Hoss

This morning on my way in to work I stopped at the Shell station where I normally fill up in north Austin. Before I began pumping, I noticed a white piece of paper taped to the pump that said, "Contains Up To 20% Biodiesel". I started the pump and then went inside to inquire about the new sign.

Unfortunately the guy behind the counter didn't know if it was B20 or if it was somewhere between B-Nothing ("up to 20%") and B20. All he knew is that it was biodiesel and that "it will make your truck smoke less". He did give me a flyer from the people who provided the bio to the station though (www.austinbiofuels.com if anyone is interested).

I called and talked to a nice lady named Kathy who was disappointed that the manager of the store had not educated his people on what they had in the tanks, but also confirmed that it was indeed B20.

So, now that I have a convenient place to get it I'm going to run it for a while and see how I like it. So far the only difference I have noticed is that it seems to smell a little different...but that could be my imagination.

How long should I wait before changing the fuel filter?

bsmurf12

I would make sure you had a spare fuel filter in the truck, and a wrench to change it. As far a changing depends on the milage you have on your truck. From what I have been told the more dino diesel that has been run, the more deposits in the fuel lines and tank, the sooner you will be changing your fuel filter. As far as exact milage it still seems like it very random between trucks.

Also not to hijack the tread, I am wondering who is towing with biodiesel, what blend are you using, and what trailer weight.

Bryan

Shovelhead

I've run 4 tankfulls of B20 through my '99 with no change in my post-filter fuel pressure indicating a clogged filter.
Still 15 @ idle, and 13-14 @ 2,000 rpm.

chuxtruk

I'm with Shovelhead.....same experience here. From what I've heard there's few problems running B-20 mixtures. Problems can arise when switching to B-99 and even then it's not overnight. But the truck seems to like it...
Chuck

infidel

I've been towing 26k with B20 for about four years. Don't notice any power drop at all with B20 but when I tried B50 it was very noticeable.
All my farm tractors also run on B20, same implements, same gears and speed with B20 vs. straight #2.

Mcmopar

A loss of power ???

BigBlue

Yup. Bio doesn't have the same BTU output as diesel so the boom isn't as big. Smaller boom means less power.

bsmurf12

Sweet....I was hoping this was the case.... The heaviest thing that I tow is the fifth wheel, weighting in at a measly 12k comparied to your 26k. .. Even combined I am only at 17k....

phox_mulder

That's why that sign was there.

Who knows how much #2 Diesel was in the tank already when they dumped the shipment of B20 in there.

Probably more like B17.7456343.

I ran one tank of B20 and the truck just didn't like it, seemed more than a little down in the power department.


phox

Hoss

Well, I've been running the B20 for 3 days now and haven't really noticed any significant difference. It appears that my gas mileage may have gone down slightly. I normally average 21.5 mpg (both hand calculated and according to the computer). I reset my computer when I switched to the B20 and the last time I looked it was at about 20.3 mpg. I haven't really put enough miles on it yet to verify how accurate that number is though (although my computer is normally right on the money).

The good thing is that there is only a two cent per gallon difference between regular #2 and B20 at the station I fill up at.

Hemi Dart

Bill or anybody,

This what I got for mileage. Does it sound right?


B20 = 20.07mpg

B100 = 18.02mpg

infidel

Bill, your drop in mileage with B100 is less than I would expect to see. My feeling is that if you compare the mpgs between B20 and B100 with a load vs empty that you'll see a greater difference in mpgs between the two.

MikeyB

I lose about 2mpg when running B99 compared to #2.

MikeyB

Hemi Dart

WOW, so a 2 MPG drop is not that bad. It still was enough to steer me back to B20. Especially since B100 is about .35 cents more a gallon.

I have read a few posts where guys have picked up mileage w/ B100. Ave about .5, 24 Valves I think.

GETVRTCL

I have been making biodiesel for about 2 years. I run a 30hp tractor, 12k gen, and a VW truck. All on 100% and there is a BIG difference in power when used in the tractors. I just bought a 06 Cummins and asked if I could run Biodiesel in it and the service department referred me to Cummins.
Cummins told me that no more than 5% BD or it would void the warrentee.
You guys that are running B20-----B100 are not worried about that, or is there no real way for Dodge to find out?