Will ULSD effect our trucks?

[oak4000]

Will the ultra low sulfur diesel that is coming out in like the next 12 months or so (or so i believe) have an effect on our trucks?

[lacolocho]

ULSD is already out here in Oregon. It came out in June, or July, I believe.

Most people I've heard from are recommending adding a lubricant to your fuel.

A lot of folks think that the ULSD is causing injection pump leaks due to seals drying up and cracking. This has been common with a lot of the 1.6L VW IPs.

There's a lot of other effects I've heard they think the loss of lubrication might cause, but I can't recall them at the moment (I run on biodiesel or a bio/petro blend usually, so I don't worry much about ULSD)

[asavage]

will the ultra low sulfar diesel . . . have an effect on our trucks?

ULSD (<15ppm sulfur) shouldn't affect the inline IPs (as used on the SD22). It will affect the VE-style distributor IPs on the Maxima's LD28. As little as 2% biodiesel added to petrodiesel offers quadruple the lubricity of the old LSD (<500ppm sulfur, since circa 1990).

Use biodiesel, it's good. Even low additive concentrations are good (but read the "crackling" thread). But I mean biodiesel in the sense of fuel that meets ASTM specification D-6751, not homebrew or SVO/WVO.

[moose60]

Oak-
Go with the biodiesel recommendation, it's good on several levels. There are many studies to support the lubricity claims. Also most tailpipe pollutants a re dramaticly reduced (in proportion to the amount of bio used) and the oil for biodiesel comes from the US.

Al-
Tested homebrew biodiesel can meet ASTM specs. The brewer just has to care. And pay for some testing (and probably use some more catalyst). I'm totaly with ya' on the SVO.

[asavage]

Tested homebrew biodiesel can meet ASTM specs. The brewer just has to care.

While this is certainly true, for someone who does not know the issues, the term "biodiesel" might mean anything. A recent article in our local paper actually stated that biodiesel is a "mixture of vegetable oil and alcohol". OMG Yeah, I emailed the reporter as soon as I read it (no response).

Therefore, rather than writing a couple of paragraphs on BD and what it is and what it isn't, every time the subject comes up new, I just qualify "biodiesel" as being a fuel that meets ASTM D-6751, and leave it at that. On-spec fuel can and is being made at home, but the homebrew movement has sent more old diesels to the JY prematurely than lack of maintenance for the past 20 yrs ever did, IMO.

[moose60]

Al-
Regarding the article in your local paper: Grrrr. That lack of attention to getting basic facts correct is really frustrating. The non-response of the reporter just tops it off. Not only ignorant, but unwilling to learn.

About hombrewers sending vehicles to the JY, I sure there are some.. IMO the cheapskate-SVO types (It's practically free to run on SVO!!!) are sending good motors to low-compression land.

I'm not trying to start anything here, just an opinion(with no hard facts to back it up). I think that your decision to simplify the differences between bioD/veg oil/blend/mystery-goo makes good sense.

[philip]

Will the ultra low sulfur diesel that is coming out in like the next 12 months or so (or so i believe) have an effect on our trucks?

Already at the pump near you as of Sept in California. The price of diesel also jumped about 20 cents.

Three articles on the subject that you might find useful.

ULSD article 1
ULSD article 2
ULSD article 3

I echo Al's response. As a feel-good preventative, I do enrich with the Stanadyne lubricity additive.

[ecomike]

Well my SD22 got its first known (labeled) taste of 15 ppm sulfur, ULSD this week.

In the past the label on the pumps always showed 500 ppm sulfur here in Houston, Tx.

I added an extra dose of my usual PowerService (Diesel Fuel Supplement + Cetane Boost With SlickDiesel) additive. Should be interesting to see how it runs on this batch, if the transmission holds up long enough to use it that is.

The first 50 miles it pured like a kitten (at least as close as an SD22 can purrr that is).

[REDNECK]

I have been subjected to ulsd since about aug......I have been looking for issue's and have found none so far, ......other than cost.

I also add stanadine, for the ability too sleep at night though.....

[ecomike]

Been running nothing but ULSD with a double dose of Power Service Diesel Kleen + Cetane Boost since March this year (about 7,000 miles), and I have no complaints, in fact I think it likes the stuff and the combo (additive) as it seems to be running smoother, and a bit peppier.

I noticed that the NEW bottle I just bought lists it as an ULSD formula!