Biodiesel will run in any diesel without changes to the engine. We do not have any Ford trucks in our fleet but have been running B100 (100% biodiesel) in our new Chevy, GMC, and Dodge trucks since last November. You should ask your dealer about Ford's warranty policy on biodiesel. Most of the engine manufacturers have not tested blends higher than 5% biodiesel (B5) and therefore will try to exclude biodiesel fueled vehicles from their warranty. Technically this is illegal as they would have to prove that biodiesel is the cause of the failure and not materials and workmanship. We don't anticipate any problems but you should be aware of the warranty situation on newer vehicles.
If you operate your vehicle in a cold climate (less than 40F) as you are likely to encounter at Lake Tahoe, you should be careful using biodiesel blends higher than 50%. The fuel can crystallize at low temperature and cause the fuel filter to clog. No damage has been reported with low temperature but it would be inconvenient if you can not start your truck when it is cold. We have modified the fuel systems on our vehicles to pre-heat the fuel before it reaches the filter. This works pretty well but you still have to be careful not to leave the vehicles parked out in the cold without plugging in the electric heaters.
Blending is an effective way to extend the temperature range of biodiesel since biodiesel mixes at any concentration with petroleum. There are a range of additives on the market that will reduce the cold filter plug point of biodiesel / petroleum blends. Unfortunately we have not found any additives that work on straight B100 (we're working on it).
We will be opening a public pump in Minden soon (early May). The current B100 price is $3.50 per gallon which includes both State and Federal taxes. I know this means a little more to pay to protect our environment but the petroleum prices are catching up.
- Dr. Biodiesel
Congratulations to WB for submitting the April question of the month and winning a Bently Biofuels 100% cotton T.
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