• Biodiesel is fuel that has been made with vegetable oil through a process called transesterification. The resulting product is a fuel based from vegetable oil that can be run in all diesel engines with little to no modifications. It can be blended with petroleum diesel in any proportion. Biodiesel is often sold in blends between B5 and B99. B stands for biodiesel and the number stands for the concentration of the biodiesel. In other words, B20 would be 20% biodiesel and 80% petroleum diesel.
• Straight Vegetable Oil is also called SVO and WVO, which stands for waste vegetable oil. All vehicles require a conversion kit to run vegetable oil in a diesel motor. 98% of diesel vehicles can run on vegetable with the exception of a few. There are two types of veggie kits available. A one tank kit and a two tank kit. Here at Good Guys Diesel & Bio Mechanics we suggest that a one tank kit only be used on an indirect inject motor. Indirect inject motors are commonly found in the 70s-mid 80s era of Mercedes Benz. The one tank kit consists of several fuel heaters as well as a veggie fuel filter. The one tank kit allows the user to use the stock gas tank and not have to add an additional fuel tank to run the vegetable oil.
A two tank system has the same components as the one tank system, but also has a second gas tank with a heater built inside in order to heat the fuel. The second gas tank is usually added in the trunk of a passenger vehicle or the truck bed of pickup trucks. The advantage of a two tank system is that the user essentially has two separate fuel systems and can switch between diesel use and vegetable oil use. This can be handy in the event of a clogged fuel filter or on a long trip. If the user gets a clogged fuel filter on vegetable oil they can simply switch over to the diesel and keep running their vehicle.
Benefits of Biodiesel
• Non-Toxic – biodiesel is nontoxic and biodegradable and does not carry the same cancer causing agents as petroleum diesel does.
• Lubricating – biodiesel is more lubricating to your injection pump as well as your engine.
• Emissions – biodiesel has one of the lowest emissions out of all alternative fuels.
• Made in the USA
• Boycotts OPEC
• Is a renewable resource
• Higher cetane value
Cautions of Using Biodiesel in Your Vehicle
• Paint – biodiesel may dissolve paint overtime. Wipe off immediately to prevent this from happening
• Rubber Hoses and Seals – Most vehicles just need the simple upgrade of injector return lines and sometimes the feed and return lines to the fuel filter. Biodiesel will degrade stock fuel lines and they will become spongy or completely melt. Replace any degraded fuel lines and seals with biodiesel resistant lines and seals, such as RX32BD or viton.
• Fuel Filter Clogging – Biodiesel is a solvent, which will clean your gas tank as well as your fuel system. If there are contaminants in your fuel system it is common to get a clogged fuel filter. Symptoms of a clogged fuel filter are power loss or a surging feeling. We can change your fuel filter or you can attend one of our fuel filter changing classes to learn how to do it yourself.
• Cold Weather – Biodiesel gels around 38°F or higher depending on what type of vegetable oil it was made with. Blended petroleum diesel with biodiesel can lower the gelling point and allow the user to drive in much more colder situations. If a vehicle does have a gelling situation, a good fix is to park the car in the garage and put on a heater. This will allow the biodiesel to return to a liquid state.
• Biodiesel Friendly Mechanics – Mechanics who are unfamiliar with biodiesel may misdiagnose problems with your vehicle and charge you for costly repairs that may not be needed. Dealerships are known to do this quite often. Good Guys Diesel & Bio Mechanics has been doing research and development on biodiesel and veggie products for years and understand the properties of biodiesel.

ULSD Fuel Related Problems:
In October 2006 California switched to ultra low sulfur diesel. This has definitely shown to be a big problem to injector pump seals. The ULSD fuel causes seals to shrink and harden and in many cases even crack. This in turn allows the injection pump to suck in air and a no start or leaking fuel condition may occur. By replacing your injector pump with viton seals you will no longer have to worry about this condition. Good Guys Diesel & Bio Mechanics is the only mechanics shop in California that rebuilds injector pumps with viton seals and is well respected in the biodiesel community.

Mechanical wear: ULSD have very low in lubricity, which is not good for injector pumps lubricated with fuel. We suggest running our cetane booster and conditioner.

About Diesels
Rudolf Diesel invented the diesel engine in the 1890’s to be more efficient than the steam engine. It is still the most efficient internal combustion engine today. Diesel cars and trucks get much better mileage than their gasoline counterparts; the small diesel compact cars normally get 40-50mpg!
In diesel engines the air is compressed up to a 25:1 rate. When air is compressed, the temperature goes up. In diesel engines, the temperature is raised to up to 1500 degrees Fahrenheit. The fuel is ignited by the extremely high temperature and no spark is needed like in a gasoline engine. Nonflammable materials like vegetable oil and biodiesel can be used to fuel a diesel engine because of the high temperatures and pressures achieved.
How a Diesel Engine Works
The diesel engine has four strokes similar to the gasoline engine:
• First Stroke – INTAKE
The piston moves down and sucks in air.
• Second Stroke – COMPRESSION
The piston moves up and compresses the air up to 25 times its original volume. The temperature rises up to 1500 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Third Stroke – IGNITION
Fuel is sprayed in and ignites from the high temperature. The explosion drives down the piston.
• Fourth Stroke – EXHAUST
The piston moves up and pushes out the burnt gases to your exhaust system.
Differences Between a Gasoline & Diesel Engine
[Source: auto.howstuffworks.com]
• A gasoline engine intakes a mixture of gas and air, compresses it and ignites the mixture with a spark. A diesel engine takes in just air, compresses it and then injects fuel into the compressed air. The heat of the compressed air lights the fuel spontaneously.
• A gasoline engine compresses at a ratio of 8:1 to 12:1, while a diesel engine compresses at a ratio of 14:1 to as high as 25:1. The higher compression ratio of the diesel engine leads to better efficiency.
• Gasoline engines generally use either carburetion, in which the air and fuel is mixed long before the air enters the cylinder, or port fuel injection, in which the fuel is injected just prior to the intake stroke (outside the cylinder). Diesel engines use direct fuel injection — the diesel fuel is injected directly into the cylinder.