OP
California
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2004
- Messages
- 14,926
- Location
- An hour north of San Francisco
- Tractor
- Yanmar YM240 Yanmar YM186D
I would say my experience is a warning to read up on biodiesel's peculiarities. I ignored the 'more frequent injector maintenance' topic I've seen several places. Turns out that is very real.
I think if 'remove & test injectors' is moved up from the 600 hour section in the manual to maybe '200 hours or annual'; and considered a maintenance item like air filters, then this problem is dealt with. Biodiesel is just different and we need to get used to different maintenance needs.
Other areas that are different are:
It can jell at milder temperatures than petro diesel.
I've read it is more harmful if it gets in the crankcase oil (in a worn engine) and the oil isn't changed on schedule, because animal fats decay into acids. However since diesel oil, and the recommended change interval, is designed to resist damage from sulfur (from petro diesel), the biodiesel difference may be minimal.
Shorter shelf life. If a batch barely meets minimum quality standards it could decay to acidic faster than petro diesel. I read 6 months storage for B100 and a year for B50.
If you spill some on the ground it evaporates to smelly rancid bacon fat, more or less, it doesn't go away like diesel. On the benefits side, the spill isn't toxic. Pure B100 qualifies as food-grade for human consumption.
Also on the benefits side there is no possibility of a massive oil spill, or a need to risk soldiers to safeguard our supply.
I think if 'remove & test injectors' is moved up from the 600 hour section in the manual to maybe '200 hours or annual'; and considered a maintenance item like air filters, then this problem is dealt with. Biodiesel is just different and we need to get used to different maintenance needs.
Other areas that are different are:
It can jell at milder temperatures than petro diesel.
I've read it is more harmful if it gets in the crankcase oil (in a worn engine) and the oil isn't changed on schedule, because animal fats decay into acids. However since diesel oil, and the recommended change interval, is designed to resist damage from sulfur (from petro diesel), the biodiesel difference may be minimal.
Shorter shelf life. If a batch barely meets minimum quality standards it could decay to acidic faster than petro diesel. I read 6 months storage for B100 and a year for B50.
If you spill some on the ground it evaporates to smelly rancid bacon fat, more or less, it doesn't go away like diesel. On the benefits side, the spill isn't toxic. Pure B100 qualifies as food-grade for human consumption.
Also on the benefits side there is no possibility of a massive oil spill, or a need to risk soldiers to safeguard our supply.