This syndicated article appeared in our local paper:

Mercedes says goodbye to diesel in North America | Driving

Basically says that diesel fuel currently and in future available in USA will ruin our modern diesels and will void warranties.

Is it true that B5 diesel is not widely available? This is what article claims:
This is what MBUSA says: https://www.mbusa.com/vcm/MB/DigitalAssets/pdfmb/serviceandparts/biodiesel_Brochure5.pdf

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Graham
85 300D,72 350SL, 98 E320, Outback 2.5

Interesting....so it sounds like that this would even apply to the OM648 in my 06 CDI?

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14 E250 Bluetec "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 153k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 171k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver, 142k mi, wastegate conversion

19 Honda CR-V EX 61k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

Could be, but I wonder how accurate the article is. With the number of modern diesels on the road in USA, can you imagine not having B5 or better available?

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Graham
85 300D,72 350SL, 98 E320, Outback 2.5

It appeared to me that anything equal to or less than 5% was ok. Did I miss something?

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84 300SD
85 380SE
83 528e
95 318ic

Luckily around here, and in TigerTown, we can still get B5 for our two common rail MLs.

They do mark the pump with a B20 label if it’s B20.

I would like to know exactly what the issue is with > B5?

Eats seals?
Clogs injectors?
Damages the pump?

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The OM 642/722.9 powered family
Still going strong
2014 ML350 Bluetec (wife's DD)
2013 E350 Bluetec (my DD)

both my kids cars went to junkyard in 2023
2008 ML320 CDI (Older son’s DD) fatal transmission failure, water soaked/fried rear SAM, numerous other issues, just too far gone to save (165k miles)
2008 E320 Bluetec (Younger son's DD) injector failed open and diluted oil with diesel, spun main bearings (240k miles)

1998 E300DT sold to TimFreeh
1987 300TD sold to vstech

This must be a regional thing. There is no biodiesel, B5 or otherwise, anywhere in the DC metro area. There used to be several B20 and B100 pumps in the area, but they all disappeared a few years ago.

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1998 E300 turbodiesel

America's Rights and Freedoms Are Not The Enemy!

For me, I have traveled all throughout the West coast with diesels only of course and I can say it is a rare thing to see a pump with B20. There are a few websites that list B99 and B100 stations, but you generally have to drive far out of your way to find them.

I can't see this being too much of an issue because the majority of diesel is consumed by commercial trucking and as an industry, they are not going to accept any damage from biodiesel.

Dkr.

no you got that right. You are missing part about that not being available.

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Graham
85 300D,72 350SL, 98 E320, Outback 2.5

Did you read the MBUSA link above?

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Graham
85 300D,72 350SL, 98 E320, Outback 2.5

I wonder if those big diesels are as susceptible to damage as the small auto diesels. I need to read that MBUSA link again, but it seemed a big problem was dilution of lube oil with fuel.

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Graham
85 300D,72 350SL, 98 E320, Outback 2.5

I don't doubt that the fuel quality is an issue, but how come other manufacturers aren't having the problems that MB is? Look at all the PowerSmokes and their ilk on the road and they seem to be doing fine... Even Chevrolet has the Cruze diesel on the market over here. Maybe MB should ditch that stupid 10K mile OCI, that would certainly help with oil dilution issues.

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Current stable:
1995 E320 149K (Nancy)
1983 500SL 120K (SLoL)

Black Sheep:
1985 524TD 167K (TotalDumpster™)

Gone but not forgotten:
1986 300SDL (RIP)
1991 350SD
1991 560SEL
1990 560SEL
1986 500SEL Euro (Rusted to nothing at 47K!)

I live in northern Virginia. That has been my experience too. It's all 40 cetane. I could drive 30 miles and get 50; I figure that's harder on the car than using 40.

Boy, I'm glad I'll still be driving my vintage diesel, then! It loves B99.

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DON'T MESS WITH MY MERCEDES!


1967 W110 Universal Wagon, Euro, Turbo Diesel, Tail Fins, 4 Speed Manual Column Shift, A/C
1980 W116 300SD Turbo Diesel, DB479 Walnut Brown, Sunroof, Highly Optioned, 350,000+ Miles

I've read similar warnings about B5 or greater over on the TDI club forums. VW apparently didn't recommend it in their diesels beginning with the common rail models. I wonder if the biodiesel problem is directly related to cr designs. (Odd that they were so adamant about B5+ in their warranty literature while they were singlehandedly taking actions behind the scenes that would nearly kill the diesel passenger car market in the US... but I digress).

I'm with you Squiggle Dog... when I bought my 02 TDI 4 years ago, I specifically got an ALH engine so I could run biodiesel with near impunity. We have a local biodiesel plant in the town where I work and they have a biodiesel pump a couple miles from where I live. My TDI loves the stuff (as did my '84 300D and my current '91 300D). In all three cars, the sweet spot seems to be around B30-B50. They all run better, smoother, quieter and gain about 1-2 mpg (vs. ULSD or B100).

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1991 300D 2.5 "Rocinante"
2002 Golf TDI "Teen Spirit"
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1984 300D
1966 Mustang I6 3sp
1985 Mazda RX-7 GSLSE
1982 Toyota Supra
1977 Datsun 280z
1971 Datsun 240z

Yup, same here no bio diesel anywhere, there is 50 cetane diesel,but it's very far away in the boonies. It's out west in Windsor.

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1998 Ford Escort ZX2 5 speed - 279,000 miles My Daily

1992 Mercedes 300D 2.5 202,000 - Pure junk
2000 Mercedes E320 Black - 136,000 miles - Needs repair

Don't forget to grease the screw and threads on the spring compressor.