Sorry to hear about your diesel problem. $9,000 that really hurts!!! What are you driving that cost $9,000 to replace injectors and pump?
I have heard of people having failed injectors and failed pumps, but these types of failures are not just discriminating of bio-fuels. Any type of liquid fuel source can be contaminated and can cause costly damages to motors. I am not sure what type of vehicle you are using or the age of the vehicle. In most diesel vehicles it is not un-common to have to replace your injectors on a regular interval much the same as you would change (if you follow regular maintenance intervals) spark plugs on a Otto motor.
I looked up Bentley Fuels and found there website http://www.bentlybiofuels.com/index.php. They appear to be a quality business and they claim to follow ASTM standards. "All of our diesel blends are produced with biodiesel certified to meet
the latest ASTM D-6751 standards. Certificates of analysis are
available to our customers upon request." If you are using biodiesel that is to standard it will be almost identical to using petro diesel. Although petro diesel can be "dirty" just as bio-diesel can be "dirty." It is important to maintain your fuel filters and keep moisture and dirt out of the fuel. Dirty fuel can destroy your pump and injectors in no time!
Having a bio-fuel plasticize is not a problem when using quality fuel. What I assume he is referring to as plasticizing might be what is called coking. Coking happens when vehicles do not have appropriate adjustments in order for there to be complete combustion of the fuel in the cylinders. What happens is you get left over carbon in the cylinders and this build up of carbon is generally called coking and it can build up in the cylinders and destroy motor parts over time. Some websites I found that talk about coking from a quick Google search: http://www.ford-trucks.com/tsb/fulltext/show_article.php?tsb=06-4-12, and http://forums.mg-rover.org/archive/index.php/t-171895.html.
If your injectors and pumps had been damaged by dirty fuel it would allow a build up of gunk that would look like plasticizing in the motor. Although it appears that it would be caused by the use of biodiesel, the actual cause would be more than likely from sediment or foreign object damage to your injector pump and injectors. Biodiesel can act as a solvent and when added to an older vehicles fuel tank can dislodge sediment from petroleum diesel that would have settled to the bottom of the fuel tank over the years.
From what I have experienced and discovered over the years is that when producing biodiesel you basically are removing all the plastics from the oil. In the transesterification process you remove the waxy plastic stuff called glycerin or glycerol from the oil (biodiesel).
It might be worth calling and talking to Bentley Fuels and explaining your situation. Some fuel suppliers provide guarantee on the quality of their fuel and if your mechanic is sure that it is from the fuel it would be worth trying to get them to repair your damages inorder to stand by their products. Did you keep your injectors and pump? If so, please post some pictures of them.
Biodiesel is a great fuel when produced and used approperitlly. There are more and more companies trying to rush into the alternative fuel industry these days and turn a quick profit. It is unfortunate that your experience was so costly and hopefully you can provide more information on this forum to help prevent others from sufering the same expensive fate.
