Is there a difference (besides price) between "name" brand and "off" brand diesel fuel? I am new to diesel and curious. I realize with gas they claim different additives are put in. Is diesel #2 the same anywhere you buy it? With fuel prices the way they are in CA I need to know. I can drive down the street and within a 1/2 a mile of each other Unocal is 1.95 a gal and Shell is 2.29 and off brand is 1.93.

Not based on any facts, but gut feeling alone, you should be OK with Unocal. Unless you can verify the 'off-brand' supplier, I would stay away from the 'off brand'.

Welcome to the wonderful world of diesel.


Is there a difference (besides price) between "name" brand and "off" brand diesel fuel? I am new to diesel and curious. I realize with gas they claim different additives are put in. Is diesel #2 the same anywhere you buy it? With fuel prices the way they are in CA I need to know. I can drive down the street and within a 1/2 a mile of each other Unocal is 1.95 a gal and Shell is 2.29 and off brand is 1.93.


Yes, there is a difference in diesel from brand to brand. It is primarily the difference between additives and even grades. Price does is not always indicative of quality, as there are other factors in play besides just "quality" when the distributor sets the price. It could also be that the Shell station is selling PREMIUM diesel fuel. Check here for a discussion on Premium Diesel: http://dieselplace.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10194&KW=premium


My advice would be to get to know your truck--how it sounds, how it performs, economy, etcetera....and keep good records to figure from which station you should regularly buy or which brand is best for you. It's also a good idea to buy from a high volume dealer.


It seems we Duramax owners are paranoid about fuel related problems. Many of us are running secondary fuel filters because it has been shown that North American fuel is apparently not a high quality as the European stuff. I think it's a good idea to at least consider additional filtration and perhaps supplement the D-max's diet with an additive.


Hope this helps...

"Landline" had an aritcle on this subject recently. As I am not driving a diesel at this time I have no idea what the fuel looks like in a regular service station. But the quality varfies considerably in the truck world.


Their suggestion was to take a couple of baby food jars, and see if someone else that was filling up would let you look at a few ounces of the fluid. You would need to go find that issue (one of last three) for more details. But even the unfamiliar would notice water.


braz

T-Rex said it! Coming from Europe I never had to worry where to fill up the tank - since this diesel fuel is almost the lowest refined grade aside from petroleum distillate there should never be a problem with it. I could even have used the oil to heat the oil burners in the house, but that is forbidden, there are much less taxes on burning oil than diesel fuel... But here in America looks like another story. Nobody cares much about diesel fuel quality in this country - premium should be the way to go. Recently we had a big problem here with Shell and Texaco fuel (not diesel). They put way to much sulphur in the fuel and many fuel gauges in the tanks are destroyed. So more expensive doesn't meet better.... You might consider to put some additives yourself to be on the save side...
Frank