I wonder if they are slipping you some marine off road. That has a much higher sulfer content than normal off road according to my friend.

I'll ask him tonight what he knows about fuel in your neck of the woods.

 

I have a friend who has used farm red diesel in his pickups for years. May be unlawful but he does it anyway. He has always taken the "diesel" trim off his pickups and replaced them with the "gas" trim...Never been caught but I wouldn't want to be in his shoes if he does. Good luck....

 

i heard that if you get farm tags on a truck and dont take it more than 50 miles away from home that you could use off road fuel legally...anybody hear that too?

 

So is #1/home heating oil that dirty? Could the dye be the sludge?

I have oil heat in my house. In four years I've twice had service techs clean the injector and flash box. That's $150+ in service calls. Running #2, at pennies more per gallon instead of #1 heating oil would have actually saved me money! I only use about 300 gallons a year.

 

I don't think that it is the dye. They use the same red dye number 3 or whatever that is in food - don't eat your off road fuel to find out for sure

It takes a very small amount of dye to treat a huge quantity of fuel and it disolves well so there shouldn't be any sludge from it.

 

I run farm tags on mine. But since it is run primarily on federally funded roads it is not legal! If it was used strictly for off highway applications, then it would be O.K.
At least that is the way it was explained to me.

 

Could be but this supplier if far away from any marina. It seems the only problem I have is with the small screen filters in the tractor tanks. I don't have problems with injectors or injector pumps or inline filters. I'm thinking some reaction to the humidity here and the fuel. I may just take the screen filters out and install a clear inline filter to them all. This would save me a lot of time if they clog. I could then just turn off the shut off valve and change the filter. Now I have to siphon the fuel out and I don’t get it all. Then pull the shut off valve, clean it up, reinstall, and then refill the tank. A real pain when the rain is coming and there is hay on the ground and the stupid tractor takes a break…………

 

I found out last night that it is red dye #6.

It actually looks black and takes about a thimble full to do a whole tanker truck. An 8 oz cup would do 10,000 or 100,000 gallons or something like that - a lot anyway. I forget exactly what he said.

It's a fairly thick goo, not a powder, and normally is injected in tiny amounts at the distributor as the fuel is streaming by.

So I'd think that it would take a pretty fine filter and a lot of fuel passing by to catch that much of the dye component to clog them.

 

Thanks for the info. I'm not sure what it is but it is a tar looking substance that accumulates around the screen in the tanks.

6.0L content.............I love my truck....................

 

I have heard of places, that when you have injection service done, they can turn you in for a reward if you run the red stuff. And yes the off road can be the very high sulfur. On our farm we buy the low sulfur. Just to be a good neighbor and the high sulfur is about the same price and sometimes it is a little higher than the low sulfur.

 

My recollection is that current Offroad sulfur content is 2000PPM, on road is 500PPM.
As of June 2006 on-road goes to 15PPM, off-road drops also but not sure if it goes to 500 PPM, 50PPM, or 15PPM. Some states have state specific requirements (boutique fuels) and some states have region specific requirements (ex. TX for Houston, GA for Atlanta) that are more stringent. My wife was heavily involved with this when we lived in Atlanta (Quality Assurance Manager for Colonial Pipeline). Offroad diesel has lower cetane and lower quality specifications. Then there is the tax issue. Bottom line - there is a difference. Use at your own peril.

 

i am a mechanical engineer. we do commercial heating and a/c. we use heating oil in many of our commercial applications. i know for a fact that heating oil and diesel are the same now a days. the only different is the red dye.

 

I am also a mechanical engineer. Seven years in an oil refinery for Amoco, 10 years designing, building, troubleshooting, and selling distillation and absorption equipment for refineries, chemical plants and natural gas processing facilities. Everyone that is going to, spent the past three years modifying exisitng processing units or building new ones to meet the low sulfur diesel regulations set to take effect in June 2006. My wife is a chemical enigneer. She was with an API contingency that met with then Energy Secretary Bill Richardson in 2000 to discuss what the new limits should be.

Jet Fuel, Heating Oil, Kero, and Diesel (off and on) are all similar but there are differences.

 

black sludge is algae and or water contamination. bad fuel. the on road stuff doesnt sit nearly as long as the off road. just get ur fuel from a dif place.

 

I was told by a dealer who caught the red stuff in one of my trucks that the fuel was the reason my injectors were screwed up. He mentioned sulfur content, but he also said something about the dye being a wax based dye and it tears up the injection system used in powerstrokes (I have no idea if this is true, don't shoot the messenger). I figure he was tryin to scare me away from that and the real reason the injectors were screwed up is that somebody left the fuel cap off while we were harvesting wheat, I figure a bunch of dust got in there and caused some trouble

Also, I highly recommend DFS (Diesel Fuel Supplement), I'm sure most of you know about it and/or use it, but if you don't believe in it, give it a try, they say it boosts cetane ratings, I don't know if i believe that, but I know it cuts down on the black smoke