B20 diesel

[SuperSweet]

Mercedes Benz Sprinter owners manual says low sulphur diesel. Up and down the west coast the major truck stops, Loves, FlyingJ, etc only stock B20. What to do?

[Greybear]

Originally Posted by SuperSweet

Mercedes Benz Sprinter owners manual says low sulphur diesel. Up and down the west coast the major truck stops, Loves, FlyingJ, etc only stock B20. What to do?

B20 is merely 20% biodiesel mixed with 80% #2 diesel. It still qualifies as low sulfur diesel. I do remember back in 2015-16 there were some concerns about B20, but the stuff I've read recently states that aside from a very small decrease in mileage (~1-2%), there's no appreciable difference.

Since you drive a Mercedes however, check with them. I seem to remember they at one time were saying that B20 could cause problem with their engines. Cummins and Duramax have said it's fine in their engines, although they recommend more frequent service if you routinely run B20.

One last issue with B20 is that it tends to gel faster, so break out the core heater in cold weather.

[Travelin' Texans]

Originally Posted by SuperSweet

Mercedes Benz Sprinter owners manual says low sulphur diesel. Up and down the west coast the major truck stops, Loves, FlyingJ, etc only stock B20. What to do?

As a consumer you will not find anything but low sulphur diesel at any pump, it most likely will have a certain percentage of bio diesel due to the ridiculous mandates to reduce fossil fuels by adding crap to good fuel, but still low sulphur. As mentioned if concerned with the allowable percentage of bio fuel in diesel, or ethanol in gas, in your specific vehicle check the owners manual or contact the manufacturer.
Regardless of what some may think the "off road" diesel fuel is the exact same fuel as all.other diesels other than it has a red dye added & no road tax added to the price.

[Hooligan2]

Mercedes does have concerns on using Biodiesel. This seems to be the latest info. Monitor engine oil level, bio diesel can migrate into the engine oil when extra fuel is burned for regeneration. you may need to change oil more often. MB Brochure https://d3ciwvs59ifrt8.cloudfront.ne...0035e9b7cd.pdf

[ducksface]

Well,
That's handy as an excuse for not foreseeing biodiesel being a thing...25 years ago.

'Hey, we at Mercedes just didnt know'.

Maybe 3,000 mile oil changes are coming back into vogue.

But
It reads to me as if they have a ring/ring gap problem and have found an excuse to not fix it.

[Lt Keefer]

I agree with duck. Back in the 70s US auto manufacturers had problems with the introduction of ethanol in fuels. My brother had a 78 Nova and the fuel system was not compatible with ethanol enhanced fuels. You would have thought that current manufacturers would have kept up with trends and tweaked designs to be suitable for modern fuels.

[Hooligan2]

Here is a more detailed Mercedes Brochure on Bio-Diesel effects. A lot more than just blow-by...
https://www.viewnavionmotorhomes.com...l_Brochure.pdf