FoMoCo, diesel engines and biodiesel

[bitburger]

Below is the text of a letter received from the local Ford Service Manager. Clearly they are establishing a point that warranty issues will be argued if you don't use the severe oil change schedule. While my position is that I spent much of my traveling outside the glorious Pacific North West, it is concerning.

-Mark


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From: David Matayoshi at Ford of Kirkland [mailto:d.matayoshi.fordofkirkland@contactdealer.co m]
Sent: Thursday, September 17, 2009 5:58 PM
To:
Subject: Urgent: Critical Diesel information

Attention Ford Diesel owners this is critical information:
In November of last year, a Washington state law went into effect requiring that all fuel retailers sell B2 (2% Biodiesel mixture) as their consumer diesel fuel product. A similar mandate went into effect in the state of Oregon on August 5, 2009. Links to both pieces of legislation are included below.
That means that as you read this, all diesel vehicles in the states of Washington and Oregon are running B2 Biodiesel and the owners of these vehicles might not even know. While you might expect that signage would be placed on the fuel pumps alerting customers to this change, Federal law only requires disclosure of biodiesel mixtures of 5% or greater (B5). As a result, the new fuels have gone into gas stations with no disclosure to the customer.
What does this mean for you? According to the owner’s manual, any Ford 6.0L & 6.4L diesel engine running Biodiesel of any concentration must be maintained on the severe duty schedule.

Please contact your service advisor today 425-821-6611 to set up the correct service schedule for your vehicle.
Sincerely,

Tom Olson
Service Manager
Ford and Hyundai of Kirkland
425-821-6611



Link to Washington State Senate Bill 6508:
"Special fuel licensees under chapter 82.38 RCW, other than international fuel tax agreement licensees, dyed special fuel users, and special fuel distributors, shall provide evidence to the department of licensing that at least two percent of the total annual diesel fuel sold in Washington is biodiesel fuel, following the earlier of: (a) November 30, 2008; or (b) when a determination is made by the director, published in the Washington State Register, that feedstock grown in Washington state can satisfy a two-percent requirement."
http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/2.../6508-S.PL.pdf
Link to article about the Washington legislation from Biodiesel Magazine:
http://www.biodieselmagazine.com/art...rticle_id=3144
Link to Oregon State House Bill 3463:
". . . a retail dealer, nonretail dealer or wholesale dealer may not sell or offer for sale diesel fuel unless the diesel fuel contains at least two percent biodiesel by volume or other renewable diesel with at least two percent renewable component by volume."
http://www.leg.state.or.us/09reg/mea...hb3463.en.html
Link to press release on the Oregon legislation from National Biodiesel Board:
http://www.biodiesel.org/resources/p...or_mandate.pdf

[Ford_6L_E350]

Other than the 'Severe Duty' oil changes, I'd like to see B2 fuel. The Biodiesel lubricates the injectors better than most additives do.

Thanks for the heads up on B2 in the Northwest. Now I have to check my fuel mileage on tanks I got in those two states this summer.

Mike

[daveb]

With the injector and EGR problems I've had over the last year, I plan to run fuel additive (probably the Ford additive) from now on. The only issue is the Espar units but my guess is that the additive will even help those. I also plan to keep with the 7500 mi oil change even though I run the AMSOIL products/system. I don't know whether or not bio diesel is bad for the engine but I'm not letting Ford use it as an excuse. We have used bio diesel up to 5% at work for a couple of years and haven't seen an increse in problems.
Dave

[BroncoHauler]

So how is Ford going to hold me accountable to the Severe Duty Schedule when I'm "not aware" that I'm running B2 while traveling through Oregon and Washington?

However, like Dave, I'm running AMSOIL and sticking with the 7500 mile oil/filter change schedule.


Herb

[sdwindansea]

Be careful with the Espar and fuel additives. I seem to recall that Jeffrey had problems with this and Espar told him not to use any fuel additives with the Espar units. However, I doubt this is a problem, especially since they run on regular diesel and ULS diesel.

[UJOINT]

Interesting.... I already change the oil & filter every 5K, fuel filters every 10K. Pretty important for the 6.0!!

[Ford_6L_E350]

Originally Posted by UJOINT

Interesting.... I already change the oil & filter every 5K, fuel filters every 10K. Pretty important for the 6.0!!

Cold starts and commuting are the hardest on engines and oils. Since my van is not used for short trips, and always fully warmed up (20+ miles) I change oil/filter every 7500 miles and fuel filters every 15K.

Air filter minder still hasn't moved, but I've changed it every 50K. A Ford mechanic I trust said the stock filter can hold ~8# of dust and debris before it needs to be changed. If you trust the filter minder, then that is probably accurate.

Mike

[daveb]

Originally Posted by sdwindansea

Be careful with the Espar and fuel additives. I seem to recall that Jeffrey had problems with this and Espar told him not to use any fuel additives with the Espar units. However, I doubt this is a problem, especially since they run on regular diesel and ULS diesel.

The problem with the EGR was mainly carbon build up and the additive is supposed to help prevent that as well as provide better ignition so I can't see it hurting the Espar even though I think they would use it as an excuse not to warrantee it. The mechanic suggested using it with bio and ultra low sulfer diesel as well. Whether or not he was just trying to sell his product who knows. We only have one place in town to buy ULS diesel and it's expensive so I stay clear of it.

As for the oil changes, I think the twin filter system makes a big difference just have it Analyzed at 5K if you think you need to. The one and only time I got a bum report was when I went to 10K and found the bad injector. Everything else including Particulates were fine. Maybe if I were running Bio diesel I wouldn't have lost the injector???
Dave