My biodiesel transition filter clogging story...

[ScottyP5947]

Hey everyone! I bought this truck with 102,000 miles on it and I have no idea if it has ever had bio d in it before or what, but I have made a pretty easy transition from dino to bio diesel. I changed the filthy black nasty looking filter when I got the truck <maybe never been changed?> and then started running bio in it. First tank 10%, then next 15-18%, then a tank of 20-30%, another tank of 40%, now running a tank of ~85% bio and it is running great. So I have been paranoid about the filter clogging, I carry one with me, I wonder if that little thing I think I notice is because the filter is clogging... and of course I am awaiting the certian doom of it suddenly clogging and it leaving me on the side of the road with my 2 year old daughter in the truck. I can't stand the uncertianty- I get the truck home, about 30 miles into the tank of B85 and I decide to open up the filter... well ladies and gentlemen, it's almost brand new looking. I am sure that there are folks who have had the clogging problem, and I would love to hear what happened, but I bet those instances are far and few between. I'm glad things have gone nice and smoothly. Now I never have to worry about filling up with as much bio as I want when I want. I don't run it all the time by any means, I just fill up every now and then to keep things clean and lubricated. Hope this encourages someone to use bio who was worried about the filter clogging issue! -Scott

[cantrellc123]

My experience with My 97 ford was to go thru 8 filters before both tanks were clean, this was running B100. These filters truly looked like they had been at the bottom of a septic tank for about a year.
My 99 ford gave no problems as I changed out the filters once. This was running the same B100 as the 97 as I had a 1000 gallon skid tank to pump from.
I have read that steel tanks are much worse for tank crude than plastic tanks which My experience backs up.
Almost forgot I ran the same B100 thru My 7740 New Holland tractor with 2800 hours on it and changed 1 filter, it has a plastic tank.

[cantrellc123]

Another possible positive for others, the fuel gauge on the 99 had begun to act up and once the B100 cleaned everything it now works as good as new.

[sea71]

I plugged 1 filter in my 02 the first week I ran bio. Started on empty tank with b100. No problems since.

[ScottyP5947]

Mine's a 2000 f-250, so there you are with more data in support of the the plastic vs steel idea. Sea71 - how bad did your truck plug the filter in the 2002? Did it just run rough suddenly? Stop running? Glad to hear it was a one time thing. - Scott

[tubular031]

i put in b50 and ran for almost 2k miles and all was well. My filter had about 8k on it BEFORE I started running bio. after 2k miles I figured I should change them. I had no problems and no issues other then the factory one was about 10k and about 2k of that was bio. I have a few extra filters with me just in case. so far almost 1k more on new filters and still no issues.

I say filters because I have a pre pump 12 micron filter that came with my intank kit. soon ill be adding a post pump 2 micron wix filter since they filter much more and I can replace them for 10 bucks rather then 25-30 for the little joke of a filter that is on the truck.

[PGreenSVT]

I started running Bio and started at B5 quickly graduating to B100. I ran my filters out to the normal 10k change without an issue. That's on an 05 6.0. By the way Scotty there's no reason not to run it every tank unless it is a cost issue. I ran B100 (Actually B99.9) from June till last week and just switch to B50 since the temps dropped and the B100 jelled on me. I'll run as my bio as I can all winter and when the temps allow go back to B100.

[tubular031]

I run b50 cause I am too scared to run 100%

[PGreenSVT]

If your temps are consistent above 60 B100 is great. If it drops below that I'd statr mixing in some #2 or Kerosene. I love the stuff and am trying to figure out how to run it in the winter short of throwing a Vegistroke on the truck.

[sea71]

Originally Posted by ScottyP5947

Mine's a 2000 f-250, so there you are with more data in support of the the plastic vs steel idea. Sea71 - how bad did your truck plug the filter in the 2002? Did it just run rough suddenly? Stop running? Glad to hear it was a one time thing. - Scott

Shut down at idle in the yard. No hint it was gonna happen. Anyway, pulled the 2nd filter "just because" after 2000ish miles, and it looked perfect.