I have a station a few miles away with a cetane of 45 at $2.89 and a station 1 block away withh a cetane of 47 at $3.09. is there a siginificant difference? Will my milage offset the difference?

No, and No just use an additive that will boost it more and cost less per gal.

Another bite is that whats marked on the handle is the MINIMUM. Meaning the one station that has a 45 rating could be 48 and the one thats 47 could be 47. WHo knows.......its probably pretty close to what they advertise though. I dont think you will see much difference in 45 to 47 rated fuel all else being equal.....witch brings up another issue.....who knows who uses what additives.....or if they are even the same exact fuel ;)

at that price I'd run the cheaper stuff though ;) May run a tank of the more expensive stuff to try for grins......but sit down and figure out what kinda milage increase you would need to pay for it. You could also add a quality additive to the 45 stuff, probably be close to the same ctane rating, plus have all the lubrications goodies and water gobbling stuff in your tank too

I've been running Citgo ah, tax free shall we say!!!! :) They sell it at the pump here in MA. Runs the same as #2

We have crappy fuel here, it's all rated at 40 and it's about $3.10

I have yet to see one station around my area with a higher cetane rating.

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Hey Dragon, you know of a link or website I can go, to find out what rating of fuel I'm putting in? Our pumps don't say.

Don't know of a web site but I'm pretty sure the pumps are supposed to be labeled like there supposed to be for gas.

I believe 40 is the lowest were supposed to use in our truck's and most diesel pumps are atleast that.

I would love to find a higher rating just to try and see if there's any performance or mileage diffrence.

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I've been running Citgo ah, tax free shall we say!!!! :) They sell it at the pump here in MA. Runs the same as #2

What town? County Energy in Chelmsford also sells off road #2.

I've been running Citgo ah, tax free shall we say!!!! :) They sell it at the pump here in MA. Runs the same as #2Just don't get caught by the tax boys. One $10,000 fine will offset an awful lot of tax-free gallons. :(

Another bite is that whats marked on the handle is the MINIMUM. Meaning the one station that has a 45 rating could be 48 and the one thats 47 could be 47. WHo knows.......its probably pretty close to what they advertise though. I dont think you will see much difference in 45 to 47 rated fuel all else being equal.....witch brings up another issue.....who knows who uses what additives.....or if they are even the same exact fuel ;)
Exactly; it’s supposed to be a minimum. I’ve seen the Flying J tankers delivering to several different independents and surely Flying J buys from different refiners according to prices at the time, each of the refiners using a different additive package. Just an opinion but, I think much ado is made about cetane ratings when in reality in warm weather it matters little as long as it’s 40 to 50 or so. When the engine is at running temperature the difference between several rating points is inconsequential and the negligible difference will never be noticed. Perhaps much of the concern about cetane rating is undue and foisted upon us by the marketing divisions of additive makers much as with the, I believe, inflated bugaboo of water contamination. This isn’t to say that all concerns focused in these areas are unfounded but, it’s easy to lose perspective. When something is repeated time and again, (usually by manufacturers and others with a financial interest) it often takes on a specious life of its own. Just my .02 cents. As pointed out by Chevron:

“Cetane number is a measure of how readily the fuel starts to burn under diesel engine conditions. A fuel with a high number starts to burn shortly after it is injected; it has a short ignition delay period. Although the cetane number is assumed to predict its ignition delay in any engine, the actual delay represented by the number is valid only for the single cylinder in which it was measured. The fuel’s performance in other engines may differ. A fuel’s ignition delay is determined by its chemistry. In a warm engine, the delay is independent of the physical characteristics of the fuel, like volatility (related to cetane rating) and viscosity. The cetane index correlations utilize density and distillation temperature properties to estimate cetane number, but these properties are being used as indirect indicators of fuel chemistry, not as direct variables. Power (and mileage) is determined by engine design. For a given engine, varying fuel properties within the ASTM D 975 specification range does not alter fuel significantly. For example, in one study seven fuels with varying distillation profiles and aromatics contents were tested in three engines. In each engine, power at peak torque and at rated speed (at full load) for the seven fuels was relatively constant. However, if fuel viscosity is outside of the D 975 spec range, combustion may be poor, resulting in loss of power and economy.

Fuel is transported over long distances by Pipe Lines. Do you believe that " Standard ", " Conoco ", " Fying J " each have their own Pipe Lines ?

Local deliveries come from " Tank Farms ". The additives are mixed As the tanker is loaded ( or shortly before ).

A " Flying J " tanker may Load just before a " No Name " and just after a " Standard ", from the same loading station; so what ?

Fuel is transported over long distances by Pipe Lines. Do you believe that " Standard ", " Conoco ", " Fying J " each have their own Pipe Lines ?

Local deliveries come from " Tank Farms ". The additives are mixed As the tanker is loaded ( or shortly before ).

A " Flying J " tanker may Load just before a " No Name " and just after a " Standard ", from the same loading station; so what ?
Perhaps you read too much into that part of the post. The Flying J example was mearly used to illustrate that you can't tell what, if any, the difference may be in fuel from one station to the next, or who might be transporting it, and that the cetane rating on the pump, as was pointed out in the post I quoted, indicates only a minimum. Tank farms, fuel lines, etc. have been covered many times on here but it sounded as if the initial thread poster was unaware of it and thought that by buying fuel from someone down the street with a higher number on their pump would assure him of a "better" fuel. Ratlover pointed that out quite clearly and was not the point of my post. What I perceive as inflated importance of cetane rating was the focus of what I said. Sorry if I didn't make that clear enough.

So I understand that the old "float" type cetane test is no longer working - Low sulfer or what ever... where can I find a heated test kit???
Kind Regards
Rick