need a diesel fuel education
 

I am somewhat unfamiliar with all of the diesel fuels and people have used ratings for cetane and sulphur contents and I am not sure what it all means. Someplaces I have pulled in to get fuel and there is two pumps one for #2 and another with biodiesel fuel or some other type. Can someone help and explain what all this means and whether it should be used in a 6.0L engine? I usually try to stop at name brand stations to avoid bad fuel but not sure if that is all that important either.
Thanks for any info

#2 diesel is the most common diesel. There is also #1 diesel which would be like premium unleaded as where #2 would be regular unleaded. #1 is mainly blended into #2 diesel during the winter months depending on the temp forcast for that week in that specific market as #1 has a lower cloud point (gelling). Bio diesel is a blend of some kind of vegetable oil and #2 diesel. most common is B-10 and B-20 ( 10% bio and 90% #2/ 20% bio and 80% diesel. None of them is harmful, but if you switch to a bio-blend, carry a spare fuel filter as the bio-diesel will clean gunk and crud out of your fuel system you didnt know you had. As for the low sulfer diesel, the best thing you can do is every time you fill up, use an additive such as Diesel Kleen which you can find at wal mart. The sulpher is what used to be used as a lubricant, kinda the same way lead used to lube the valves. For the "bad" fuel, I personally try to stay away from the cut rate stations that don't go through alot of fuel, i think that allows for miosture to build up as apposed to a station that has a high rate of fuel turnover to stay "fresh".
Thats my two cents worth for what its worth!

just to add, if you run bio even at 5% you can skip the adding the diesel Kleen, as bio provides plenty of lube.

Speaking from experience hauling fuel, the stuff you buy at name brand stations is the same stuff sold at the no-name stations when it comes to diesel fuel. Diesel's not "branded" like gasoline is. A station that sells "branded" gas has to sell it buy contract, but if it also sells diesel, the contract doesn't apply to the diesel. There's a limited number of loading racks your fuel comes from and ALL the fuel sold in your location comes from those racks. And the racks are supplied by usually one refinery, unless it's a barge/truck terminal.