Biodiesel and Volvo Penta Marine engine

[cvj]

Our local fuel dock now offers 100% biodiesel fuel. I am wondering if I
would run into any problems using this in a Volvo Penta Diesel circa 1989?

I am aware that I will need to clean the fuel filter once the biodiesel
dissolves some of the "gunk" left by the regular diesel fuel.

Any thoughts/comments will be most appreciated.

cvj

[Roger Long]

I looked into this because I though it would be nice to be have the
smell of peanuts or French fries in a following wind instead of city
bus. I was told, I'm not sure how authoritatively, that the biodiesel
will cause problems for rubber parts. I tried to find out how many of
those there are in my fuel system but couldn't.

Later, when we were getting the engine degunked after sitting for six
years with fuel in it and in the tank (things brokers don't tell you),
we found that the fuel pump diaphragm had dissolved into mush. It
looks like rubber. If regular diesel would do that to it over time, I
suspect that it's something you would want to investigate carefully
before using biodiesel.

--

Roger Long

"cvj" <voge...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:o-2dnSq4bOn...@comcast.com...

[Matt O'Toole]

On Sun, 09 Apr 2006 23:26:48 +0000, Roger Long wrote:

> I looked into this because I though it would be nice to be have the
> smell of peanuts or French fries in a following wind instead of city
> bus. I was told, I'm not sure how authoritatively, that the biodiesel
> will cause problems for rubber parts. I tried to find out how many of
> those there are in my fuel system but couldn't.

It may cause problems with rubber parts, but usually these are between the
fuel tank and the engine, not in/on the engine itself.

> Later, when we were getting the engine degunked after sitting for six
> years with fuel in it and in the tank (things brokers don't tell you),
> we found that the fuel pump diaphragm had dissolved into mush. It looks
> like rubber. If regular diesel would do that to it over time, I suspect
> that it's something you would want to investigate carefully before using
> biodiesel.

Yup.

Also, biodiesel is generally not as stable as petrodiesel, which could be
a concern if you leave fuel in your tanks for months. Check with your
supplier about this. There's a wide range among available fuels. Some
meets mil-spec stability requirements, other stuff is a big
question mark. If you go through fuel pretty quickly and don't leave it
sitting in your tanks for months, this shouldn't be a problem.

Other than that, biodiesel is a lot cleaner, smells better, cleans your
engine, and has better lubricity. You can get lubricity benefits with as
little as 2% mix (B2).

Matt O.

[cvj]

After some more checking I found that you should NOT use biodiesel in a boat
(like ours) that is equipped with an ESPAR boat heater. According to the
ESPAR dealer, using biodiesel fuel will "gum up" the heater... :-)

So with that info as well as the below replies to my post, I am staying with
standard diesel fuel...

Claus

"Matt O'Toole" <matto...@letterboxes.org> wrote in message
news:pan.2006.04.10...@letterboxes.org...