Following BMW Malaysia announcing it found “technical challenges” running its diesel engines on B10 biodiesel (10% palm-based biodiesel/90% petroleum diesel blend, will reportedly be implemented nationwide by October), and that its engines can take up to B7, Mercedes-Benz Malaysia, UMW Toyota and Volkswagen Malaysia have issued responses that echo the same sentiments.
UPDATE: Isuzu has released a statement regarding the unsuitability of B10 for its engines.
Mercedes-Benz Malaysia says its diesel-powered passenger cars, vans and trucks can use up to B7 biodiesel (7% palm-based biodiesel/93% petroleum diesel blend), while Fuso trucks in Malaysia can only take a maximum of B5 biodiesel (5% palm-based biodiesel/95% petroleum diesel blend). It goes on to say that “the introduction of B10 biodiesel requires further consideration.”
Responding to our questions, UMW Toyota said its current diesel engines are not rated for B10 use; they can only take up to B7. As such, they do not encourage B10 use in their models. It’s the same story with Volkswagen Malaysia, who told us that running B10 on its diesel engines will produce adverse effects as well as void the warranty.
Also not in support of B10 is Isuzu Malaysia, which says that one of the primary concerns about biodiesels of grades B7 and above has been, among others, the high presence of water in the blends of palm methyl ester. Biodiesel is hydroscopic in nature and tends to absorb water from the atmosphere, which can cause deposit formation, microbial growth and degradation of fuel quality, ultimately affecting the vehicle’s engine operation and durability.
In view of this, Isuzu says that the current limit of water content in biodiesel is acceptable up to grade B7, and that further conclusive tests will need to be conducted and proven with consistent results to allow for levels B7 onwards.
So far, only BMW Malaysia has gone to town with the issue, technically elaborating on the problems it found during testing, including oil thinning leading to sludge, reduced lubricity, injector deposit formation, injector invariance, reduced idling cycle stability and higher levels of water in the fuel leading to component corrosion.
BMW Malaysia even brought our attention to a 2012 joint-statement by diesel injector makers Delphi, Denso, Bosch, Continental and Stanadyne, which cited reduced fuel stability (leading to “plugged filters, sediments and sticking moving parts”), impurities in the fuel and compatibility issues with older vehicles (most likely affecting filters, hoses and seals) with biofuels.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
Diesel still not favorable in Malaysia.
For example, brand new BMW 320d 260K.
2 years old, the price left only 160K
All companies already voice out, how come only Proton don’t make a sound about biodiesel?
They don’t need to. They have no diesel engine.
Damn funny when u see stupid ppl comment without even using their brain…ohh…do they have one?
the amount of stupidity is high in you… Seriously Stupid
Are you just blindly bashing Proton for no reason at all ?
So the so called reliable brand toyota cannot use this fuel? No wonder it’s called dinosaur aged engine, not advanced at all
Does that also mean Mercedes & VW Malaysia also have dinosaur aged engines? Not advanced too?
Use your brain before speaking, duh!
what i am interested to know is.. why is B10 fuel being pushed to public without prior consultation with all the manufacturers? This is so silly. putting cart before horse.
So your advanced Iriz can use this fuel? I would like to try it on your Proton. If cannot, then Proton is also dinosaur aged engine
instead of more liberal for the automotive industries, various techtics by politicians in monopolize and create more revenue with the cronies…Tol, Diesel, Insurance, Puspako, Spanco…Those Grey importers earning big $$ is over, and their stock pile will lead to more bankruptcy (of course if they dont need to serve bank)…
This B10 fiasco will kill all Diesel Car market once and for all and the same time all commercial trucks will be broken down faster than ever. We have not even come to the shipping industries..
Auto-engine research and palm-oil for fuel research have not converged because their objectives are different.
3 big car companies have voiced out… What say you our beloved govt?
So what?
Other top 2 brand P1 and P2 never says anything Govt won’t care the tiny Benz, BMW, VW and UMW.
Govt only care for Rakyat so that Rakyat can benefit from using B10 Biodiesel.
P1 and P2 don’t have diesel engine
That’s bs, the intention of implements biodiesel clearly not to benefit the people as the price isn’t drop!
johnathan, the mazda bt-50 sold i=n malaysia is a diesel =)
He wrote skyactiv diesel. Not MZR diesel.
of course mazda has.. it’s the BT50 that shares the same platform as the Ford Ranger T6.
“… that Mazda’s SkyActiv-D engines will have no problems running B10. Of course, Mazda Malaysia sells no diesel models (yet?).”
I think you are forgetting about the Mazda BT50 pick-ups. They are only sold with diesel engines in Malaysia.
Bt50 aren’t using skyactiv-D platform
Of course BMW was the first to highlight this, lets not forget, whatever said and done, they actually sell a very healthy number of diesel cars, be it the 320d, 520d, or even the X5 xDrive 30d…
No one else sells diesel passenger cars at the volume that BMW does, so issues with B10 will definitely have a severe impact on their engines. To be fair, in the last 5-7 years, haven’t really seen much issues in the E90 320d and the newer BMW diesels, as long as proper maintenance was done. VW should really consider adapting their TDI for Malaysia, there is a market really, plus their TDI engines generally have the wet DSG, so it should be more reliable too…
Hmmm, it’s interesting to know that Skyactive engine would be able to drink B10 diesel while Denso said their made wont be able. So Mazda injectors may be made in-house!
How come Indonesia will proceed to B15 blend? Is it different?
Manufacturers such as Mercedes in their BR 300, 400, 500 and 900 series (lorry-) engines, DAF in their LF, CF and XF Models, Scania and MAN Trucks, Peugeot Citroen Group have all approved certain models and engine types to use with B30 – B100 Biodiesel.
The government want to prop up the price of palm oil. To
hell if your engine break down.
Already we r using euro 2 diesel which is bad.. wanna introduce now biodiesel. . Bullshit. No 1 wanna use ur crap
We’re already using b5 biodiesel right now.
i still prefer the good ol’ oily and stinkin’ diesel than this water-attracting, ‘cleaner burning’, and warranty voiding biodiesel.
Let us have 2 options, cleaner more costly diesel, and, cheaper usable biodiesel, nationwide. Please take good care of our fixed deposits in banks and our solid gold.
Make sure the supply is adequate; do not directly or indirectly force us to purchase what we don’t want.
now government need to find other way to offload their huge stockpile of unused palm oil sitting inside sime darby…
no body in the world want to buy our lousy quality palm oil so no choice they go for domestic market…
Sudah la najib, jangan nak menyusah rakyat lagi. Boleh rosak enjin diesel pakai B10. Jangan nak Buat benda bodoh lagi, cukup la dgn menteri menteri bodoh tu. Jalan terbaik promote minyak sawit tu kat pasaran overseas elok elok. Tak habis habis menyusah orang. Orang melayu pun dah meluat.
why dont anyone remember P1 have a wira diesel 2.0 in history ？？？
Ubah gaya hidup, jangan pake diesel. Kerajaan tidak pernah paksa rakyat isi B10 diesel. Bersyukurlah Malaysia masih Aman.
I agreed with some of the comments here as such:-
Lets have 2 option of diesel fuel. Manufactures and consumers can have option to choice which grade of diesel fuel to use depending on the engine type they use. The government cannot force the market to agreed with the implementation of the Bio-Diesel. Manufacture projection and direction of business strategy for nationwide diesel vehicle sales must be considered as they are promoting greener and cleaner advance technology diesel engine.
This come with high price and quality combustable fuel and meant for the high income consumers. The proposal of B10 bio-diesel fuel nationwide is merely a gimmick for the plantation industries to promote their product.