I bought some diesel in Guymon, OK yesterday and the sticker on the pump said it was "B11."

The fine print went on to say that the fuel contained between 5% and 20% biodiesel.

That seems odd and unnecessarily vague to me.

Could that be an Oklahoma thing or would any such designation have to be Federal?

It just seems odd and I haven't seen it anywhere else.

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1993 W124 300D
-297K on the clock as I type this.

I guess B11 was the nominal value. Is there really any difference between B5 and B20 (or B0, for that matter) in practice? The B11 will hurt your mileage and power a little, but it's mostly harmless.

I've read that one of the reasons to add bio-diesel to dino-diesel is that it increase the lubricity. (ULSD isn't as slick).
Here's a link: hxxp://www.saafer.org/userfiles/file/alternative%20fuels/Biodiesel_2006.pdf

it's on the 2nd page.

And here's another link: hxxp://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy05osti/37136.pdf

its on the 1 page, 1'st column.

The lubricity of bio-diesel will become increasingly important because EPA regulations will require the use of ultra-low sulfur diesel fuels in all U.S. highway diesel engines by 2006. Unfortunately, ultra-low sulfur diesel fuels can have poor lubricating properties. Low levels of bio-diesel used as a lubricity additive can help solve this problem.

The energy amount in bio-diesel is approx 10% less than diesel. A blend of 20% would have a negligible effect on MPG.

my links are dead XX... replace the XX with tt or just copy from the end of the //

I've put my flame suit on.

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92 300D 2.5L OM602 OBK #59

My cars currently all run on commercial B20. Performance and economy is sufficiently similar to D2 that I can't tell the difference. B100 does cost me 1-2 mpg plus another dollar a gallon so I have stopped buying it.

Your station may mix its own blend by dumping in some B100 and then some D2, or they may buy from a variety of distributors who sell different blends. Unless you completely drained the tank or had a chem lab handy, you'd never know what exactly what ratio was in the tank. So they use "B11" for CYA purposes (and "YMMV").

Anything in the B2-B5 range is sufficient for lubricity purposes; B20 and up is enough to get rid of the diesel smell (or "stink" as my wife calls it).

Jeremy

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"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

I have another oddball car, where it runs more ecomomically and makes more power on B100. ??? YMMV is right.

My TDI as well.

I'd like to read more. Any numbers?

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92 300D 2.5L OM602 OBK #59

I see that same label here in NC.

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1993 W124 300D 2.5L Turbo, OM602.962
2000 Chevrolet Cavalier, 2.4L DOHC
2002 Ford Explorer, 4.0L SOHC
2005 Toyota Prius, 1.5L

http://www.fuelly.com/sig-us/40601.png

Slightly lower mileage in both our w123s, but no diff in power. Car runs a bit smoother on B100 and I pay $0.25-$0.50 LESS than D2 per gallon here.

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Current Mercedes
1979 maple yellow 240D 4-speed

Gone and fondly remembered:
1980 orient red 240D 4-speed

Gone and NOT fondly remembered:
1982 Chna Blue 300TD

Other car in the stable:
2013 VW Jetta Sportwagen TDI / 6-speed MT

Before I started actively driving to increase mileage, I was regularly getting 35-36 mpg with D2 and 38 with B100. Now I'm getting 40-41 on B100, and with the cooler weather, I will be using more diesel. But winter isn't a good time to compare as kero starts getting mixed into the D2.

My Mercedes did seem to get 1-2 mpg better on D2, but I was never able to meter the biodiesel. I'm not actively driving it currently. I built a fueling station so I can measure it now.

You are so true on your statement. The ULSD isn't good for our older cars, but the biodiesel will atleast lube the system. And at such a low amount you will not have issues with your rubber.

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Professional greasecar installer
Austin TX


98 Jetta TDI with grease car kit + veg-therm (totaled)
87 MB 300SDL running on B99 / greasecar kit + 30 fphe
www.austingreaseguys.com

The milage on my 97 is way off the 95's, but the 95 ( which had sealing and IP issues) behaved normally in that it was 33 mpg B100/36+mpg D2. THe 97 is 27.5 B100 and 26.5 D2. Just about the same actually

Old engine smoked less on B100. Newer engine only smokes on hard accel D2. Both sound much more "symphonic" on B100, and smell much better!

Only issue with B100 is that leaks are harder to smell than D2.

And you have to buy some Viton lines and orings eventually.

I'd love to see some work on B100 concerning cam timing, IP timing, etc.

Well I'm not getting flamed. Thanks all.

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92 300D 2.5L OM602 OBK #59