Howdy all,

I'm finding in my local area that, all of a sudden, I'm seeing badges on diesel pumps that say "This fuel contains up to 20% biodiesel product". Bad news is, I'm not seeing any pumps with just straight diesel. My question I'll pose to our general viewing public is this; am I ok in using this product with no modifications, WVO-wise, to my car? I'm wondering if I keep filling up with this, that I'll eventually damage lots of internals in my vehicle. For the record, I'm daily-driving an '81 300D with an '84's "innards" (engine/trans).

Looking forward to your posts; should be an interesting discussion, and helpful to all.

The MB cast iron diesel motor can safely run on B-100 or any mix percentage of BIODIESEL.

WVO or SVO is NOT the same thing.

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 560SL convertible
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
2005 Dodge Sprinter 2500 158"WB
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

Vstech, thanks. I guess I was more concerned with fuel hoses/tank and IP---stuff like that. I'm just trying to assure myself that the issues I've read with folks using straight WVO and "trashing" their vehicles internally aren't something I have to concern myself with running today's "modern" diesel fuel.

Actually 5-20% biodiesel is really good for your engine. Since the government in their infinite wisdom mandated ULSD they effectively changed the lubricity of diesel making it very hard on the injection pump which was designed to use fuel as the lubricant. Many of us add a lubricity additive to straight diesel to restore "normal" lubrication - I use 2 stroke oil in my vehicle (1-2%) When I travel cross country, I love it when there is a bio diesel blend where I get fuel as it means that I don't have to break out the two-stroke oil.

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Current Stable

• 380SL (diesel)
• Corvette C5
• Manx
• Baja Bug
• F350 Powerstroke
• Auburn Boattail Speedster replica

B20 is fine. I ran it until my local supplier started sending all their production to California.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 401,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 26,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.
99 Mazda Miata 183,xxx miles.

You don't say where you are located, but if you are in the snow belt & with winter approaching I would advise looking into using anti-gel once it gets cold. In northern Illinois, I have had issues with gas station bio blends gelling (poor quality control, poor blending). Last winter was fairly mild but I still had 4 or 5 cases of gelled fuel in the filters at work. A few years ago we had a brutal winter and we had lots of gelling issues. In my 'must run' diesels (emergency back up gensets) I use 'winter blend' (70/30 mix of D2/D1 w/anti-gel). If it doesn't get below 50F you should be OK with bio all the way to B100 as long as it it soy or rapeseed based. The stuff made from tallow & animal fat has issues with pour point stability. On the other hand if you feel you must use straight D2 w/o bio you should be able to find it at high volume truck stops.

It takes a lot of BD, and a long time, to destroy fuel lines. I'm 150k miles on B100 on my 2005 and I'm now just starting the process of replacing lines due to BD deterioration.

Gelling is dependent on the original oil source (soy vs peanut vs canola, etc) but small blends with either D2 or RUG keeps it liquid down to some pretty cold temps. I'll make sure to blend when temps are in the teens or below

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Mark in MA
05 MB E320CDI 402k Granite Grey Metallic
05 MB E320CDI 267k Black
05 MB E320CDI 232k White
05 MB E320CDI 209k Tectite Grey
99 Dodge 2500 Cummins 5sp 148k
62 Jeep CJ-6 120k

I've run a steady diet of B5, with B20 as often as I can get it(one station in town), for three years now in my '83 617. Antigel any time the temp gets in the teens. No bio related issues.

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617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap

This is dependent on the age of the fuel lines. If they're already old-ish the bio will speed the deterioration. You want to replace fuel lines before they start deteriorating and leaking, and do it with some that are rated J30R9, with an inner wall that has smaller pores than the regular J30R7 stuff.

Just for reference, it does not necessarily take a lot! The lines on my '06 sprinter went within 2 months of me running bio, because they were already 10 years old, just wanna throw that out there....

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'83 240D 4 spd. manual - Undergoing OM617 transplant - Soon for sale.

'97 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins 4x4 5-spd. WVO - Not stock. - For sale!

'06 Sprinter

Are you guys talking about the steel fuel lines going to the tank rotting due to biodiesel?? Or just the lines inside the engine compartment?

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'82 300D (project)
'46 Willys (project)
"Nothing seems to be the way it should in this garage." -jt20
"Smarter than an engine, dumber than a hoodlatch..." -jt20
"Start jumping up and down to smoosh down those engine mounts" -DeliveryValve
"no" -kerry
"At this rate, you may have it done by winter" -layback40

Just the rubber lines (hoses).

-Rog

Bio does a pretty good job of cleaning the gunk out of fuel storage systems. I usually carry an extra fuel filter (both for the benz) in the vehicles during the summer (at home we run BD in the summer, mostly B20 - its cheap & I use a lot). I've been glad I did on a few occasions. The benz filters are cheap, & easy to change. BTW the OM617 is pretty forgiving - it will handle B20 just fine. One of my friends has over 200k of B20 use on his 85 300SD (total miles are over 500k). It works just fine.

Great information, all; thanks! Useful to everyone who didn't have the prior knowledge, for sure.

And Charlie Foxtrot, I'm just a little south of ya, but in the Land o' Lincoln. As soon as temps start regularly dropping down below 40 for a low, I start putting in anti-gel with fill-ups. I use the Power Service stuff (Diesel Fuel Supplement---the white bottle), as I've always had success with it. Have a bottle of their 9-1-1 stuff just in case it gets a little...gell-y. {see what I did there? }

I understand your engine will idle smoother on B20. Mine does on Diesel HPR (CA only). If you do need to change fuel hoses, you can buy Goodyear Barricade at NAPA by the foot. It is marked "for bio-diesel". I don't know if you can replace the clear nylon hose with similar, I just used the Barricade hose w/ screw clamps on one that cracked. One guy has used PEX tube (Home Depot). It resists bio well, but is very stiff.

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1984 & 1985 CA 300D's
1964 & 65 Mopar's - Valiant, Dart, Newport
1996 & 2002 Chrysler minivans

There's also rubber lines under the car at the rear connecting the steel ones to the tank. One of mine was already weeping when I bought my '83. Like others said, just keep an eye on them and replace them when one starts to go. And don't forget to replace the fuel return lines on the injectors too.

Car will run smoother on B5 or greater, but you'll notice reduced power from about B20 on up. If you're buying the bio from a commercial pump, they will know whether any anti-gelling additives have been added and therefore whether you need to add your own or blend with other fuel.

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'83 300DTurbo http://badges.fuelly.com/images/smallsig-us/318559.png

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