.
The second thing, is that dodge fills b-5 at the factory. All dodge specifically recomends biodiesel up to b-5 for all dodges, and b-20 in 2007 and later models. They are working with the biodiesel board and the astm to work up a specific astm b-20 standard so that they can add it to the recomanded fuels list for pre-07 models as well.
They do recommend that the fuel is astm- certified.
If you look at engine warrantees overall, many tractor manufacturers recomend up to b100 (John deere on select models, case...) again, in most cases as long as it is astm certified.
If a moderator gives me the thumbs up, I can give links to any info. I do not specifically recomend particular companies, I am not trying to sell anything though in the interest of full disclosure, I do work in the field of biofuels developing biodiesel processors and straight veggie oil conversions, as well as promoting the 25/25 initiative (25% of our fuel being grown in the us by American farmers, by 2025) and Vermont Biofuels production.
~Ben

 

Actually there is are several standards, the astm d 6751 is the US standard, and there is an even stricter EU standard. there is even a milspec for biodiesel, though I'd have to look it up. There are currently over 45million miles problem free on astm certified bio diesel, according to the biodiesel board.

~Ben

 

Some SVO notes.

First of all, I do SVO conversions, and I stake my reputation on building a system that will not fail or cause problems. I also like to inform others, and have helped folks set up their own system, as I would rather see someone have a sucessful system than get ripped off and have a system that harms their engine, and end up with more SVO HORROR STORIES ::GASP::
Anyhow, there are several important points I would like to make.
First, of all, SVO is not Biodiesel... Biodiesel is veggie oil or other fat (chicken fat is suprisingly sucessful) that has been chemically changed in a process called trans esterification, which is similar to making soap. Biodiesel is the fatty acid methyl (or ethyl) ester of whatever kinda oild you start with, and can run in any diesel with no modifications.
The othere safe way to burn veggie oil, is to go with an svo system. Basically, the diesel engine was designed to burn veggie oil, however, the oil guys found that the crud left over from refining gasoline and kerosene would burn in Rudolph Diesel's engine, so they marketed it as 'diesel fuel' (actually, chemically there is no such thing as diesel fuel, it is a mix of different chemicals that meet certain standards, there is more uniformity in biodiesel thatn petro-diesel). So, the engine was designed to burn veggie oil, HOWEVER, in the hundred years since then, engines have been tweaked to burn diesel better.
Diesel is thinner and runnier than veggie oil, and injection pumps and injectors have been perfected for diesel use. If you run cold veggie oil through the stock injectors you will not get a good spray pattern, and you will get poor combustion. Therefor, you need to either thin the veggie oil with some sort of solvent (diesel, kerosene, or some such) or heat your oil so it will thin. If you do not do this you WILL have problems eventually.
What will happen if you do not thin the veggie oil:
1 Your fuel will not atomize so you will end up with carbon deposits and coning on your injectors.
2 You will get unburnt oil accumulating in your cylinder since it is not burning, this will do several things, it will find it's way through your rings into your lube oil, it will accumulate carbon from the combustion, and it will become varnish on your cylinder walls. Shiny black varnish. Lots of it. Hard, incredibly durable, incredibly resistant to solvents....
3 eventually the temp will drop to below 35 or so degrees and your liquid oil will become shortening. Shortening does not tend to flow very well through fuel systems.
You will probably be fine for several thousand miles running cold unthinned svo, then one day you will start to notice power loss, if you are on the ball you might pull your injectors and notice a carbon build up and be able to either clean the injectors or more likely replace them and have no further probs (for awhile if you keep running cold svo). If you are like me, you will probably limp along for a while.... Hopefully you do something before your engine oil becomes a varnish sludge (not so good for lubricating) or you need to rebuild your engine and hone your block to remove the coking....
Many folks have had luck with blending solvents with oil, they have managed to thin it consistantly, they have managed to keep it from seperating in the tank, they have not had the DMV dip test their tank and find kerosene, they have not added enough gasoline to raise the octane to a point where it will not combust in a compression engine.... I am not a fan of solvent based svo, you can have good luck with it, but I prefer not depend on luck.
I recomend a well designed two tank svo system for most vehicles. You can buy a kit for arond 2500, (heck, I'll even sell ya one) but you can save yourself lots of cash and build your own. Basically, the most dependable systems use a coolant loop to heat a heat exchanger which your oil will run through, and a seperate tank and fuel filter, along with a series of solenoid valves to switch between svo and diesel.
The KEY thing is to control heat. You have to heat your oil to extremely high temps to match diesel's viscosity, however at 140-160 it is close enough to burn cleanly.
Let me say one thing loud and clear:
THE STOCK VP44 IS UNSUITABLE FOR SVO CONVERSION.
THE STOCK VP44 IS UNSUITABLE FOR SVO CONVERSION.
EVERY issue I have personally seen with a dodge svo conversion was with the vp44.
The heat required to bring the fuel up to safe temp is more than the electronics can take... one with the fedex modifications is possibly ok, but overall the vp44 is as unreliable as an svo pump as it is a diesel pump. (I don't like the verypoorfortyfour, in fact have retrofitted a 24v to the 12v pump(it was a pain, I would gladly talk about it if anyone is interested)
So basically, the system works as follows, you start on diesel (or biodiesel) and run the engine til your coolant is up to temp (some poorly designed systems reqire you run on diesel untill the coolant heats your veggie tank, about 30-45 minutes) and you switch over to veggie, you run on veggie, then you switch over to a purge setting shortly before you stop (if you are going to be stopped long enough to let the engine cool) so that you don't end up with veggie in your fuel system, and have problems starting. You can heat your tank electrically as well, so that you can plug in and keep your veggie tank hot if you want, as well as add 12volt heaters to the system to augment heat durning cold weather or lond descents etc.

Another thing to consider is your veggie oil source, it should be liquid at 'room temp' and not rancid, and there should be no water in it. You should filter it, and allow it to settle before pumping it into your tank. If you are pumping straight from the grease trap, vat, or barrel directly into your fuel tank, you risk getting much more water in the system than your filter can handle. Also, if there is residue from degreaser in that water you will have corrosion issues. Basically, you should pump into at least a 55 gal drum, through a filter, (200 thread cound bedsheets work well, and are cheap and reusable) then allow the drum to sit for at least 24hrs, and carefully pump the oil from the top, until you see the schmutz level which will form at the bottom.

You can assemble the parts yourself for a very dependable svo kit for several hundred to 1000 dollars or you can buy essentially the same thing for more than twice that, you are basically paying for someone else to do your leg work, and a manual to install the kit. Many kits do not regulate heat well, some do not even have a temp gauge!
~Ben

::edit fixing some typos, good thing I'm not a secretary::

 

I been using B-100 in my 2004, 3500 CTDfor about a 2 months. Avg MPG is 25.5 and quiter...BTW keep a fuel filter near by because it will clean out your line.