Thread: TD5 BioD?

My car is an import from Malaysia, it has been running on bio/**** diesel all it's life. They have no controls over what is sold, even reputable stations sell the crap.
My car smoked, lacked performance, and had low mileage until I brought it to Oz. The good diesel here is great. It now smokes much less by 60%, performance is better, and mileage is up at least 20%. This is a live case study for you.

I'm still thinking about putting it thru detox, other than changing the fule filter, I'm not sure what else can be done.

Deffy is an old 200 or 300 mechanical engine though, a TD5 is electronic different story all together. Like you said Deffy would still run but not like it as much. I'd run an old engine on Bio, but not my TD5.

Deffy' 200 TDI ran badly on bio, and that not electronic or TD5, so you can imagine what the stuff would do to a TD5.
So anyone can advise on any other detox method for my 200 TDI?

Originally Posted by Deffy

Deffy' 200 TDI ran badly on bio, and that not electronic or TD5, so you can imagine what the stuff would do to a TD5.
So anyone can advise on any other detox method for my 200 TDI?

What I do is change filters add an additive and only use high flow or BP diesel

fwiw, I've been using biodiesel (home brew) for a couple of years, with no problems, whatsoever...

its fairly straightforward to make high-quality fuel, and there are simple tests to do that indicate same...

I also know of another landrover TDI 300, which has run on biodiesel of a considerable length of time.. a few years.. and again.. no problems. this landrover is in Sydney..

go figure..

biodiesel bob..

Originally Posted by DEFENDERZOOK

they say it will eat through the fuel lines in the system......
as the lines are plastic.....

I thought we had been through this discussion and found that the post 2000/2001 TD5s were fine as far as fuel lines are concerned. It was earlier rubber ones that had problems. My research found references to a "potential" issue with the injector pin-lift sensor but this was also found to only affect earlier (pre-1999 or so) TD engines.

I am still convinced Landrover are just covering their asses by issuing a blanket dis-endorsement of Bio in the TD5. Of course they don't want engines under warranty to come back to them so they need to narrow the operational parameters.

Of course you can get "bad" biodiesel just like you can get "bad" regular diesel. I also thought that biodiesel, being much cleaner than petro-diesel would cause less smoke, once the existing crap has been flushed out.

Interestingly we have just seen the opening of "Australia's largest" biodiesel plant here in Brisbane. Consequently I would expect all us sunshine-state cheapskates to start filling up on the stuff but be too cheap to replace the fuel filters (as advised when switching). I predict many reports of poor economy, poor performance and failures of goodness knows what due to this. The resulting bad-press will no doubt result in many viewing biodiesel as a "dodgy" alternative fuel until we don't have a choice and the car companies get into gear and support it.

Maybe another option if poor performance is a concern (resulting in "thrashing" the engine and using more fuel thereby wrecking the advantages) is to gas-charge the engine. Or even better, gas-charge and re-chip the engine to get as much performance as possible. Or even better again, gas-charge, re-chip and upgrade the intercooler!

Just a thought but I am still seriously investigating this as the switch to bio-diesel is inevitable. It's like jumping into a cold swimming pool - the earlier you get in, the sooner you warm up (or freeze to death...)

Wow - there is a lot of misinformation here.

Firstly, biodiesel generally has BETTER LUBRICITY than modern low sulphur and ulra low sulphur diesel. In Germany and France (and indeed most of europe) normal petro-diesel is 5% BIODIESEL - to INCREASE LUBRICITY up to acceptable levels, now that the sulphur as been removed.

Properly made, washed biodiesel, to acceptable standards, should produce no detrimental effects on any LR diesel engine, nor any noticeable power loss.

For more information have a look on here: http://www.biofuelsforum.com/

Originally Posted by isuzurover

Wow - there is a lot of misinformation here.

Firstly, biodiesel generally has BETTER LUBRICITY than modern low sulphur and ulra low sulphur diesel. In Germany and France (and indeed most of europe) normal petro-diesel is 5% BIODIESEL - to INCREASE LUBRICITY up to acceptable levels, now that the sulphur as been removed.

Properly made, washed biodiesel, to acceptable standards, should produce no detrimental effects on any LR diesel engine, nor any noticeable power loss.

For more information have a look on here: http://www.biofuelsforum.com/

err.. g'day..

actually, chemically, you cannot get the same performance from biodiesel as you get from dino-diesel.. the cetane rating of biodiesel is higher than dino-diesel.. so it actually burns better.. just slightly less oomph.. and as you mention, its the noticibility.. that's the thing.. hardly noticible.

and you will also notice that the engine noise is reduced, as a result of the lubricity.. I've done some noise comparisons against another TD5 running dino-diesel, and we found that there was a 1db (remember its a log. scale) difference, with biodiesel being quieter..

re:fuel lines.. the TD5 manual states that fuel lines are synthetic rubber, so there shouldn't be any problems there..

and i get my source of WVO (waste veggie oil) from 3 restaruants - and always looking for more.... and I'm doing them a favour, as they used to pay to dispose of the stuff. its a win-win scenario, so rare these days.

ciao,
biodiesel bob