Navy Biodiesel

I bought Madeline, my 1982 Mercedes diesel, with the intention of running her on fuel from the Baltimore biodiesel co-op.  They offer 100% biodiesel at a self serve pump located outside a repurposed mill space a couple of miles south of my house.
But since I bought Madeline in the fall of the year, and I'd heard that there were issues with biodiesel gelling in the winter months, I decided to wait til spring to join. In the spring, I attended one of their meetings and learned that the membership paperwork was handled through the mail.  No problem, I thought, I'll just send it this week... but for some reason I just could not get that $100 registration fee sent. The check has been written for months, and now has become a seemingly permanent resident of the folder that holds my "to-do" paper work.

 In the interim I have fueled Madeline with 20% biodiesel available at US Navy Exchanges or regular petro diesel.
It was convenient to use the Navy biodiesel when I was teaching near Annapolis. The college campus where I worked was located near a base where the Navy Exchange sells alternative fuels- not just 20% biodiesel but gas with ethanol, too. The alt. fuels are the only thing a civilian can buy at the Navy Exchange-- no beverages, no snacks, no nothin' else without a Navy ID. Which I don't have.

Rattle and hum

Now that the warmer weather is here I don't have to worry about warming the car up. But the rattle and hum of the idling engine has begun to really bug me. When the car is in neutral it practically fucking rattles all its trim off. I mean, the strip of faux wood overlay on the glove box is nearly off on one side. And the looseness of that, and of metallic snap-ons on the side of the car, and the engine itself of course, just make it really *loud* to sit in the car. it's not until I am accelerating that everything smooths out. And that's when I start to feel that there might be fumes coming in the car, getting in my lungs and eyes.

Here's a list of the metals that conventional diesel fumes contains:

Table 1: Substances in Diesel Exhaust Listed by Cal EPA as Toxic Air Contaminants

acetaldehyde inorganic lead acrolem manganese compounds aniline mercury compounds antimony compounds methanol arsenic methyl ethyl ketone benzene naphthalene beryllium compounds nickel biphenyl 4-nitrobiphenyl bis{2-ethylhexyl]phthalate phenol 1,3-butakiene phosphorus cadmium polycyclic organic matter, including chlorine polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) chlorobenzene propionaldehyde chromium compounds selenium compounds cobalt compounds styrene creosol isomers toluene cyanide compounds xylene isomers and mixtures dibutylphthalate o-xylenes dioxins and dibenzofurans m-xylenes ethyl benzene p-xylenes formaldehyde

These metals can cause a variety of symptoms including cancers and peripheral neuropathy.