Thread: B100 & TD5 Experiences

OK my thoughts on bio diesel in a TD5, don't use it, me and Discowhite have tried it in our TD5s and it caused poor fuel economy and low power.

Coming back from a trip to the sth coast after a weekend of playing, it and a bugger of a drive down we decided to fill up our tanks with Dinodiesel on the way home to see if the lack of power and terrible economy was due to the biodiesel, and after a few Ks we noticed a difference, it was almost like i had released the handbrake that had been on for the whole weekend.

I tow a fairly heavy camper so i need good power and economy, so for me Biodiesel is out, and same for Phil too.

Baz

Interesting to see that Caterpillar white paper notes an drop in energy levels of the order of 6-7% over distillate diesel. I reckon that 's about what I lost in power last week when my wife accidentally filled our common-rail Jeep (2.7 Merc CRD) with B50. There was a total lack of kick-down power on bio fuel. It felt like the engine was just having an "off day". Very soggy performance indeed given that you can normally achieve "neck-snapping" acceleration off from the lights in it - and spin all four if you want to - if the road is just slightly damp or if you're turning out of a driveway. Not on bio!

The April '05 edition of Overlander talks in great detail about BioDiesel, and in particular one bloke who makes his own and runs it in his Defender 130 Td5. He claims it runs smoother, is quieter and doesnt noticably use more fuel than on Petro-Diesel.

Thats in a Td5.

I myself am considering making my own Bio-Diesel when I get a Diesel powered vehicle. The savings are to big to ignore.

Originally Posted by tombraider

I'd suggest ringing the boys at Graeme Cooper Automotive who have said explicitly that it causes problems in the TD5 engine.
Tombraider

Last time my fuel pump died in my '00 Defender TD5 --- because of dodgy "normal" diesel --- the fellas at Graeme Cooper Automotive told me whatever I do "don't use biodiesel"... I don't understand enough about to understand why you should not, but I'll go with their advice.

I'm just curious if any of you guys "more-in-the-know" than me have called Graeme Cooper and gotten the low-down?

The one thing I do know is --- it hurts to purchase 2 fuel pumps in one year

Originally Posted by bluetongue

the fellas at Graeme Cooper Automotive told me whatever I do "don't use biodiesel"...

Well I finally got on to Graeme Cooper himself and asked him about his opinion of Bio-diesel. Graeme was neither for or against it - he asserts that he has not, to his knowledge, had a TD5 brought in with a problem relating to bio-diesel. Most of the concern is with regards to the effect bio may have on the injectors and, possibly, rubber bits in the fuel delivery system. But, he says these areas mostly suffer problems because of dodgy regular petro-diesel. As long as it lubricates well and doesn't gel, he believes bio should be as safe as regular stuff.

So officially, no alarm bells from this source.

I have just picked up the June 2006 issue of Land Rover Monthly (I love how up-to-date we are here in the colonies) and there is another article on bio-diesel. Once again there is a question regarding the suitability of B100 in a TD5 and ONCE AGAIN there is no clear opinion!

The article repeats Landrover's official statement that they do not warrant the TD5 to run on anything exceeding a 5% blended fuel - come on guys! I am increasingly suspicious of companies that refuse to do any serious investigation to this alternative albeit inevitable fuel. Surely Landrover (or should I say Ford) must have some corporate knowledge about the effects of B100 in ALL their engines.

It is unfair that the practical research into B100 is left up to us, the end users and forums like this where we say technically intelligent things like "it sort of worked" or "it buggered it up good"... I'm sure somewhere in the bowels of the Ford behemoth is a TD5 that has been running for 1000 hours on the stuff to see if it explodes. This is a third generation common-rail injected turbo-diesel engine so unless Ford are expecting that they will all be knackered and off the road by the time we are forced onto B100 I want to know what they know.

End rant.

In that article they said it was that the injectors would clog due to the pressure in the TD5. I fould that the most to the point info on the TD5 and Bio yet.

I would doubt that anyone in Ford or Landrover is doing ANY work on the TD5 - after all it is slated to be replaced in the near future. I suggest that any work they are doing on biofuels, and I agree it is likely they are, is being done on engines that are planned for continuing production, not ones that are planeed to be replaced.