Bio-diesel in NCV3, fleet use in Hawaii

Hello all, I just returned from the big island of Hawaii and noticed that the speedi shuttle service is running our sprinters on bio-diesel. They advertise on the back of the van, "this vehicle fueled with bio-diesel". I know my tank says no bio-diesel, but looks like others are confident in the ability of bio-diesel. They are using b100 as posted on their website. http://www.speedishuttle.com/ this may be a good place to learn of long term effects of using bio-diesel in sprinter. Any thoughts?

hunghua said:

Hello all, I just returned from the big island of Hawaii and noticed that the speedi shuttle service is running our sprinters on bio-diesel. They advertise on the back of the van, "this vehicle fueled with bio-diesel". I know my tank says no bio-diesel, but looks like others are confident in the ability of bio-diesel. They are using b100 as posted on their website. http://www.speedishuttle.com/ this may be a good place to learn of long term effects of using bio-diesel in sprinter. Any thoughts?

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I agree. Return and perform a vivisection procedure against three vehicles' fuel systems and provide photographic evidence of cleanliness (or godliness) and other benefits. You'll have return to the big island and repeat the procedure so we might observe the impact over time. Also, we'll need a control. If Speedishuttle will not provide an experimental control, your Sprinter will have to suffice. Don't mess up the experimental control by tainting your fuel with biodiesel.

Ok, seriously:
Did you tell anyone about Sprinter-Source?

It'd be great if the technician(s) or the fleet manager might post about how their use biodiesel is working out.

-Jon

I just spoke to one of the dispatchers at Speedy, this afternoon, and he informed me that currently they longer are using bio-fuel, he said they were having issues with fuel filters mostly and some other problems that he couldn't recall since he's not the fleet manager he didn't have very detailed information, he also said the problems they did experience were not really serious, apparently they've tried different bio fuels made from different oils with different results, the person that would know much more ,would be the fleet manager, who happened to be out of town when I called...

The company that did the installation of their bulk biodiesel tank did a very poor job. It was a very old tank that was never cleaned and properly prepared to dispense bio. The result was endless amounts of crud getting pumped into their Sprinters fuel tanks. We sent them dozens and dozens of fuel filters in hopes they could clear the problem up. They have 18 plus rigs and with stranded customers the burden became so overwhelming they decided to drop bio for the time being. I did not know that they still haven't return to bio use.

Running bio on early or late model Sprinters is not a problem. I have been running B20-B30 for four years without any problems what so ever. In Portland, we have a company, ecoShuttle, that has been running B100 without any problems (at least not since time I last talked to them). Running bio is a comfort zone thing. If you are worried about warranty or other issues, it is probably not for you. If you want to reduce dependency on foreign oil or want to leave a smaller footprint on the planet, then bio could be the answer for you. I hope this info helps.

Thank you, John
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