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NW Washington | I was around a JD 3150 that was run on 50% biodiesel on a long term research project. The Standyne pump crapped out after a few years and the mechanics took the pump to a pump shop for repairs, but when the head research guy found out he had a fit and took the pump away from the pump shop and sent it off to Standyne for evaluation. The upshot was because of the screwup that we never got a good answer as to whether or not the biodiesel caused a problem with the pump. The guy at the pump shot assumed that it was a problem, but I am not so sure. This fuel was homemade and may have had some impurities in it. The fuel was made from rapeseed oil and methanol was used to process the fuel. Biodiesel fuel made from rapeseed oil has been used and tested for many years in Austria and Germany and I know of no common problem causes by the biodiesel. But it is a good solvent and cleaner, so it will send all sorts of junk from the tank and lines into the fuel filters at least for a while. It also is made using alchol, so it may tend to pick up water which could cause problems too if the percentage of H2O got too high. I think if you use good clean biofuel from a good source you should not have problems, other than some excessive filter plugging initially. But I would be careful. Using some homemade stuff made from fry oil might be a whole different story. A Bosch type pump would probably be more forgiving, but the Roosa should work. That said, high percenages of biodiesel can cause regular neophrene rubber hoses and seals to turn to nasty black goo, so change any rubber lines to viton. | |
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Biodiesel in 1970's JD
