Bio Diesel. Yes or no?

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chri5k

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Usually the fuel filters clog up early only once. Bio-diesel will take carbon out of your engine and some of it shows up in the fuel filters. Always carry spares onboard for that reason. After the first filter change, bio fuel should not clog up your engine filters any faster than straigt dino fuel.
Can you explain how carbon from the engine (assume combustion chamber) somehow gets back into the fuel tank to then be caught in the fuel filter?
 

Gr8bawana

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Usually the fuel filters clog up early only once. Bio-diesel will take carbon out of your engine and some of it shows up in the fuel filters. Always carry spares onboard for that reason. After the first filter change, bio fuel should not clog up your engine filters any faster than straigt dino fuel.
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ppine

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Wax and gelling are mostly a problem when the weather is below freezing.
The fuel filter clogging problem is described in several articles. Biodeisel removes impurities from your fuel system and injectors. i am just reporting what i read.
 

Gr8bawana

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Wax and gelling are mostly a problem when the weather is below freezing.
The fuel filter clogging problem is described in several articles. Biodeisel removes impurities from your fuel system and injectors. i am just reporting what i read.
You still didn't tell us how is is even possible for any carbon from the engine to get into the fuel system. :rolleyes:
 

ppine

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It is a good question. Don't believe everything you read on the internet.
 

Choupique

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If you're going to turn it over than it's good stuff. It doesn't store worth a damn. It loves water and algea. otherwise, it's got great lubricating qualities.
 

Travelin Ram

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There’s a lot of internet scary stuff circulating around. I don’t give it a second thought. Fact is at many pumps you do not know because the label says “may” contain up to 20% etc. And diesel is a commodity where the buyer or wholesaler will substitute depending on price and availability.

We were dealing with water in fuel and biological growth in diesel decades ago. These are not new problems.

What HAS changed is the removal of sulfur and the increased operating pressures in injection systems. But that’s a different can of worms entirely.
 

PaulTGarrett

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I have a friend who drives an early 2000's RAM diesel. He bought one of the waste vegetable oil (WVO) kits that mount in the bed of the truck. When he starts the engine, it warms up and switches to the WVO tank, which contains raw (but filtered) veggie oil right from a restaurant's fryer. It runs on the 100% WVO (through the stock fuel system) while he's driving. When he stops and turns the engine off, the valves change back to pump diesel and the engine runs for about 3 minutes to purge the fuel system. So he starts and stops on pump diesel, travels on WVO.

He loves it and has a few local resturants provide him with all the WVO he can carry off. He just uses a Baja filter and dumps the resturant oil right into the tank. When I talked to him about it a couple months ago, he said he just sticks to RAM's normal maintenance schedule, nothing added or altered. He said he does lose about 3-5 MPG but when you're running free fuel, who cares?!

I'm seriously considering adding a WVO kit to my truck. Only problem is, resturants now know the value of their WVO and typically charge for the oil. Chain resturants in my area want a contract to pick up the oil (usually 100-200 gals at a time) on a regular basis (sometimes weekly) and pay them for the oil. Kinda throws a wrench in the economic side of WVO systems unless you are burning a couple hundred gallons of diesel a week.

BUT long story short, Bob's been driving his RAM for over 20 years with no issues from running WVO.
 
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