Oil & Fuel Off road vs. regular diesel...

[RandyH]

Someone told me the dye in off road diesel will clog injectors. Is this true?

 

[Av8r3400]

Myth.

 

[JerryG]

<font color="blue"> Myth. </font>
That is right. If it would clog injectors, farmers wouldn't use it in everything. That includes those 1/4 million dollar combines.

 

[captain71c]

Just don't get caught using the dyed fuel in anything you drive on the road. Big fines The only reason that the fuel has dye in it is so they can tell if the road tax has been paid. Off road fuel is cheaper because of no road tax.

 

[cfoxmd]

Yep, My friend got stopped when pulling his boat with his truck. The boat is a gas outboard rig. They checked his truck for the color of the gas. He only uses BP diesel in his truck (claims better mileage) so he was fine.

 

[SnowRidge]

<font color="blue"> Yep, My friend got stopped when pulling his boat with his truck </font>

Out of curiosity, who stopped him? State, local, Federales? Any details about the stop.

 

[Tractors4u]

At one time the red farm fuel would have been beeter for your tractor. More sulfur. Sulfur acts as a lubricant. Let's just say I was around an on-road truck that inadvertanly had off road red farm fuel diesel put in it and it stunk while it was sitting still idling because of the added sulfur. I had injector pump problems with a 95 GMC Sierra diesel back in 96. I went through 3 injector pumps and one lift pump. The service manager blamed on the government requiring lower sulfur content in the on-road diesel. He claimed that the sulfur lubricated the parts in the pumps. He recommended going to a truck stop and buying an additive that the truckers used. I bought a Powerstroke instead.

But to reaffirm what others have said, no the red diesel fuel will not hurt your tractor. I burn it in my Deere 4310 with 120hours and my Komatsu Dozer with 2300 hours.

 

[Bird]

I've never used any of the dyed diesel, and none of my farmer neighbors used it because we could buy the undyed diesel for the same price with the proper paperwork on file. That's changed now in Texas, so I would imagine most farmers are using the dyed stuff now. One guy told me that his new John Deere stalled and quit on him twice, once driving down the road from a field back to the house. He said each time he called the dealer to come fix it and each time they told him it was the dye that had plugged his fuel filter, so he quit using it. Now it appears from everything I've read on TBN that such a case just doesn't exist, so I don't know whether he was right or not. However, I asked the guy where I was buying my fuel (wholesale distributor) and he told me that he would not recommend keeping the dyed fuel for more than a month or so; that the dye can separate out and "possibly" cause problems. So . . ., I heard from two people that the dyed fuel CAN cause problems and from MANY people on TBN that it cannot. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[LMTC]

Bird, et al--we have used off-road diesel for ten years, usually get a delivery in the fall that lasts until summer. Never had a significant problem. Since about 8 years ago we add PRI-D (as well as their anti-gel in winter and their microbicide in every barrel) and have had NO fuel-related problems. We also use PRI-G in our gasoline. When I put up the small tiller, the weedwhip, and push mower for winter, I leave the gas in them, add a shot of PRI-G, run them for a minute or two, and that's it. No starting problems in spring, no varnish, nada. Been doing this since we discovered PRI products.

 

[Bird]

Wayne, I do wonder if the guy who told me the red dye clogged the filter had old diesel and grew algae that caused the clog instead of the dye. I kept undyed diesel for quite a few months at a time in a 55 gallon barrel, but I always added PowerService to mine. And I add Stabil to the gasoline for my small engines.

 

[LMTC]

Bird,
We've used Stabil. PRI outperforms it dramatically. I have had gas eqpmnt stored two years with gas in it (with PRI-G), starts like fresh. Since using it the past 8 years or so, we have not had a single fuel injector problem on two trucks, three cars, and more tractors than I can count. Shared it with the small shop that does our vehicle work some years ago....he uses/recommends it for keeping injectors clean.

A crude form of oil-eating microbes similar to algae are much more common than most know. Frequently a problem in transmissions...they thrive in a tractor that sits, and their waste product will clog filters. I am convinced this is the problem in most tractors we buy from Japan that have clogged trans/hyd filters....everyone has the same greyish lint-like "stuff" clogging it. I have never seen it in a tractor used regularly. Anyway....we use a microbicide/algaecide regularly too.

 

[Bird]

I may have to try the PRI. Is it something I'm likely to find in the local stores, or do you have to order it?

 

[LMTC]

Don't know about local stores..we have bought for years from a fellow named Andy in Rogue River, OR, who runs this business:
http://www.batterystuff.com/categories.html?c=6&f=fuel

Found it there, got straight info from him about this and some battery thingees (PowerPulse), so we just keep buying there.

 

[cfoxmd]

It was Wildlife and Fisheries (I think) here in Louisiana. They will often check all the coolers coming as you drive from fishing in the gulf--too small fish--there goes your fish, and your boat, and your fishing gear--sometimes your truck too. No one keeps anything even close to the size limit.