Does anybody use #2 fuel oil in their Duramax??? Any problems/suggestions?


I have set a tank at our stable and want to use 32 fuel oil/diesel (same thing) for our John Deere tractor and our 2 pick-ups.


Is sulfur content an issue? Thanks for any input!





Matt

The tax man could be an issue http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Cry.gif

Jim

Yup. Johnny-Law doesn't take kindly to people who use his highways while running the pink fuel...


To the level of a 4 or 5 digit fine.

I use it in my John Deere. I heat my hot water and my house with #2. So I put a pump on my 275 gal. tank so I can pump it in to the tractor.
Been to Chicken to run it in the DMax though. I do know several people that run it in their trucks (that's all they run). I get my fuel from a card lock station(no attendant), I watched a lady fill her Powerstoke up with it, about a week ago.
People Do It.

I love it! Especially when diesel is $1.85 at the pump up here.


Our crooked ass gov. put a 50 + cent per gallon tax on diesel only, that should help bring more industry to CT.http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Ermm.gif

Runs great on it and better mileage but you can smell if something is running it a mile away. The fine for getting caught is pretty steep,and the DOT does check.

Same fuel with dye in it--I filled up with it a few times from work (out of cash and in a hurry) runs the same smells the same, just don't get caught.

THANKS GUYS!!! I appreciate all your input......


I do not see when or where DOT would check my fuel . My 1ton dually with a large horse trailer still falls under the minimum GVW for weigh stations and truck inspections. So where would my exposure be? Besides... on long trips I will end up at the pupm anyway so it will get used up or diluted.


#2 fuel oil is 1.24 a gallon here in NY. I think I'm gonna risk it!


Tanx again...


Matt

Just watch that it is low sulfur fuel if you have a CAT. Sulfur content in the fuel after ignition will clog a CAT in no time. If you don't have a CAT, it's your comfort level with the tank dippers. I would suggest you stay on the right side of the law if you do... No heavy loads, normal speeds, etc.

I would be careful though, horse trailer could be an attention getter since it could be used for farm purposes but if using #2 when not doing farm related driving you are breaking the law! We have a guy up the road from us that got caught about 2 years ago with his landscaping business; big $20,000 fine! Also, in our area around Allentown, there are a few police districts (locals) that are setting up weigh stations for ALL trailers including landscapers and local dump trucks. Boy have they been making money off of that one!!! You would not believe how easy it is to overload a small landscape trailer. $$$$$$$$

Horse trailer is a flag, I wouldn't do it.

<H4>I don't do it for a few reasons:</H4>


1- Too expensive if you are caught.


2- The tax helps build new and maintain our existing roads and keep them free. Think about this one. I do a lot of travleing on some very beautiful interstates for nothing! For the most part they are extremely well maintained roads.


3- Too expensive on your truck. I read a lot about injector problems... Chevy built bad injectors, dirty fuel. lousy fuel filters on the Duramax and so on. I wonder how much of these problems are self induced. more often than not the fuel in farm storage tanks are pathetically dirty. Just read a few studies performed by John Deer and the Ag industry.


Do a search for "farm fuel tank study"


Here's an eye opener...


http://www.agriculture.com/sfonline/sf/2001/november/0112fuel.html
<H4>Cleanup for farm fuel tanks: Tests find dirt and rust in most farm tanks - Production</H4>


Larry Reichenberger
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: 17px">


There's a shovel of dirt lurking on many farms that threatens to cost thousands of dollars in equipment repair and downtime. And it's hiding in a place most farmers will never look. That place is inside their diesel storage tanks where mismanagement and misunderstanding have allowed the threat to grow.


Last summer, Successful Farming magazine worked with petroleum experts from Country Energy LLC, a regional fuel supplier formed by Farmland Industries and Cenex Harvest States, and employees of the Andale Farmers Co-op, Andale, Kansas, to help make farmers aware of this threat. We shared the $110 cost of sampling and cleaning diesel storage tanks on 20 farms in south central Kansas. Though stored gasoline also gets dirty, we didn't include it because fewer engine problems result.


Results and analysis for a dozen tanks included in the study are shown in the bar chart on page 47.


"We typically found from 1 quart to 1 gallon of dirt and rust in the bottom of tanks we cleaned," says Country Energy's Norm Dooley. "And in one case, we found 4 1/2 gallons of contaminants in the tank."


Dirt, rust are main problems


A lab analysis of material from selected tanks shows the contaminants are primarily dirt and rust. "We assume the dirt got into the tanks during filling (when the cap was removed) or it could have blown into the tanks through the vent cap. It's also likely that dust was sucked into the tanks when they naturally breathed as fuel volume or air temperature changed," says Dooley.


Dooley says contaminants typically are allowed to build up over long periods of time. "Many tanks we cleaned had been in place 30 years or more, often without being cleaned and seldom ever drained," he says.


Rust in fuel tanks is probably also a result of them breathing through the vent cap. "At night, when temperatures cool, humidity in the air inside the tank condenses on the sidewalls and can cause rust," adds Dooley.


Our study found few other contaminants. Little free water or algae was present and asphaltines (black specs of carbon that are sometimes a result of fuel refining) were limited.


Contamination often stems from poor storage and is not a reflection on the quality of the fuel itself.


Nearly all the tanks we studied are 20 years or more in age; half are over 30 years old. All the tanks have filters, but a third of them were dirty or clogged and needed replacement.


Similar results in Nebraska


While not part of our study, a tank cleaning program offered by Central Farmers Co-op in O'Neil, Nebraska, found similar results. "We've cleaned over 100 fuel tanks and have seen some shocking things," says assistant fuel manager Lyle Harvey.


Harvey says the major contaminants they have found are rust and dirt, as well as water and algae. "Algae is actually our biggest problem. It lives on water in the fuel and results in a dark-purplish sludge in the t

Sulfur content has never been and issue with the overall quality of fuel in any application. Its the processes the refineries have to put the fuel through to reach the goverment mandated sulfur content, which makes the fuel dryer and lowers the lubricity that is the concern. There are several additives that can restore the lubricity of diesel fuel on the market, and some even have cetance improvers that will make a slight improvement in performance/mileage. But make sure you get a good additive, not a bottle of 'injector cleaner' from wal-mart, go to your local Diesel Injection Rebuilder and get a bottle of either Stanadyne or Racor or whatever additive they have. Also, remember your not trying to clean the system, so dont put in additive every second or third tank, run it all the time, the fuel is the problem and you have to treat all of it, you will save money in the short run between mileage and not having to visit you Diesel shop for anything more than more additive

The red dye in untaxed fuel can be pretty persistent. If you ran through several tankfulls of taxed fuel, you still might see some red dye, and with test equipment, might detect dye not noticeable to the naked eye.


I remember when I was a kid, my father always used to use "blue Sunoco" gasoline (it had blue dye). He decided his 1951 Buick's valves needed attention, and when he took the cylinder head off, the piston tops and combustion chambers were all discolored blue, same as the gasoline. He never used that stuff again.


If you were using the dyed stuff, and had injector problems, I wonder if somebody at the dealer level or higher would use that as an excuse to void a warranty claim.

They do RANDOM checks here in Wisconsin, If you are pulling a horse trailer bet on getting stopped sooner or later and the red die will color at least 4 complete tanks of hwy fuel. I was talking with our local farm fuel man last week when he filled our farm tank and he said DOT has checked the local fairs for the last 3/4 years looking for "cheats" and in one case impounded the truck! Not worth the risk. jm2c