Low sulfur, low lube diesel fuel

Posted by jdemaris on August 12, 2010 at 06:06:35 from (67.142.130.26):

In Reply to: old diesel fuel posted by wilson on August 11, 2010 at 17:29:46:

I've used 20 year old diesel fuel with no problems.

Any diesel can get bacteria and/or aglae in it if there is any moisuture present. If you treat it with biocide, all that does is stop further growth. The little dead bacteria or algae specs will still be there and still plug filters.

As to the new ultra-low sulfur diesel in older mechanical pumps? It's certainly IS still an issue for rotary pumps - especially Bosch and Stanadyne. Ultra-low diesel gets the lube cooked out of it. Then, by law, a lube additive has to be put into it - but the regs do not require adding enough lube to make it equivalent to the older high-sulfur, uncooked diesel. It's not enough of a difference to ruin a pump overnight, but is enough to shorten its life over time.

What it boils down to is, is it worth taking the chance, or are you willing to spend a few extra dollars and treat your fuel just to be sure. All you need to do is add a little bit of two-stroke oil and you'll be fine. Mix as a 200 to 1 ratio to bring any low-sulfur fuel up in lube to match the older fuel.

I buy gallon jugs of Super Tech Outboard 2-cycle TC-W3 engine oil at Walmart. If you've got a 15 gallon tank, add 10 ounces and you'll be fine. It's cheap insurance.

To the people that tell you the new fuel is "fine" . . . ask for some verified facts instead of hear-say.

The new ultra-low sulfur diesel is required to have enough lube added to make a metal wear scar of no more then 520 microns.

Stanadyne and Bosch pumps call for enough lube that makes no more then a 460 micron metal wear scar.

The math is pretty simple and the new fuel does not meet the specs for rotary mechanical pumps. For in-line pumps, I doubt it matters.

Now, take the ultra low sulfur fuel and add two-stroke oil at 1 to 200 ratio, and it's lube jumps down to 400 microns of metal wear. THAT makes it much more suitable for rotary pumps and exceeds the required lube specs.

Keep in mind that a rotary pump with good fuel can last 1,000,000 miles on the road or 20,000 engine hours easily. I'm talking about the major moving parts. When you send a pump to a shop to get "rebuilt", those parts usually gets used again, as-is. So, many people don't realize how long those major parts actually last. Also, many have no idea when a pump actually DOES fail, how many hours those major parts actually have on them.

If you bought a certified "rebuilt" pump right now, the internal major metal parts likely already have 5000 - 20,000 engine hours on them.

My point being, very few people have any clue when a failure happens, how many hours the parts really have on them since factory new.

Subsequently, I'll go by what the pump companies have published from their own testing.

And for those that tell you otherwise? Ask for some data-based facts.

Replies:

• Re: Low sulfur, low lube diesel fuel gene bender 07:24:41 08/12/10 (0)

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