Please no arguments. Just FYI

[cowboydoc]

The topic of sulfur and lubrication comes up repeatedly and is hotly debated here. I'm not posting this to start another of those debates. It has been my contention that loss of sulfur leads to significant lubrication issues. Without going into alot just take that for what it's worth. But one thing I feel that the masses should be educated on is that most engine manufacturers and the oil companies themselves feel it will be an important issue to lose the lubricity of sulfur in fuel.

As many of you know effective January 1, 2007 all fuel will be ULSD, ultra low sulfur diesel. Because of this a new low ash diesel oil has been developed which is called CJ-4. It will be required in most diesel engines that run ULSD to provide more lubrication offsetting the loss of sulfur. Those are not my words but the words of numerous engine mfg. and the oil companies.

In addition if you are thinking of buying a new diesel I would do it soon. The estimated cost to comply with the new EPA regulations is estimated to add $2000-5000 to the cost of a diesel engine and the resultant emission equipment. That is not my opinion either but from GM.

This will be due to increased engine cooling capacity and a completely new exhaust system. After the traditional downpipe there with be a DOC, diesel oxidation catalyst, which will treat exhaust prior to entering a particulate filter. The DOC will have to be automatically regenerated every so often to burn off the ash residue. This will create excessive temperature so additional cooling will be needed. The exhaust will then enter an diesel particulate filter which removes 90% of the particulates in the exhaust. This filter will have to be professionally serviced every 100k. The good news is it will result is cleaner air coming out than went in in large cities.

Dealers are expecting huge demands for 06 and 07 trucks and pickups, a 30% jump over 05.

 

[rdln]

Interesting, should put used diesels in more demand also???

 

[JoeR]

The DOC you described sounds exactly like the scrubbers at oil and coal burning power plants. Smaller scale of course...

And this legislation was written in 1997 to be effective for 2007?

Interesting post.

Thanks,

Joe

 

[CT_Tree_Guy]

Richard -

Thanks for the interesting post. I particularly liked your polite request that your observations not lead to any arguments or unpleasantness. That would be an easy trap for us to all fall into, given the potential "hot-button" issues involved: economics ($$$ taken out of already-strained budgets), environmental considerations, health issues, possible mistrust of the government and associated resistance to having our activities "regulated" .... and on and on.

I don't like to see costs for anything going up, but I welcome the positives that will likely come out of actions like this, despite the associated negatives. I work around diesel engines a lot; mostly my chipper and tractor. I've been concerned for a long time now about all the particulates I've been breathing in all this time, and have thought about how nice it would be to reduce the amount of diesel soot I'm exposed to (and others, of course). It's supposed to be quite carcinogenic, and I've done some research into putting a particulate filter on my chipper, and maybe even my tractor.

Maybe some of the technology being developed to reduce diesel emissions from trucks will spill over into other areas, and make it even more cost-effective than it is now to reduce our exposure to diesel soot from sources like our tractors.

I don't know if the same types of measures being put into place for trucks will ever be mandated for other diesel applications, but I wouldn't mind paying a little extra to have a tractor or woodchipper that comes from the factory with a particulate filtration system. When you get right down to it, it's hard to put a price tag on one's health.

Thanks again; your post will no doubt help to encourage awareness of a problem that might be unnecessarily harming all of us.

John

 

[Charolais]

Very good advice. I started a year ago adding lubrication to fuel. Fedx just dropped off a 4 gal. case today. With the price tag of an injector pump the extra lube is cheap insurance. There's lots of brands out there to choose from and on other sites I see all the time post about folks adding ATF to the fuel. When the new fuel hits the pumps I may double the lube for a while just to be on the safe side. Why take that chance?

Down time, parts and labor =$$$$ a little $$ may save $$$$ too. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif It sure can't hurt and it'll keep that exhaust pipe a lot cleaner too.

 

[Soundguy]

My take, is that the sulfur may or may not be the actual lubricant.. however the process of removing the sulfur also lowers the lubricity of the fuel.. so the net result is that fuel with sulfur lubricates better vs fuel without sulfur lubricates worse.

I've been using power service for the last few years in ALL my diesel.. adds a few pennies per gallon, hopefully it will make up lubricity if issues with fuel arise... also.. I've been using the power service diesel oil lube extender when doing oil changes on my big diesels. i figure at worst, I'm wasting another 3$ on a fluid change that is already costing me about 100$ by the time I do 3 gallons of crankcase oil, a fuel , oil, and 2 air filters, a hyd filter, and 40 some odd qts of hy-tran oil.. so i figure if the 3$ buys me any % more engine protection, it is money in the bank so to speak.... anyway.. that's my .02

Soundguy

 

[Runk]

I put one tankful of ultra low sulpher in my F350 6.0 awhile back and it definately made the engine alot louder. This is in Southern Calif, the pump was labeled ultral low.....at a Shell station here.
Other than that one fillup at the Shell station (havent gone back there) I have not seen the ultra low label anywhere else around here.
Another tme I filled up with a tankful of biodiesel B100 which was just the oposite, engine quieter and exhaust smelled alittle better. Expensive too.

Can anyone recommend an online source for lube additive?
Thanks,
Runk

 

[Charolais]

Online source

I went with this product line because it contains no alcohol or solvents. And this source because they sell in bulk.

 

[HGM]

Cowboy,
Thanks for the heads up..

No arguement, hope you dont mind my take on it as well /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif.. June 1 2007 is the date I have been hearing.. That may have changed a bit since the info you refer to was originally written.

My recomendation is like some others have mentioned.. Add an additive to your fuel.. For the longest time, I didnt believe in this (or any other "snake oil"),but I've been dealing with allot of diesel trucks over the past year or so.. This has allowed me to do some testing.. I like PowerServices, but recently got to use Motorcraft(available through Ford).. Both of them give me(in my area) about a 1-1.5MPG increase(easily paying for itself)..It lowers the noise, smooths the idle, improved performance(slightly,maybe just percieved), and provides lubricity..

Recently, I used the Motorcraft in a truck that had a pastey buildup on the EGR valve..(I O/D'd it, 4x recomended amount) I drove the truck 50mi before removing the valve again.. With the short run time and the heavy dose of treatment, the tailpipe, EGR and intake were all drying out and cleaning up.

The reason I bring this up is that with allot of issues I have seen over the past year or so, a great deal of them have been due to poor fuel quality.. The additive is cheap assurance, I recommend it to everyone..

 

[cowboydoc]

I was confused by the date too HGM. I thought that June 1 was the cutoff date. I read the actual date is Jan. 1 but June 1 is used as the date to begin starting to comply so that any problems can be addressed in the next 6 months.