[alfa] Biodiesel

[Keith Walker <100662.3423@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>>Two years ago my wife and I went to a biodiesel conference in Sacramento,
CA.  Most in attendance were fleet users, members of State boards and
commissions, and biodiesel consultants, manufacturers and resellers.  The
Penn State research is surprising in view of the many biodiesel experts who
spoke about its superior lubrication qualities.  Better lubrication is why
cars running on biodiesel are noticeably quieter than those on petroleum
diesel.  The Penn State research may be valid, but thousands of test miles
by vehicles in daily use seems to refute it.<<

Hi

One problem that people are facing on the road (when illegally using bio
oil in their diesel cars on the road in the UK) is rapid wear of the diesel
injection pumps. Generally it is recommended to run a mix of regular
pump diesel with your chip fat ;-) . This mainly likely to be affecting
older diesel engines though.

Even modern diesel cars in the UK can regularly be seen pumping out
vast clouds of black smoke. It is not unusual to be following a newish
diesel car on the motorway and have to hold your breath when they
decide to put their foot down, but it could well be that these are the
cars that have been chipped.

Personally it is not the power that I do not like with diesels, it is their
poor throttle response (not surprising as they do not have a throttle)
and their unwillingness to rev. I am used to motorcycles so a 6000rpm
rev limit on a petrol engine is bad enough, let alone a 4500rpm limit
on a diesel. One of the reasons I like the petrol Alfa engines is their
willingness to rev freely, although the 155 2L TS we have recently
bought is noticeably less happy revving out than the 75 2L TS we
used to own. A friend has a street legal standard motorcycle with a
red line of 19500rpm (Honda CBR250).

All the best

Keith
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