Glow plugs or not?

[mr.offroad]

Hey Greg,

The red color just indicates it's off-road diesel. No difference between on-road and off-road diesel with the exception of the taxes you pay for the on-road diesel. Red dye is added to off-road diesel just to indicate that it is intended for farm or off-road use. The dye is used to give away to the DOT anyone who tries to run off-road (non-taxed) diesel in their on-road vehicles. Typically off-road diesel is not #1, or winter blend fuel.

I never noticed a difference in smoke when running #1 and #2 in my diesel truck. If you can get by with running #2 you're better off. #2 burns better and gives slightly better performance. #1 has low-temp additives and doesn't have as many btu's as #2. Usually I'll see a 1-2mpg drop in my truck's mileage when using winterblend or #1 fuel.

If you can get by running #2 without waxing your fuel filter or gelling issues, then I'd stick with #2. If you can only get #2, usually any retailer that carries diesel will sell anti-gel/waxing additive you can mix with your fuel to help in low temps.

John

If I may add just a bit here. #1 diesel is in fact, Kerosene. Here on the west coast we actually begin blending #1 fuel into #2 diesel in early November to winterize it. You can get #1 and #2 diesel dyed in case you want to burn either straight in your fuel tank. You do loose horsepower with straight #1 fuel, but it does, in most cases burn with less smoke. City buses quite often burn taxed #1 year round for less pollution. Also Dyed #2 can, depending on which refinery it comes from, be higher sulfur content which is still legal in off-road application. Some people say they can smell the difference, but I can't.