Fules more expensive, and its getting worse in quality...

[steved]

Fuel's more expensive, and its getting worse in quality...

I just wanted to pass this along, I needed to address my auxiliary tank because it was starting to be unable to siphon as fast as the truck was using fuel, which was not normal.



So first things first, I changed the filter, which was only 6 months old (I have ran them over a year and 40k before)... keep in mind, I have a water knock-out that probably catches most of the garbage before it hits the pump or filter.



I then decide that I had blow back through the system, to ensure I didn't have a bunch of crap in a low spot in a line.



After blowing a bunch of air back through the lines, and allowing the fuel to settle, I inspected the bottom of the tank (the fuel cell has a 4-inch fill opening). To my surprise, there is sand and metal filings in the bottom of the tank. Keep in mind this tank is not only sealed well, but completely inside a toolbox.



Now I have seen the metal filings before (figured they were from the production of the tank, but at the same time I had wiped that tank completely clean before using), but nowhere near as many as I have now... the bottom looks metallic flaked. Not to mention it looks like I have about a 1/8 cup of sand in the bottom.



SO while we are paying more, our fuel's quality is getting worse.

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

NAHHhhhh, Steve - you gotta be WRONG!



After all, didn't the oil industry, government, and a few enthusiasts on this very board assure us that the new and grand ULSD would be as much a savior in terms of purity and quality as, say, Obama is to politics?



All those neat and REQUIRED new "standards of quality" that were supposedly part and parcel of the new ULSD program were promised to exactly avoid what you have seen...



YUP - it's all still "business as usual"...

 

[Buffalo]

ULSD vs: LSD

On a side note, I recently read that when our refineries were ONLY producing LSD, 50,000 barrels of that fuel were being exported from our shores every day.



Now that we are producing ULSD, 450,000 barrels of ULSD are being exported in the same time frame. Nine times as much being exported away from our shores!!!



Any chance that could be what is causing the high diesel fuel prices in our country? Could they be creating a shortage of diesel, here, so that they can charge more for it?



Joe F.

 

[steved]

I just got back from a run to town... over heard a couple drivers talking that they have been changing their fuel filters a lot more often than they ever have before... so it must not be just me this time??

 

[Buffalo]

Steved,



Just out of curiosity, where are you buying your fuel, mostly? Truck stops or comvenience stores, gas stations, etc. ?



One of the other things I read on the TDIClub.com was that truck stops generally have a low cetane level in their fuel (40). Fuel companies like Chevron & Shell have a higher rating of near 49. The excuse is that the big truck engines don't need elevated cetane levels like the smaller pick-up truck diesels do. Don't know if all of this is true, or not, just what I read. The guy that wrote that post sent emails to all the diesel fuel distributors in his area & compiled a list of what was sent back to him.



Joe F.

 

[GaryOwen]

Just changed my fuel filter this afternoon and didn't see anything unusual. It was a bit longer than usual between filter changes too. Don't have visual access to see bottom of my aux tank, so not sure what might be lurking down there. I do have filters between my aux tank and regular tank though.



Noticed cetane rating at Flying J in Wytheville, VA had a sticker that said "Minimum Cetane Rating = 45" when I filled up there on Thursday. That was not at the big truck pumps, but it all comes from the same tanks.

 

[Regcabguy]

A thought.

I wonder if part of the fuel quality problems can be traced to deteriorating underground storage tanks at the stations. One good thing we do have here in Ca is that all tanks now have got to have been replaced with double walled ones by now. The service stations here are constantly being tested by independent companies for leaks.

 

[steved]

I fuel all over, sometimes at the bigboy pumps, and othertimes at mom&pop stores. Locally I run mobile or bp. On the road, it primarily truck stop juice.



I just found it really odd the amount of shiny (read: non rusted) particles in the bottom of my tank. Some are fairly big, like small drill shavings; while most are just small "metallic paint"-like.



I'm noticing most stations are 40 cetane around here. Sheetz offers a "premium" 45 cetane diesel at one station.

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

I fuel all over, sometimes at the bigboy pumps, and othertimes at mom&pop stores. Locally I run mobile or bp. On the road, it primarily truck stop juice.



I just found it really odd the amount of shiny (read: non rusted) particles in the bottom of my tank. Some are fairly big, like small drill shavings; while most are just small "metallic paint"-like.



I'm noticing most stations are 40 cetane around here. Sheetz offers a "premium" 45 cetane diesel at one station.

Steve, you might want to be wary of those metallic particles - and where you think they came from. If you'll remember, some time back I was getting significant traces of similar metallic shavings on the TP filter cartridge I use in my Frantz fuel filter:



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Eventually, that picture became LOTS clearer when my VP-44 failed, and it was discovered the internal brass advance sleeve Bosch used for a while in their pumps was wearing - and the small particles seen above were the brass bits being passed thruout the fuel system. Swapped out the VP-44 - but took a couple of TP filter changes before the vast majority of particles were finally caught and removed by that Frantz fuel filter. Interesting that I have several other smaller inline fuel filters, but they apparently were not fine enough filtration to stop the particles - but the Frantz, last filter in the line, seemed to catch them just fine...



I wonder if the particles you are seeing might be generated by a source inside your own truck, rather than from the stations where you buy fuel?



.

 

[steved]

Very unlikely... there's no return to this tank. Its only source of fuel is that which comes out of the fuel nozzle... so its completely external sources.



I don't know what condition the main tank is in, nor have I cut the FASS filter apart lately. But the fuel in that tank is filtered by my auxiliary prior to getting in there.