brwown stuff
 

Ok ive seen the black,but ive got loss of power pretty bad,,only thing that helps me is changing fule filters,i recently filled up my tank with backyard made biodiesel then went on a 1 month vacation thats when my symtpoms arrived,prefilter has been changed 4 times and cannister 2,theres this brown dirt sandy looking stuff that sits in a little mound in the prefilter,what is this stuff,ive run 2-3 full tanks in order to flush i out so i dont have to do a tank removal from my td but no car is worsr,any suggestions??

Make sure you are prefiltering it properly before you put it in the tank and make sure your process/formula is correct.

Is possible too that your rubber fuel lines from the tank are deteriorating from age/bio use or that your homebrew has killed off a bunch of algae in the tank.

Your home brew willdefinitely kill off algae from Dino-Diesel and this will be brown and/or black stuff! Keep several fuel filters on hand and change them often, Biodiesel will flush the crap out of your fuel system into your filters until it is gone. Same thing with veggie oil!

ok
 

veggie oil kills algae?? more on that if you would anyone??

Sure! Vegetable oil and biodiesel will kill the fungus and algea that grows in Dino Diesel!! This is the source of the black/brown stuff, dead algea and microbes found in Fossil fuels! Hard to believe, isn't it? Fossil fuels are the remnants of long dead animals and creatures and the algea and fungus that grows in it would be similar the the bacteria that breaks down dead tissue on living mamals, including humans! Plant based fuels such as Biodiesel and Vegetable oil offer nothing to sustain the lifespan of the organisms! They literally starve to death!!!! Therefor if your running Biodiesel or vegetable oil, you can expect that the crud left behind clogging up your filters and your injectors if your not careful, is the dead carcasses of these algea and funguses/microbes! They turn brown/black when they kick the bucket and their corpses wind up in your fuel filters! This is why you need to keep a good supply of filters on hand and change them as necessary!:eek: :eek:

When I first started running my 85 300td on biodiesel I had to change the filters on a bi-weekly basis. This car came from Florida and those critters love the warmer temps.

Buy some Startron tank cleaner from your local boating store or order from www.WestMarine.com.

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SiteSearchView?catalogId=10001&Ntx=mode%2Bmatchallpartial&keyword=startron+tank+cleaner&Ntt=startron +tank+cleaner&N=0&storeId=10001&Ntk=All_2&ddkey=SiteSearch

Double dose the tank and let it sit for a while, then use as recommended. I was going through filters every 500 miles for a while. Now I've gone over 4,000 miles on my current filter and still running strong. My tank was nasty from 230,000 miles of dino diesel.

-Jim

V/O wont kill algae.. it will actually help it grown.. Bio is the one that acts as a solvent and cleans the system out...

like jadavis said run a Starton treatment..

Vegetable oil promoting algea growth would be a new one for me. I've been using vegetable oil and biodiesel for years and never had any problems with algea after using SVO with known algea problems! The algea turned black and found it's way into my fuel filters with no additives added to SVO and algea problem.....GONE!!! Biodiesel is a solvent, but I didn't use it in my E240D until after veggie and my algea was gone. I do live in a desert climate where it is very dry in summer and cold/ dry in winter though! Sure couldn't hurt to do a cleaning treatment though!

i was told by a person i trust that VO causes algae to grow (if you already have the problem it makes it worse)

but i guess it depends

When i was a troubleshooter/engineer for the Chrysler Corporation, we used to use Jojoba oil in the fuel tanks of diesels because it would retard and kill algea! This was the experimental area of alternatives to fossil fuels. Here's what we found out. Fossil fuels would promote algea growth because fossil fuels were the by product of rotting mamal flesh that was pressed into fuel and some bacteria was always present. Humans are the only members of the food chain that can eat from both flesh and vegetable portions of the food plate. For this reason, we have live active bacterias in our waste the body produces. Other warm blooded mamals do not, but the active bacteria does not die when the host does! Because these algeas live in the primordial soup of long dead warm blooded creatures, they can be found in diesel fuel and the production process does not kill them. However, meat eating carnivores cannot go vegetarian and plant eating mamals cannot go meat eating and this is true of the bacteria the host body carries! They are different! The one random event in todays climate was humidity and if one lives in a moist climate, that could be a really good reason for the continuation of algea/bacteria growth in the presence of vegetable based fuels since Biodiesel and Dino Diesels are both very hydrophillic (they both naturally attract water)! Veggie oil is not as hydrophillic as diese and Biodiesel but it is to a point. Since most of America is not in a really high humidity zone, our research never went much farther into the realities of living bacterias in fuels! Sorry Florida residents! It was thought that the fuels would be consumed before any large quantity of live active bacteria growth could become a serious problem, however, we were experimenting!!!! Our researchers came to the conclusion that adding plant based oils to diesel would not only help keep it clear of these little bugs, but it would also lubricate the Injection pump components as well! Veggie based oils like biodiesel are being used in many parts of the country now because of algea growth and the loss of pump lubrication in Ultra low sulfur fuels!!! Biodiesel is the preferred method because it has many of the same cold flow characteristics of diesel #2! It also has the largest energy conversion factor of all alternative fuels so far, 1:44 to 1!!!! This means that for every one part energy put in to produce it, you get your 1 plus .44 back out!!!! Working at Chrysler was really fun and one of my fondest memories in my career! Chrysler was always on the leading edge of technology because we were having so much fun in our basement labs! Thanks for letting me post this! This was a great time in my life and I hope this helps! I seriously think nothing is more fun than being an engineer!

Fuel based microorganisms are called HUMBUGS (hydrocarbon Utilizing Microorganisms) they grow and feed in the fuel water interface by creating biofilms (aka slime). They can flourish just as well on a biodiesel hydrocarbon (Biodiesel hydrocarbon chains are generally 16 to 20 carbons in length, and they are all oxygenated at one end) as they can on petro diesel hydrocarbons.

If the filter plugging material is truly from HUMBUGS (and not varnish residue or ashphaltanes) it is becase the solvent properties of biodiesel wash the biofilm mats (slime) from their attachment points on the fuel tanks metal surface. It is then free to travel through out the fuel system.

The only way to kill HUMbugs is with a biocide. You can also keep your fuel dry by dispercing water. Without the fuel water interface the critters can't live. Startron claims to disslove biomats and disperse water, there by eliminating critters and associated problems from them.

Do a GOOGLE search.... though I like your imagination:silly:[/QUOTE]