I just got back into town from a business trip, and my wife let the ford 6.0 get dangerously low on fuel. So the family wants to go out to eat, I decided to get 10 gallons of fuel only at the local Exxon station close to home, I never usually buy fuel from them because they are 50 cents a gallon higher than fuel from north Idaho flying-j, but this time they lowered there prices lately to within 15 cents. So heres my concern, I pull up, pour in my 10 ozs of 2cycle, reach for the pump and it says 5% bio diesel, I figure oh well, more lubricity won't hurt. And the truck does run really smooth with all this lubricity, but what I'm really worried about is the fuel clouding/gelling with a bio mix, especially now that we are getting into some cold temps coming here today(-13 lows and +5 highs). I've always had no problem with the flying-j winter fuel, but will the b5 be ok if its winterized? Because if it is, then I could just run b5 without 2cycle, but I don't want to find out the hard way with a cloggged/gelled vehicle stuck out in the cold. Any thoughts, input or insight about this will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Harry

Harry... I've got a thread about my theory of 2 cycle oil and its effects... viewtopic.php?f=14&t=357 This is my theory I'm going to start testing here as soon as I get a block of dry ide to chill diesel fuel down to find out if the pour point of the fuel is effect by 2 cycle oil (positive or negative). But my personal opinion I think you going to be fine for the most part. Most all diesel fuel is winterized and should withstand the changes of the weather here in Idaho... http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.ph ... -116.33183 Like here shortly I'll be down to 4*F above for Tuesday night... (Brrr!)

Thanks Michael. I went back to the Exxon station today and asked the ladies behind the mini-mart counter if by any chance they new anything about the winterization of the b5. All they could tell me was that the fuel in the tanks has been winterized since October, and that they have had no problems or complaints about the fuel. That was good enough for me, so I went ahead and filled the rest of my tank with the b5 and along with some more 2cycle tcw3. The diesel pump says "contains up to 5% biodiesel", so I'm not sure what that means. I do know my truck runs really good and smooth with this mix, drove around running errands today without issues. Tommorrow the highs will be 2 to -1, if I still have no trouble, then I think all is ok. I checked Exxon's website and they say they still winterize by mixing no.1 and no.2 in varying degrees up to pure no.1, depending on the region, but wouldn't elaborate on what mixes are in what regions. It would be good if stations were required to disclose their fuel winterization info. I know some stations just use an additive in there fuel, some of these were the ones I heard of last winter having waxing issues, likely not enough of whatever it was they were putting into the the fuel. Your upcoming 2cycle testing for cold conditions will be of great interest to me. Last winter all I ran was 2cycle without waxing issues. I know that by the mix I have in my current tank of fuel, it may hurt my mileage some, but I'm still not sold on the for sure its b5 fuel. I know that straight bio is useless in cold regions like you and I live in, waxes up way to easy, unless constantly heated. Harry

Well if your to worried about it just pick up a bottle of PS 911 (Red Bottle)... Thats a safety net...

Much of the diesel I buy here in "The Peoples Republic of Illinois" is bio-surprise!!! Meaning it contains a bio % usually between 2-11%. However, I filled up at a station that on the pump it said that it may contain up to 20% bio. They don't have to tell you the exact amount of bio around here unlike unleaded gasoline w/ethanol in it!! I use about 16oz of 2 stroke oil per fill up even with the bio-surprise and have been fine.......even to temps down to -15*F. Bio is mandated in Minnesota. All diesle there must contain 2% bio. I've not read of a rash of fuel gelling up there since the mandate, so it must be winterezed!!!

Thanks Dorkweed...I knew someone would have the answer to that... Like here in Idaho (Central Idaho) there is no BIO fuels at all... So it rather tough for me to do any testing of BIO diesel... But Thatnk you again for you knowledge on it... :thumbsup

I second that thanks Dorkweed. So far, no problems with the bio-mix fuel that I put into the Ford. I agree with you, it would be nice to know exactly what we are putting into our tanks when we fill up. Harry

I'm in Minnesota and all last winter I ran 5% bio and had no problems at all. Now that we are getting into the serious part of winter they are selling Arctic Diesel which is a blend of #1 and #2 diesel.

I've been reading a post on Diesel Truck Resource where one poster states that adding 2-cycle oil to our diesel fuel is illegal and can be prosecuted with penatalities of up to $10,000.00 for violation of EPA Additive regulations. Anyone hear of this?

Adding anthing thing to your fuel can be illegal...ATF, WEO/WMO, WVO, 2 cycle oil, gasoline, kerosene, JP8, Jet-A Etc... If its not Diesel it not legal... Yes if you are dipped you could be fine...But this is a risk I'm willing to take to protect my fuel system with a small dose of 2 cycle oil.But if there so willing to bust people boy I'm in a bad place... I'm sittinig here with my web site advertising my address and phone number... Come and get me! But after 3 years of being on the web and forums... Nothing has happened... The local cops even in truck know I do this... 8| I'm not worried... :D

Be a rebel. >

In this recent article I read, [ http://www.biodiesel.org/pdf_files/Chan ... l_Fuel.pdf ], they say bio and bio blends are hygroscopic, meaning they attract and retain moisture/water, so for winter blends of this stuff like B5, special additives are needed and are supposidly put into the these fuels during winter. I'm now on my second tank of this stuff(B5), and so far I can't detect any problems, although the other day I tried to nail the throttle and it felt like I had no top end. Its been so nasty weather wise here, that its hard to go fast to give a good open throttle run. I'm wondering if my filters are clogging now. If I have time this weekend I may try to change them and see what they look like inside. By the way," happy new year" everyone. Harry

Like I read over that PDF already... The biggest thing is the viscosity of the fuel changes spray patternes of the injectors. So as the B5 starts thickening up the pattern narrows... It seem like all BIO fuels have a short comings... Like ethanol is greatly reduced in BTU content. BioDiesel is also short in BTU content, gels easy, cause injector problems if produced wrong.... viewtopic.php?f=14&t=117

I just viewed the viewtopic you posted. That is scary lookin. So are the parts so nasty lookin from water and poor processing of the bio? I mean, does all bio do this? Harry

Possible... It always possible to have a tank of poor produced fuel... :confused:

Well I finally got around to changing my fuel filters this morning. Result=they were very clean looking, almost was debating not changing them, but its been over 25k. So the possible B5 that I may have been running has not shown to be contaminated or full of water. I'll stick to my 2cycle though, I have not seen or heard of any bad things by running 2cycle tcw3, and I've been running it for quite awhile now. Harry

The corrosion is a combination of water and metyltrexate that was supposed to be removed from the biodiesel. If you don't remove the metheltrexate the methanol gets burned in the engine. Poor results with any alcohol, we USED to treat for water in the brakes and the fuel with anhydrous methanol but after looking inside parts run with a good air dryer - it is not best practice.keydl