Anyone converted one of these? 94-current years?

Always trying to learn.

Am looking to Biodiesel run a 2000 Ford Powerstroke 7.3L myself. Just bought the shop manuals & am looking for input as well.

I don't know anyone running Bio in a Powerstroke, but there is a question in my mind that I would like answered. The unit injectors use o-rings to divide the high pressure oil sections from the diesel fuel sections inside the injector. If those o-rings are not resistant to the effects of biodiesel then it would make for an expensive experiment. I've heard those injectors are in the $800.00 range.
I visited the Ford Technical Assistance Call Center in Dearborn, Mi last week and asked a Deisel guy that exact question. He didn't know what type of rubber those injectors were made of.
If anyone knows whether or not they are resistant, let me know.
JoeR

The orings have gone through many updates inthe last 5 years. They have a hard time holding together anyway, buy as far as the fix goes the big cost is labor. The rings are about 50 bucks but you have to get inside the valve cover and pull each injector. I have replace mine and it took a weekend.
I had not thought about the o-rings, just the injectors. Someone want to be the first?

Always trying to learn.

I have been trying to find info about the PS suitability for use with BD (including some help from JoeR - much thanks). Below is an email I got from a guy who maintains a great website about PS diesels....wasn't much help, except to where to look for all the rubber o-rings that might fail.

I don't have any info or experience with biodiesel. If it has problems with rubber parts, you have to consider that there are rubber o-rings and seals on the fuel filter, the fuel pressure regulator, in the pick up assembly in the tank, and possibly in the fuel pump itself.

Charles Ledger
ASE Master--Auto
Ford Chassis Master--Electrical, Climate Control,
Brake Systems, Steering & Suspension
For PowerStroke problems see dieselmann's Page at:
www.intellidog.com/dieselmann/
For Diesel Products and Supplies:
www.intellidog.com/dieselmann/catalog.htm
For AMSOIL Synthetic Lubricants:
www.intellidog.com/DieselSyn

I also found some bulletins at http://www.dipaco.com/
that might be of help as well about Ford replacing some of the o-rings with Viton.

Good luck, and I'd appreciate hearing any good news.

J


http://www.dipaco.com/

This is what I got from another web site who has many PS tech. I will ask about the other issues ASAP. The info as follows:

its my understanding that all the o-rings are viton' , and i doubt that veggie oil would bother them at all

What ever VITON is I don't know, but we are headed in the right direction to see if this will work.

Always trying to learn.

Again from the freeautoadvice.com site.

The O'rings are going to be the least of your worries. Powerstrokes and most of the late model diesels use an extremly high pressure nozzle and very small injector holes. PSD use a seven hole tip with a hole diameter of about .005". Now thats a small hole for injectors. The peak pressure goes up to around 24,000 PSI. What I think you should be considering is what this fuel is going to do under these conditions plus factoring in the temperature. Military multifuel engine use a sloppy .008 or bigger nozzle hole with a low peak pressure of around 8,000 PSI. They also do not run well on other fuels. They like to run on No.2 diesel. Bio fuels are best used on slow, big tolerence diesels.
Note: My "specs" are just close proximations.
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Always trying to learn.

The VW TDI has injection pressures in that neighborhood. The higher the better for Bio. Bio has a higher viscosity and will disperse more like petro diesel at higher pressures.
If the o-rings are truly Viton, then they should be OK. Maybe someone could take an o-ring set and soak them in Bio for a month or two, and see if the soften.
JoeR

I have been running my 2000 PS on biodiesel for about 4 months now with no problems. I was concerned at first so I contacted navistar and after a bit of discussion they eventualy said that the injector seals were compatable with biodiesel.

Has anyone had any issues with the seals in newer Cummins or Powerstroke engines while operating on B100? Specifically for those of you with engines made in the past two to three years?

Kent Bullard
84 MB300D Turbobiodiesel
B100 of Course

My company has a 2001 Ford F-450 powerstroke being delivered next month. We're going to run it on 100% biodiesel like we do our two other work trucks, both international 7.3 liter (about 40,000 miles between them on about B99). I'll keep y'all posted on the results.

Shaun

Is anybody running a '97 F250 on pure BD?
$800 bucks to switch out some o-rings - OUCH!

Anyone?

Changed a number myself. haven`t seen any viton o rings yet. viton is the next step in o ring tech. however if it burns (fire) it leaches hydrofloric acid very bad stuff

If Navistar says it allright you can trust them. they make the powerstroke. the ECM should take over and inject the right amount of fuel. you might not know the diff. power wise

We have about 75 in our fleet so i see lots of them to work on. let me know how it works, I`m very interested

newest rings i`ve changed were 97. they could very well be viton now. viton o ring and seals are almost allways brown in colour not black blue or pink- the colours i`ve seen on the injectors

I've now been running on B100 in my 95 Ford F350 7.3L powerstroke dually (@135K mi.) for about 3 weeks without any problems. At first I thought the hard starting in the mornings might be due to BD, but it turned out just to be the glow plug relay which is known to be a problem. There is a GREAT website on PS Tips & Tricks at http://pages.prodigy.net/stevebaz/_import/pages.prodigy.net/stevebaz/index3.html

I swapped out the GPR and it starts fine even at 45F. Very comparable performance with no changes in injector timing yet. Thinking about a MicroTuner to change the timing a bit.

I make BD out of FVO in 55 gallon batches WITHOUT any washing (per Tickell's recommendation). I refuse to ADD water my fuel when it's so nasty to diesel engines! The pH is about 9.0 after 24 hours of "bubble polishing" to eliminate the methanol and the BD gets crystal clear. I do a final filter to 1 micron along with a dewatering filter inline. Check it out at http://home.attbi.com/~wiedemann/private/biodiesel.htm

Rudi

Rudi,
I saw you web page and was wondering what kind of filter set up is on your pump and where did you get it?
I have a 2002 F-350 7.3PS and have run 5 gallons of biodiesel thru it. I am putting togather a 110 gallon processor and plan on running B-100 as much as possible.

For everyone info I have been sourcing parts and supplies for biodiesel and processors and will be putting up a web site to sell them very soon. i have tanks, pumps, scales and other stuff available. Email for now @ nospamsquiesel@hotmail.com (leave out nospam)

quote:

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Originally posted by DonutDually:
I make BD out of FVO in 55 gallon batches WITHOUT any washing (per Tickell's recommendation). I refuse to ADD water my fuel when it's so nasty to diesel engines! The pH is about 9.0 after 24 hours of "bubble polishing" to eliminate the methanol and the BD gets crystal clear. Rudi

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Please explain your "bubble polishing" method. How does it work without water??

30 000 KM in a '90 Mazda 2 litre diesel on SVO with biodiesel start/purge.

The general opinion seems to be that unwashed biodiesel will absorb more water from the atmosphere that washed biodiesel. So unwashed could actully be "wetter" than washed fuel. Has anyone done any experiments to prove this?

Adding water should be no problem because, apart from the natural absorption of moisture, biodiesel and water don't mix. All commercial biodiesel is washed. They would not bother with the cost if it was not necessary.

It's worth storing washed biodiesel for a week or two before using it. This allows fine water droplets to settle out. I've heared from good authority that gentle vibrations on the tank help the process along. Such as an aquarium air bubbler on a thin wall poly barrel.

FILTERS: I used a 1 micron Fram 2-stage filter setup (FCS1133PLM) which first filters then dewaters the diesel. I probably over-engineered the final filters because this is the ONLY filtering I do before putting unwashed BD into the truck. It's VERY expensive ($200), but I sleep well knowing the truck fuel is clean and dry. I just found a better alternative to the Fram: Northern Tool has a nice cheap filter/dewatering set for 1" NPT (#1703-C175 & #17041-C175). In the picture is a fuel transfer pump and digital delivery gauge from Northern Tool.

BUBBLE-POLISHING: Since residual methanol in the BD will be HIGHLY hygroscopic, my objective is to get the methanol out before going into the truck. The two things I really work hard to avoid in the fuel tank are water and glycerine. A bit of methanol is OK, and as long as the pH is not above 9 then the OH level is OK by me. I've run a LOT of pH "before/after" tests on bubble-polishing, and it almost always brings it down at least 1 full point (I think methanol acts like a base). I've learned bubble-polishing really speeds up the clarifying process. Just try it on a mini-batch with an aquarium pump and a brass fitting on the end of a tygon tube. DO NOT use a "stone", as this will soon dissolve in your (previously) clean BD because of all that methanol! In my processor tank, I inserted a copper ring with holes all around the edge and pump it with a 30psi, 2-3 cfm air pump (oil-free diaphragm type).

I'm now working on an all-solar-powered full BD processing station, from WVO pre-processing all the way to final filtering and delivery into the vehicle fuel tank.

Feel free to contact me if you'd like to share design ideas. wiedemann@attbi.com

95 Ford F350 7.3L Powerstroke dually on home brew B100 from FVO since 2/15/03.

quote:

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Originally posted by DonutDually:
BUBBLE-POLISHING: Since residual methanol in the BD will be HIGHLY hygroscopic, my objective is to get the methanol out before going into the truck. The two things I really work hard to avoid in the fuel tank are water and glycerine. A bit of methanol is OK, and as long as the pH is not above 9 then the OH level is OK by me. I've run a LOT of pH "before/after" tests on bubble-polishing, and it almost always brings it down at least 1 full point (I think methanol acts like a base). I've learned bubble-polishing really speeds up the clarifying process. Just try it on a mini-batch with an aquarium pump and a brass fitting on the end of a tygon tube. DO NOT use a "stone", as this will soon dissolve in your (previously) clean BD because of all that methanol! In my processor tank, I inserted a copper ring with holes all around the edge and pump it with a 30psi, 2-3 cfm air pump (oil-free diaphragm type).

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Are you saying that you are using the air bubbles to remove the methanol?
Please explain.

30 000 KM in a '90 Mazda 2 litre diesel on SVO with biodiesel start/purge.

I just bought a 1995 Ford 250 with a Powerstroke engine- anyone tried one of these?