Hi All -

So a buddy of mine runs a ranch and they have fuel tanks and he has been running red fuel for years and never been pulled over or dipped.

If you read the internets it happens all the time, but surprisingly, it always seems to happen to a friend of a third cousin of my ex-wifes brother in-law.

I have been driving a diesel PU since 1997 been to over forty states and never once have I been or even considered to be dipped for what fuel is in the truck. This is pulling big trailers, horses, cows, motorcycles, race cars ... I don't think it happens.

So the question is, have you ever personally, not a friend, not a I have heard that so and so was pulled over, but actually you pulled over and dipped in a non-commercial Ford diesel truck.

Lets hear it ...

T

 

Ok so 89 people have looked at this post ... not a single "it has happened to me". If we are really conservative and say you have had a diesel truck and driven it 50K miles that is over 4 million cumulative miles and no one is saying, "yes this happened to me"...

Buler ?

 

ethically it is not the best idea.


While I have never been stopped and dipped I would not feel right about it.


If I was on the farm and working on the farm then that would be a different story.

 

Its not really with $10,000 to save $4.00 on a tank of fuel.......

 

Both of you have not either read the question and clearly not answered it. It has nothing to do with ethics or fuel cost.

I am just trying to find out if YOU PERSONALLY have ever been dipped, as far as I can tell the answer is an overwhelming No.

T

 

I've never been dipped, or run anything but pump diesel(city boy).

 

I have driving diesels since 02 and never been stopped and I am surounded by farms. Never heard of any of the farmers having been either.

 

I read your question and understood it well, you where upset that 89 people had looked and no one responded.... I have never run it nor do I ever plan on running it, like I said earlier its not worth the risk and no I have never been dipped but do know a few people that have been going through a weigh station , I also don't
Know anyone that runs off-road fuel....😬

 

Until a few years ago I lived on a farm. My dad ran colored fuel in his trucks nearly all the time. To the best of my knowledge he never did get dipped but then all the trucks had farm plates too so it wouldn't have mattered whether it was red fuel or not. After he moved off the farm and had not yet put new plates on, he got pulled over and had to change the plate within a day or 2. By that time he was running clear fuel, but I don't think they bothered dipping.

It likely varies from country to country and province to province. (State to state)

NEXUS 4. IB AutoGroup

 

I own a construction company and i have red-diesel and clear diesel bulk tanks at my shop. My employees are clearly instructed to only use off-road (red) diesel in our heavy equipment. With that being said on our larger projects that require a water truck and the truck can can get water with out driving on the road i have them used red fuel. As a policy when this happens i send our mechanic's at the end of the project or if the truck is required on another project to drain the red fuel, change the fuel filter and refill them with clear fuel. This is a result of a water truck being pulled over and having what appeared to be red fuel due to the small amout of red fuel in the filter returning to the tank tinting the clear fuel slightly red, it does not take much, which resulted in having to go to court to resolve the issue.

Since i have been in business i have only been dipped four times over the span of 25 years. Three times where water trucks the other time was an actual piece of equipment i personally was transporting on the road. One water truck had slightly tinted fuel and the DOT wrote us a ticket even through the driver explained the fuel was changed. I went to court and was not fined, but was recorded and told a second offense would be 5,000 regardless the circumstances. The other two water trucks had clear fuel so there was no issue, but the reason they where stop was just to check the fuel as they are a constant target because so many people try to cheat with them. The Piece of equipment that was stopped was actually ridiculous. I was roading a backhoe that had red fuel in it and I was citied a ticket. The DOT officer that pulled me over literally walked up, asked me to open my fuel cap and he dipped the tank. It was obvious what he would find. I went to court and argued that the backhoe did not require to be registered and should not be required run the clear fuel. The case was throwing out and no fines where issued but i was asked to not road the equipment anymore to eliminate further issues with the law.

Since then things have changed a lot and the DOT has become to much to deal with so we transport all our equipment.

I have a bulk tank in my personal truck as i have with all my trucks including all my work trucks. None of the trucks have every been stopped to be dipped, and up to now have not been a target that i can see. They have been checked to verify the quantity of the fuel tank does not exceed the max you can haul with a hazmat permit which can lead to a lot of fines as well.

I do know several people that have been dipped and not one person has been fined the first time. If you as a person where caught several times I'm sure they would fine you. Now as a business around the las vegas area if you are caught on a second offense you are fined. The fine is 10,000 maximum, i have never seen or heard of someone being charged the maximum fine.

 

Well it wasn't me, but my brother-in-law about 5 years ago.
Driving a 96 F-350 7.3, was stopped just to be dipped and checked. He was surprised and confused for being stopped since he wasn't speeding.
This was in south Louisiana in rice farm country.
This is as close as I can get

 

cottonwood az. .....would have been 10 yrs ago....traffic slowed to a crawl..got up to officer [had seen p.u.'s ahead sent down one lane]...told follow those trucks...ended up in the fair grounds where diesel trucks [about 30] were dipped en masse...don't know if they caught anyone..not me .

 

I've been dipped twice. Once I was pulling overweight and got pulled for that and dipped while I was there. The second time I pulled into work, a box truck was getting dipped in our parking lot, I didn't think anything of it so I parked and unlocked the shop. When I turned around a trooper was standing at the door and said he needed to check my fuel tank.

 

Several years ago I was dipped at the weigh station at the Suwannee River on U.S. 90 in Florida. They had one of those portable flashing signs saying "All Trucks, All Trailers, All RVs, All Diesel Pickups must enter weigh station.

 

I was dipped for Red Dye in Gustine, Ca ~1998 by a bunch of highway patrol and IRS agents. They were stopping all diesel vehicles.