New low-sulfur fuel in old engines

[OilMan]

Interesting story on the web about switch to low-sulfur diesel in Australia.
www.bloomberg.com/energy (http://www.bloomberg.com/energy)


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2001 2500HD DuraMax/Allison Crew Cab 4x4 SWB UT Burnt Orange on order!

[Brett Doyle]

Not a very pleasant situation to be in I can assure you.
I have spent a fortune getting my 6.5TD over here and now there is a good chance that the seals in the injector pump will start leaking.
BP is saying they will look at compensation on genuine claims put I havn't heard of any cases that have been settled yet.
Brett Doyle

[This message has been edited by Brett Doyle (edited 01-10-2001).]

[Big Green]

I checked the link and didn't find the story, I guess that the site has been updated.

To what level of sulfur is your fuel being cut? Here in the U.S. the level of sulfur was cut in 1993 or 1994. The diesel fuel on the market today is limited to 0.05% sulfur by weight.

As I remember, the biggest problem with the reduced sulfur was the lack of lubrication in the pumps and injectors. Most of this has been solved by the name-brand fuel distributors adding a lubrication additive.

One doesn't have to read very far on this site to find that a lot of the diesel drivers are adding additives to their fuel for any one of a number of reasons. The commonality among most or all of the additives is that they improve the lubricating properties of diesel fuel.

IMHO, I would use an additive that improves the lubricating properties of the fuel until the real impact of the change in fuel is known instead of having to try to recover the cost of a repair from the government.

As a side benefit of the higher quality additives, many report better fuel mileage, less smoke, and less noise.

Has anyone from the 'Land Down Under' ever heard of Biodiesel? Is it available? It has the promise of solving many of the problems with our current fuel including 0.000 sulfur.

Good luck
Big Green

[This message has been edited by Big Green (edited 01-11-2001).]

[More Power]

Low sulfur fuel has been known to cause fuel seal problems. This occurred in 1993 when CA went to low sulfur. The existing Buna-N and neoprene seals shrank without the sulfur.

The diesel industry then switched to Viton seals, which solved the problem. I really wouldn't be too concerned about seal problems at this point in time. Lubricity is the biggest worry, and rotary fuel injection pumps (ie. Stanadyne DB2 & DS4) suffer most from low lubricity fuel.

If it's any consolation, Sweden has been using diesel fuel that up to now has been the lowest in sulfur and the least lubricity friendly of any nation. The locals there aren't having widespread problems with their Stanadyne pumps. Most treat their fuel with a lubricity "additive".

More Power!!!

[Brett Doyle]

The information that I have is that the low sulfur content is only causing trouble with leaking seals, not lubrication. They also tell us that there is no additive that will "fix" the problem.
Not trying to start an argument, just telling you what we are being told in the papers over here.
I don't know what the actual sulfur content of our diesel is, and I have never heard of bio-diesel.
Tell me more.
Brett Doyle

[Big Green]

Bio-diesel is a vegetable oil based replacement fuel for traditional diesel. An internet search for biodiesel (one word) will produce several days worth of reading.

You might start here: http://pipeline.to/biodiesel/

Big Green