Gas Mileage for a Mercedes 3.5 Diesel

[smiller]

That's a pretty good summation of the most-experienced issues on the Mercedes Sprinters. That's one of the advantages of a well-known platform that been on the market for years... you know what you're getting into, good and bad, vs. a new design.

From all that I read the core engine is near bulletproof and will run forever, most all of the issues are with external components, particularly emissions equipment. The most common issue seems to be sooted-up EGR but as mentioned that is far from unique, and if it does occur is pretty easily remedied with about 30 minutes effort to remove and clean the EGR valve. Most other issues don't seem to occur until well into 6-figure mileage territory (at which point you just get a custom tune and delete all the trouble-prone crap... not that I would ever do such a thing.)

I did see somewhere a bulletin from Mercedes (prepared for dealers in Illinois concerned about B20 backlash from customers) which essentially said that if you must run B20 then you should:

1. Watch for a rising oil level (from biodiesel that isn't properly vaporizing after late injection events or DPF regenerations.) It didn't say what to do about it, I guess the idea is to do an early oil change if this occurs.

2. If the engine is going to sit unused for long periods (more than several weeks) you should drain the tank and refill with pure petro diesel (lol... as if that was practical.)

So it seems like they're saying that B20 is 'kind of' OK if you keep a watch on things and don't let the vehicle sit (the latter perhaps being a problem for vehicles in RV service.) Nothing was said about how the advice did or did not conflict with warranty terms.

[IamJerryP]

Originally Posted by Murf2u

My nieghbour didn't worry enough. The great mileage his new diesel VW SUV got still wasn't good enough for him, so he made a deal with some guy he works with and who makes his own 'home brew' bio-diesel.

Within a year it was at the dealer in pieces when they told him he'd violated his warranty by using unapproved fuel in it.

The bill was the best part of $10k.

Well that is what he gets for letting some jack leg put old cooking grease, and grill scrapings in his tank....
Not exactly the same as using real diesel fuel from a real pump, made by a real company, using actual refining equipment

[Murf2u]

Originally Posted by IamJerryP

Well that is what he gets for letting some jack leg put old cooking grease, and grill scrapings in his tank....

Not exactly the same as using real diesel fuel from a real pump, made by a real company, using actual refining equipment

I said "bio-diesel" I didn't say WVO.

There's actually intelligent knowledgeable folks out there doing it themselves.


The issue, whether you buy it or brew it, is the lye and the glycerine.

[Jack1234]

Is there a simple/complex solution to B-10/20 bio-diesel blends for the current generation of small diesels? When N.America switched from old diesel to new (ULSD) diesel the transition was reasonably smooth as lubrication additives came to the rescue. Perhaps a simple cleaning additive will solve the bio-blend problem?

[IamJerryP]

Originally Posted by Murf2u

I said "bio-diesel" I didn't say WVO.

There's actually intelligent knowledgeable folks out there doing it themselves.


The issue, whether you buy it or brew it, is the lye and the glycerine.

I am sure there are, Apparently your friend's friend is not one of those.......

[Murf2u]

Originally Posted by Jack1234

Is there a simple/complex solution to B-10/20 bio-diesel blends for the current generation of small diesels? When N.America switched from old diesel to new (ULSD) diesel the transition was reasonably smooth as lubrication additives came to the rescue. Perhaps a simple cleaning additive will solve the bio-blend problem?

My understanding is that the issues all center around the fact that the "bio" part of the blend comes from a variety of sources, including VO and WVO, and each one of those sources has it's own set of issues.

Which one do you try to solve?

The solution for one may well aggravate another.

Then there is the issue of the diversity itself, there are many, many different blends depending on where you are and the time of year. Add to that this highly mobile group of RV's that can easily travel from one type of condition (flat land to mountains, sea level to altitude) to another, or warm to cold weather in a single tank of fuel. A little smoke on flat land may be lots of soot in the mountains.

If there was an easy fix, I'm sure we would have seen it by now.

[fmprdwg]

Have a new 2014 Navion iQ get low of 17.6 to high of 19.3 at 55 mph. Travel from AZ to MN and back.