New Problem - Fuel Tanks

[DRDON]

A very good friend of mine is a service manager for a large Ford dealership in the Baltimore area. We play golf just about every weekend. He told me yesterday, Sunday, that he has had (5) diesel 6.4's in his shop for fuel tanks "flaking off" inside the fuel tank. Apparently this is being caused by using high concentrations of bio-diesel (above the 5%). The particles are making their way to the injectors and causing some serious problems. He said the repair cost, for the ones he has fixed, have averaged about $3,000. (non-warranty repairs)

This is the first I have heard of this and wanted to pass it on.

I also asked him about the RADIATOR problems and he has not seen any to date.

Enjoy the ride !!

DRDON

[ZMANN]

wow with all the filtration you wouldn't think it would make it to an injector

[outlawinil]

LOL...So these big "FLAKES" mysteriously make it to the injectors!!!!

DRDON...You ever been around Bio-diesel before????

[OMCUSNR]

The poor guy hasn't a clue.

This must be happening in 450's right? since the 250 & 350 have plastic tanks.

What may be possible, since this is one dealer, is a bad batch of local BD. Its not possible that "flaking" stuff from the tank can get past the fuel filters, but it is possible that with a bad, contaminated or extremely old batch of BD that they are experiencing what is called "polymerization". When the bad BD hits the injectors, the pressures involved cause the contamination to "polymerize" forming tiny pieces of plastic at the moment it leaves the injector tip.

The fact that BD is bio degradable, and is so easy to make at home, is what concerns the injector manufacturers (and hence the car makers that use those injectors), and has resulted in the B-5 limit.

Bio diesel is a fine fuel with some minor limitations. It must be made with strict QC in place. It does gel a little warmer than #2, so its use in cold temps needs monitoring. And it needs to be "fresh". If its older than about 3 months, its suspect, and may have become contaminated. If you've used allot of #2, bio-d may clean out your fuel system, putting some sludge into your fuel filters too.

Run good quality, fresh BD, and you'll have nothing to worry about.

OMC

[loft306]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: OMCUSNR_RET</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

This must be happening in 450's right? since the 250 & 350 have plastic tanks.

</div></div>Also cab chassies have metal tanks and some of the longer wheelbase 250/350's have the metal tanks.(atleast that is what is listed in the workshop manual from may of '07)

just my 2 cents