I'm all prepared to make my own biodiesel, but I'm just wondering if anyone uses it in the 3.0TD6?

about 10,000 miles and counting now for me fella

the biggest thing you need to do is make sure you recover as much of the Meth as possible as thats what some places leave a bit too much of in and it soon eats thru seals and the like

Dont forget to carry a spare fuel filter and the tools to swap it over as it clears any gunk from the tank and the fuel lines that has accumulated over the years and that then gets stuck and begins to clog up the fuel filter  FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
Mantec Sump Guard, Rigid Load liner, MY10 BT upgrade.

There's a guy near me who sells it. He makes it in a small unit and sells it from a regular forecourt type pump. Last time I went down was a few years ago and it was half the price of diesel. Not sure what he charges now though.

I often wonder if the FFRR would be ok running on this- my old Golf TDi ran ok so it might be worth a try? 2010 MY Vogue SE TDV8 3.6 Stornoway Grey- fully loaded

Does it not state in the handbook NOT to use biodiesel?? I am sure I read that.. Previously..
Vogue SE TD6
Defender 90 2.4
Defender 110 TD5
Vogue 3.5 EFI

TD6 Handbook
Quote,

"This vehicle is NOT compatible with "Bio-Diesel" Fuel".

Yeah, shame that, especially considering there's 5% in forecourt diesel anyway.

In contrast to the BMW M51 diesel (also in the P38), I've read quite a number of negative reports on using biodiesel in the M57 (or any CR diesel) motor on German forums.

Kingpleb, please report back on this regularly. I'd love an alternative to €1.45/L  
RRC 2Dr, RRC 4Dr,
P38, and 2 L322s
(wife thinks I'm nuts - prob right, too)

Thanks for all the feedback - including what the handbook says!

King: are you blending it with petrodiesel, or is it 100% biodiesel? Do you make it yourself? And yes, as Steve says, please keep us posted here.

Steve: I see a few sources saying that the fuel pump is incompatible with the bio. I'm not sure which one (i think i have two?), and if the cost of replacement pumps, at whatever intervals they fail(?), outweighs the enormous saving to be made by home diesel production...

Is it the pump problem you also have heard of Steve, or are there other aspects of the m57 vulnerable to the biodiesel? I personally would have thought that it's better for the engine than diesel, provided all the excess methanol is washed out, but I confess I'm a novice at this game:-)

As long as they produce to a very good standard and don't mind you taking just a litre to test it then you should be OK.

The meth is what kills the pumps, not the bio itself although it can be a bit thicker than normal petro diesel, especially as the temps drop below -5 but this is where making it well and mixing winteriser in helps a lot.

I have seen what happens when its made bad as someone running a Lucas epic 2.1td Xantia stripped a pump down as it had problems and it was horrible inside!

On the other hand I've seen photos of pumps where its nice and clean and great inside...

I haven't run into any problems with the car so far fingers crossed touch wood....

I've run HDi citroens, Bosch IDI citroens, Toyotas... on the stuff and they have been fine with it

Occasional y i have to put some petro diesel in, but not very often. today i put about 15litres/£20 in as the bio place is closed at weekends and its been a fair while since i put any in.

I've heard it can make seals brittle with age but i guess putting in some 2 stroke every now and again or petrodiesel should avoid this.

I do worry that there are too many out there producing it as cheap as possible and not doing it right or to the EN standard for it and thus causing all these issues, but a good test is seeing how many taxi drivers use it. If it was bad for the engines they wouldn't touch it now.

I can pay £1.269 locally or a bit farther afield i can get it for £1 per litre but it isn't from a pump.....
Add into that the fact i can stay sat in the car while they fill it up and charge no more for that service! Well what can you say!

I've put some in a disco 4 that i ran for about 10k in 3 months and did about 2k on bio without any problems and it was the SDV6 variant as well FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
Mantec Sump Guard, Rigid Load liner, MY10 BT upgrade.

Well its still going strong after another service as well.

Since the last post on this i reckon I've clocked a fair few tank full's as well and only had to use the forecourts 2-3 times and only about 10-20litres to get my home or by until the bio seller re-opens as they aren't 24*7 and i cant always take jerry cans with me

Car runs sweet as a nut still and if things carry on im hoping to move upto a TDV8 later this year when the prices fall even further but finding another FFRR as good as mine for the miles and £'s wont be easy i reckon

Still hardly smokes, picksup fine, starts first flick of the switch and tootles along nice and when needed hauls the FF weight with ease

I do notice when she has got low and i've put the pump stuff in she feels a bit sluggish and smokes more but that could just be the ECU relearning a little or just shlte fuel

Currently getting it for just over 90p/l depending how much i buy as i generally get about 300litres at once(jerry cans and the tank itself) so make a fair saving over the pump price and i save fuel mostly by not having to pull into petrol stations anywhere near as much as i fill up at home

Have to get some for my dads HDi C5 as its soooo coked up from years of being driven too soft, doing very short journeys and using the cheapest diesel possible its shocking. A test drive to find a squeek on it last week had it smoking at anything over 2k RPM on boost... I think my dad is one of those that beats the official MPG figures from what he's said about the miles to a tank he gets... Might have to let him drive the FF on a run and see if he can keep it over 35mg  FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
Mantec Sump Guard, Rigid Load liner, MY10 BT upgrade.

How are things to date? I'm currently offshore and this has been in much debate today.