[Diy_efi] Is E85 worth it?

[Torbjörn Forsman]

There are a lot of different fluids that are called biodiesel today. 
Some of them, those produced in a Fischer-Tropsch process, are almost 
100 % equivalent to ordinary petroleum-based diesel fuel. Such biodiesel 
can be used in any diesel engine without modifications or problems.

Another flavor is the RME and similar fuels. This is vegetable oils 
which have been chemically modified "estherized". Top quality RME works 
perfectly in most diesel engines but is said that it might cause higher 
NOx emissions than petroleum based diesel, at least in modern engines 
that are optimized for low emissions. It is also said to deteriorate 
some plastic and rubber materials, but this seems not to be a large 
problem. For example, Volkswagen permits use of RME in all their diesel 
cars from about 2001 on.
Some people have problems with "home made" RME which may be corrosive or 
  dirty.

And last, we have unmodified vegetable oils. This is not a good diesel 
fuel, it often causes cold start problems and may give coke build-up 
around the injectors. But many diesel cars run well on a mixture of 50 % 
vegetable oil and 50 % petroleum based fuel.

Best regards

Torbj?rn Forsman


Ian Molton wrote:
> WSCowell at aol.com wrote:
> 
>>  
>> Bio diesel is cheaper than diesel from petroleum, lubricates the 
>> engine and  injection pump better and kicks out greatly reduced 
>> emissions of all the nasty  stuff:  NOx, S, CO and the harmful 
>> carcinogens and particulates.  The  best thing is it is totally 
>> carbon-neutral - it only puts back into the  atmosphere the carbon the 
>> plant took out in the first place.  Performance  is totally unaffected.
> 
> 
> I was under the impression that biodiesel caused issues for some IPs? 
> too thick to pump or something? Either way I'd like your source on that 
> as it sounds like you're pretty clued up on biodiesel and I'd like to 
> know more.
> 
>> Poor performance from a diesel?  Wake up and smell the  coffee!
> 
> 
> Absolutely!  (btw, my last mileage figure as of today... 68.1MPG over 
> the last 200 miles :-)) now if I could just work out why its smoking 
> when its working hard, I'd be sorted (bet its burnt injectors)
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