Off Road Diesel

[WFM]

With the cost of diesel fuel lately I know quite a few folks that run off road diesel in there newer trucks even though the owners manuals say use of off road diesel can damage fuel systems and emissions systems. Both GM and Ford owners manuals say this. But is on road and off road that much different ?? My tractor has a small sticker that says
Use Ultra Low Salfa Diesel
And when I buy on road diesel there's a sticker on the pump that says the same. So is off road diesel Ultra Low Sulfa also ??

 

[whatsupdoc]

No difference besides the dye and the tax.

 

[edritchey]

I wish I had a dollar every time this was brought up.

 

[85Hokie]

There use to be a large sulfur difference between the two - but that has long passed.

All diesel both on road (taxed) and offroad (non taxed) are the exact 15 parts per million in the sulfur content. Been this way for over 12 years.

The info on diesel trucks was printed a while back thus those warnings were in place,

 

[Runs With Scissors]

It's the same stuff, just taxed (and colored) differently.

The Ultra Low Sulfur stuff came out quite a while ago, and to the best of my knowledge, I can't recall ever seeing an option at the pumps to choose between "ULSD" and "regular" diesel......It's all ULSD.....

Unlike when you could get "Leaded" or "Unleaded" gas......(man, am I dating myself of what?)

 

[GeoHorn]

It's the same stuff, just taxed (and colored) differently.

The Ultra Low Sulfur stuff came out quite a while ago, and to the best of my knowledge, I can't recall ever seeing an option at the pumps to choose between "ULSD" and "regular" diesel......It's all ULSD.....

Unlike when you could get "Leaded" or "Unleaded" gas......(man, am I dating myself of what?)

Only if you distinguish between “No Nox” and “Gulf-tane”.…and buy your oil in one of these:

 

[D2Cat]

For some reason many can not get the idea the product is the same as far as the fuel goes, only difference is the dye in the off road so govt can make sure user is paying road tax on vehicles used on highways. Much like the dye dumped in hyd fluid to make more visible in the dip stick.

 

[lynnmor]

For some reason many can not get the idea the product is the same as far as the fuel goes, only difference is the dye in the off road so govt can make sure user is paying road tax on vehicles used on highways. Much like the dye dumped in hyd fluid to make more visible in the dip stick.

Here is my experience with red heating oil when it was first introduced; I lost the pumps in both of my oil furnaces. One was new with the red oil used on the first refill. The other was perhaps ten years old and it was wasted on the first use of the red poison. It appeared that the dye was excessive and who knows what it contained, so I am always concerned with the red fuel, my thought is that the dye is dumped in by the truck driver and there is no control over the chemistry, quality and quantity.

 

[GeoHorn]

Here is my experience with red heating oil when it was first introduced; I lost the pumps in both of my oil furnaces. One was new with the red oil used on the first refill. The other was perhaps ten years old and it was wasted on the first use of the red poison. It appeared that the dye was excessive and who knows what it contained, so I am always concerned with the red fuel, my thought is that the dye is dumped in by the truck driver and there is no control over the chemistry, quality and quantity.

Your experience, while unfortunate, is not conclusive because there was no “control group” to call this a valid experiment or test.

The fresh red fuel May have been a one-off “lot”…or may have been your first delivered ULSD… or one pump could have failed because it was new and not worn-in and the other because it was old and ready to fail because you looked at it.

In other words, this qualifies as an “anecdote” only.

According to SOME sources, Red dye used in diesel and furnace fuels is a solvent that may reduce lubricity, and some pumps may experience increased wear. (I learned this from reading refining processes, not from AI, but SI might be trolling us.)