Low Sulfur Fuel Additive

[lloyd&pamela]

We fueled at a stop the other day that only had low sulfur diesel for sale. It seems to me that more and more are going to low sulfur. I have an 8V92 and it likes the high sulfur diesel.

Is there an additive I can add to increase the lubricant value of the fuel?

Any specific brand recommendations? Thanks as always.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Lloyd I believe that was ULTRA low sulfur stuff and I may be wrong but that is ALL current choices since December or so.

The industry has assured us of no adverse affects, the jury is still out. We do know fuel mileage has suffered.

I have no suggestion on additive.

[flyu2there]

Believe you are correct Joe, don't think there are any other options today save ULS Diesel, 15 ppm sulfur. There was a period of time before the mandated switch where the ULS pump had slightly different markings from the Low Sulfur pump (1500 ppm)....think Lloyd, you may have encountered a pump with old badging.

There's the lubricity thing that was all the gossip some time back where engine fuel pump seals and the like may fail on an engine that was not weaned on ULS and as a result folks, mainly truckers, were adding all kinds of things to the ULS, Marvel Mystery Oil was a popular and inexpensive one. It certainly appears to me that the worry was all for naught!

An interesting sidebar, I had a friend tell me that he was informed by a petroleum engineer from Chevron that some of the factors that has sparked the jump in diesel prices was the mandate for ULS diesel. Seems that the asphalt based oils from the West Coast and Central US don't refine correctly when pulling out the sulfur and that parafin based oils were the only ones that worked.....the old supply side economics here. Additionally it was either the trucks or the fuel lines at the refineries and storage areas....they didn't like ULS either and had to be modiied to move it and finally, the refining process for the stuff was/is much more involved. I don't have any way to validate any of that save that I can drive 20 miles and cross into Mexico and buy the "old fashioned diesel, low sulfur" for less than 3.00 per gallon at Pemex.

[Orren Zook]

At the truck stops around here the ULSD is the only choice at the RV pumps, however if you pull around back all but one or two pumps will be LSD.... so the choice is still yours here in Ohio. As additives go, I prefer E-ZOIL's Diesel Aid + Cetane. One 16 oz bottle conditions 240 gallons can measure in one ounce increments and will improve cetane up to 7 points and only costs around six buck$

[lloyd&pamela]

Thanks Oren, we always pump in the back with the trucks and the choice seems to exist. I remember Jon or someone telling me that I needed to add something to raise the lubricant factor of the new fuel. Thank you,
Lloyd

[Kenneth Brewer]

[QUOTE=flyu2there;32422]Believe you are correct Joe, don't think there are any other options today save ULS Diesel, 15 ppm sulfur. There was a period of time before the mandated switch where the ULS pump had slightly different markings from the Low Sulfur pump (1500 ppm)....think Lloyd, you may have encountered a pump with old badging.

December 1, 2010, all retail sales of diesel fuel will be required to be ULSD fuel. The date appears to have been moved back from June 1, 2010, but:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ultra low sulfur diesel fuel (ULSD) regulations require refiners to drastically reduce the sulfur content in on-road diesel fuel. Under the ULSD regulations, 80% of all on-road diesel fuel produced by refiners must contain a sulfur content no greater than 15 parts per million (ppm) beginning June 1, 2006. The remaining 20% of
on-road diesel (LSD) fuel must meet a 500-ppm or less sulfur content. These two on-road diesel fuels will coexist side by side until June 1, 2010, when all on-road diesel fuel produced by refiners must meet the 15-ppm sulfur standard. Jet fuel will remain at 3,000-ppm or less and the sulfur content of heating oil, locomotive and marine diesel fuel is not changed under the ULSD on-road regulations.