Really, really dumb question about difference between off road and on road diesel fuel.

[bdhsfz6]

Wow. All I can say.

I guess your state is free from any real crime that could be addressed by the state police.

I agree, but the state police barracks is on the same highway, just a few miles away. Troopers are always coming & going. I guess I just annoyed one of them.

 

[tundraman01]

A couple of you guys mentioned using your home heating oil in your tractors. Just as everything else, a couple people told me it's the same stuff with dye; a couple people told me it's very different.
I do it to save some money, but especially for convienience. I put a pump on top of my home heating tank, and it saves a lot of lifting and filling jugs.
Is it the same fuel or not?

 

[dcarman]

Now I will admit, I don't know a darn thing about diesel fuels. Never touched a diesel motor, much less owned one before I bought my tractor several months ago. A friend of mine told me to use the off road diesel, since it is significantly cheaper, and basically the same as the on road stuff you would buy for passenger vehicles except for the colored dye to mark the off road stuff.

Then the other day another friend tells me that I shouldn't be using the off road diesel in my tractor, because there are significant deficiencies in the off road stuff, particularly lubrication of engine parts, that are detrimental to the engine.

So, who is correct?

And I sure do hope that there isn't going to be 50 percent saying one, and the other 50 percent saying the other is correct. :/

Off road diesel is dyed red so that it shows up in the exhaust if you use it in an on road vehicle. The reason is the off road diesel has no road tax on it. Other than that it is usually the same as the on road stuff.

 

[houdel]

On and off road diesel are exactly identical except for the red dye. Most places the off road is significantly cheaper but that depends on how your state taxes fuel.

 

[buangungoy]

Interesting! Here in Canada we have farm diesel it is dyed kinda purple. Really same diesel except for the dye and less tax! We can use it in our trucks on road (registered as farm trucks).

 

[kenhar]

Random check points are perfectly legal everywhere if public safety is the issue. The difference in price of the two fuels is road tax and greed on the retailer's part. Stay legal and get over it.

 

[bdhsfz6]

A couple of you guys mentioned using your home heating oil in your tractors. Just as everything else, a couple people told me it's the same stuff with dye; a couple people told me it's very different.
I do it to save some money, but especially for convienience. I put a pump on top of my home heating tank, and it saves a lot of lifting and filling jugs.
Is it the same fuel or not?

I don't know if the two are chemically identical, but I've been using it in my tractors for over 40 years now and haven't had any issues.

Ultra low sulfur fuels are required for most newer tractors. ULS fuel was required for on road use well before the same requirement was applied to home heating oil. Now, almost all fuels, clear or red, are ULS, according to my heating oil supplier.

 

[5030]

On and off road diesel are exactly identical except for the red dye. Most places the off road is significantly cheaper but that depends on how your state taxes fuel.

Here in Michigan there is no road use tax on offroad diesel so it's usually 30-40 cents cheaper than on road. Just like propane. If you use propane to dry down your crops, there is no state tax on it. Only on residential use.

I own outright 3, 500 gallon propane tanks and one is for crop drying. My suppler has differentiate between my household propane usage and my dry down propane and after all these years, he know the difference.

 

[dodge man]

I believe in Illinois it’s not regular state police that are dipping tanks but some unit that is assigned to that.

 

[MROlson86]

Ag use and off road fuel has a dye to signify that it isn’t taxed for road use. That’s the difference for me. As for using fuel oil for a tractor why take the chance?