On Road Diesel for Kubota L3130 is it Okay?

RalphVa · Jan 26, 2005

I think your oil will stay cleaner, as well as your fuel system, without the red dye and the higher sulfur of the off road stuff. I'm using the on-road stuff.

Benz used basically the same type of fuel injector (plunger type) on its fuel and diesel engines from around the middle 50s on. Think lubricity is an old wives' tale. In a very few engines that maybe use gear pumps without external gearing to keep them from actually rubbing, lubricity might be a problem. However, I would think this is easily solved with an additive. Don't know what the Kubota has. Bet it was designed for world-wide use. Many places in Europe where virtually sulfur-free diesel is in use.

Ralph

_RaT_ · Jan 26, 2005

I change mine at half the hours recommended (50 instead of 100) to avoid corrosion problems. Oil is cheap comparitively speaking. John 

If the reason for changing the oil is because of the fuel's sulphur content then it's probably safe to say well over half of your fuel savings bill is eaten up by the cost of the oil, say $2.00 a quart plus an oil filter at about $8. Either way though, it really is not that big of a deal. I figure before I drastically change how much I use my tractor the price of diesel will probably have to get up somewhere near $4 or $5 per gallon.

smittyd3 · Jan 26, 2005

Thanks. Have you ever heard of a company by the name of Lubrication Engineers? The company I work for purchases grease from LE, after getting to know the salesman and their products I started using their oil in my Ford truck. They make the fuel additive that I'm planning to use.

Darren · Jan 26, 2005

I wouldn't have any doubts about using off-road diesel. It's used in equipment with engines that cost tens of thousands of dollars. The higher lubricity is a plus in any self lubricated injection pump which is usually what you find in "small" diesel engines. On a tractor you may never put enough hours on it to see the difference though.

smittyd3 · Jan 27, 2005

Thanks Darren. The only diesel they sell in my town is the on road diesel and it will be so convenient to drive to the station and fill up. I plan to use a quality additive to help lubricate the pump.

fractal · Jan 27, 2005

I spent the better part of two days looking for off-road diesel around here. Turns out that the closest place is a 2 hour drive. I run the same diesel in my kubota as I do in my ford pickup.

Red dye is used to indicate two things.

1 - high sulfur
2 - no road tax.

You can not tell whether the diesel is dyed for one reason, the other, or both, by the color. This according to chevron's web site.

I did some research and found nothing that suggested that high sulfur fuel did anything more than pump sulfur into the atmosphere. All the wifes tales sites claimed it improved lubrication. All the oil company sites said it does not.

I could always be wrong, but as far as I am concerned, the only thing your using on-road diesel in your tractor does is force you to fill out the additional form on your income tax to get the tax you paid back, or just eat the extra tax. I go through 4-5 gallons of fuel a year so am paying 1-2 dollars of tax I should not. I don't bother to fill out the form.

Bob_Skurka · Jan 27, 2005

fractal, I tend to agree with what you wrote based on what I have seen and experienced with diesel. BUT part of what you wrote is not always true. Not all suppliers use high sulfer fuel when they dye it, some suppliers use the same fuel, but some is dyed and some is not. So some of the red dyed fuel is higher sulfer fuel and some is not. It depends on the area & supplier.

I think the folks who use a lot of diesel (farmers, ranchers, and large land owners) save some money with off road diesel. I think most of us folks who have 5, 10 or 15 acres probably would never see any real cost savings if we don't have our own storage tanks and get fuel delivered. Especially if you have to take time to go out of your way to buy it and then fill out forms to justify it. Lets face it, most of these tractors don't burn more than a gallon an hour, and the smaller units burn 1/2 of that. A typical homeowner type user is going to use 40 to 80 gallons a year and run their tractor 50 to 120 hours a year.

fractal · Feb 2, 2005

( fractal, I tend to agree with what you wrote based on what I have seen and experienced with diesel. BUT part of what you wrote is not always true. Not all suppliers use high sulfer fuel when they dye it, some suppliers use the same fuel, but some is dyed and some is not. So some of the red dyed fuel is higher sulfer fuel and some is not. It depends on the area & supplier. )

I apologize that my previous note was not clear. What I thought I said is the same thing you just said.

To quote http://www.chevron.com/prodserv/fuels/diesel/diesel%5Fspec.shtm

( High sulfur diesel must be dyed red at the refinery (EPA regulation). According to IRS regulations this fuel must contain Dye Solvent 164 at a concentration spectrally equivalent to 3.9 pounds per thousand barrels (PTB) (11.13 mg/liter) of solid dye Standard Solvent Red 26. Low sulfur diesel, both EPA and CARB, are generally on road diesels and consequently undyed. However, if they are sold as non-taxable diesel or heating fuel they must be dyed to the above concentration. )

I don't believe I said that all off road fuel was high sulfur and apologize if it came across that way.

Rereading that page explains why we here in california pay more for diesel than we do for premium gas... Seems the refineries have to make a special forumation just for us /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif