Forum Discussion

larry_barnhart's avatar
Oct 11, 2015

Bio 20 fuel

Just had a trip to Texas and back to Az. Had to use bio 20 2 times and really don't think our 05 duramax was made for bio fuel. Anybody feel it was a bad thing? Also I feel for the fifths that do not have an air product of any style on the hitch or pin as some areas On I-10 were brutal.

chevman
  • mkirsch wrote:
    The fuel was diluted by whatever was in your tank and whatever you filled up with afterward, so it really was never B20 to begin with.

    Properly processed, biodiesel is every bit as good as regular diesel. Same BTUs, more cetane, and better lubricity.

    Whatever you've "seen" done to injectors with B100 had to be someone trying to hog waste vegetable oil through their truck. There is a difference.


    Sorry, but that's not correct.

    The injectors were out of factory Bio hauler trucks. I have a Bio diesel processing plant in a town near where I live. It's a small batch plant and they had tank trucks to going around and picking up the veg oil. They burn their own Bio in their trucks not veg oil. It would be silly to burn veg oil in their trucks because they own their own Bio processing plant.

    One had a Cat in it and the other two had Cummins in them. The injectors were junk and had to be replaced.

    As far as Bio being "every bit as good as regular diesel"............aaaaa no it's not.

    If it were, why does every single "common" diesel engine maker in the world have restrictions on the amount of Bio percentage you can run? Usually between 5 and 20% maximum. If it were "every bit as good" why do the engineers and makers of these engines have a maximum percentage?

    Another matter for people that burn a lot of Bio is oil contamination. Just look in your owners manual and see what your engine manufacture says about your oil change schedule if you burn high percentages of Bio.

    I guess those silly engineers are worried about nothing. After all, Bio is "every bit as good" as straight #2. :R
  • The fuel was diluted by whatever was in your tank and whatever you filled up with afterward, so it really was never B20 to begin with.

    Properly processed, biodiesel is every bit as good as regular diesel. Same BTUs, more cetane, and better lubricity.

    Whatever you've "seen" done to injectors with B100 had to be someone trying to hog waste vegetable oil through their truck. There is a difference.
  • Ocassionally run B20 in my 2012 Duramax. Only difference is truck runs a bit quieter.

    Where you can run into trouble is on a higher mileage truck that has never ran it on a consistent basis. The cleaning properties of Bio will pull all the built up **** in the fuel tank into the fuel system at times requiring a filter change.
  • ktmrfs wrote:
    Turtle n Peeps wrote:
    It's ok as long as you don't make a habit out of it. Design limits are there for a reason and your truck was not designed for B20.

    You will lose mileage and performance out of B20 and you will loose a whole bunch more with B100. I've seen what B100 can do to injectors over a long period of time and it's not good.


    B20 has a BTU/gallon very close to #2 diesel, unlike ethanol fuel and it usually has a higher cetane rating. my 2015 is rated for b20 and my experiece is it has NO effect on mileage. In fact the best mileage I got so far with my 2015 duramax is 24.5mpg running B20, and that was for a 750 mile trip over the continental divide and two other mtn passes. And, yes that was had calculated. I still had 5 gallons in th tank when I filled up.

    But yes, the 2004 is only rated for B5, although I have run B20 in it on occasion with no ill effects.


    Yes, B20 and #2 is close in BTU's, (2.5% depending on feed stock) but you WILL lose mileage.

    So many things affect mileage like head wind, tail wind, traffic and many more things so it's impossible to check mileage and come to any solid conclusion when your on testing on the road.
  • Larry,

    My former 05 dmax did not like bio fuels over 5%. Otherwise, mpgs went way down, along with it seemed like a bit of power.

    My Navistar on the other hand......does not seem to care what it burns. Then again, a non-turbo idi7/3 with 175hp is pretty gutless no matter how you slice it trying to run down the road in the 12K min to upwards of 26K gvw/gcw!

    Marty
  • Turtle n Peeps wrote:
    It's ok as long as you don't make a habit out of it. Design limits are there for a reason and your truck was not designed for B20.

    You will lose mileage and performance out of B20 and you will loose a whole bunch more with B100. I've seen what B100 can do to injectors over a long period of time and it's not good.


    B20 has a BTU/gallon very close to #2 diesel, unlike ethanol fuel and it usually has a higher cetane rating. my 2015 is rated for b20 and my experiece is it has NO effect on mileage. In fact the best mileage I got so far with my 2015 duramax is 24.5mpg running B20, and that was for a 750 mile trip over the continental divide and two other mtn passes. And, yes that was had calculated. I still had 5 gallons in th tank when I filled up.

    But yes, the 2004 is only rated for B5, although I have run B20 in it on occasion with no ill effects.
  • It's ok as long as you don't make a habit out of it. Design limits are there for a reason and your truck was not designed for B20.

    You will lose mileage and performance out of B20 and you will loose a whole bunch more with B100. I've seen what B100 can do to injectors over a long period of time and it's not good.
  • I've run b20 in our 2004.5 duramax no issues at all, no difference in performance that I noticed, nor any difference in economy. It does have a higher cetane rating so much less rattle.

    Also have run it in my 2015, similar results, In oregon it's $.30 less per gallon than #2 since it is exempt from state road tax. puts diesel near or under $2.00 gallon.