Diesel fuel for a 2006 tractor

   / Diesel fuel for a 2006 tractor #1  

Marcussen

Gold Member
Joined
Jun 27, 2006
Messages
325
Location
Oklahoma
Tractor
2006 Kubota L2800 HST
This may be a dumb question, after 17 years of using a Ford 8N I bought a Kubota L2800 HST, when I went to buy diesel my local station has off road diesel and on road (taxed) diesel. The off road diesel is 40 cents a gallon cheaper but the pump is labeled high sulphur. Is there any problems putting the high sulphur diesel into my new Kubota. I know in a few months the high sulphur will not be alowed for off road use any more. I heard 2006 diesel engine are designed for low or ultra low sulphur.

Thanks!:confused:
 
   / Diesel fuel for a 2006 tractor #2  
Good question, let me know what you find out. I just bought a 2006 L2800HST also. See broken fuel gauge posting.
Dave
 
   / Diesel fuel for a 2006 tractor #3  
Marcussen
I too had an 8N, for about 27 years and last fall bought a Kubota, L4400, while I'm still healthy and have a number of productive years ahead of me. (I still have the 8N too). I didn't want to wait till six months before I die and then let my widow sell my tractor with 27 hours on it.
Anyway to answer your question, the long answer is, this website has a whole section devoted to fuel questions ("Oil, Fuel, and Lubricants") which you can browse and get the variety of opinions. But the short answer is, either the "High Sulphur" and/or the "Low Sulphur" diesel is perfect for your engine. That sulphur business is largely a political "feel good" resolution. Sulphur in the fuel may give some marginal benefit in terms of lubrication of engine parts, but get a quart of the white plastic bottle of "Power Service" diesel additive and put 1 1/2 oz in every 5 gallons of fuel. It's like a vitamin pill for your motor and you'll be "no worries" from now on.
JMHO
simonmeridew
 
   / Diesel fuel for a 2006 tractor #4  
This is a very good question; one that I have not considered. I have a 2002 BX22 and a new L5030. I know diesel fuel is changing for 2007, but I have not studied the changes. I actually have another diesel in my Ford van - the 6.0 liter PSD. Sounds like I need to do some learning!
Terry
on edit:
Looks like simon was posting about the same time with some good information. ob1Kubota just posted a similar comment on another thread regarding Power Service and the sulfur issues. And, although I've been on this site for 4 years, somehow I have missed the Oil, Fuel, Lubricants section :eek:
 
   / Diesel fuel for a 2006 tractor
  • Thread Starter
#5  
After some search on the internet, the question should be how will older diesel engines deal with the ultra low sulphur (ULS) fuel that will be in most pumps October 2006, The pumps should already be posted with labels containing information about diesel sulphur content (starting 1 June '06). It looks like 2006 and newer engines will be designed with the ULS fuel in mind. By 2007 all on road diesel will have to be ULS. By 2010 ALL diesel will be ULS. Since sulphur is a lubricant how will that effect the wear on the older engines?
 
   / Diesel fuel for a 2006 tractor #6  
Yes Marcussen the pumps will be marked 500 PPM for High sulfer ( farm fuel, off-road - red dyed fuel ) until used up. Actually this all starts in July 06 for the phase in period. The thing to be concerned with is lubrication. The old high sulfur fuels had better lubricating properties because of high ash which contains or I should say traps sulfur compounds. Now, the PhD boys will say I'm full of it ( sulfur in an organic form ) but over thirty years of pulling diesel engines down for rebuilds, the gray looking matter trapped in valleys under the black soot compounds is ash and it's full of sulfur. Here's the EPA rub, these so called pollutants actually lubricated your injectors, HP injection pumps and kept the valve train wear to 1,000,000 mile rebuilds. Now, I'm not going to say your injectors are going a million miles but your valve train would on these high sulfur-ash ladent fuels because of the lubricating properties. The bottom line is whether you chose green dyed taxed fuel or red dyed non-taxed diesel for your tractor, the ULSD will require additives for lubrication until the manufactures run out of the old components requiring sulfur and ash to survive reality and our over populated planet. Hey what do I care, I'm a Jedi....
 
   / Diesel fuel for a 2006 tractor #7  
Ob1kubota said:
Yes Marcussen the pumps will be marked 500 PPM for High sulfer ( farm fuel, off-road - red dyed fuel ) until used up. .
Actually, 500 ppm fuel is known as low sulphur diesel (LSD or S500). Don't confuse it with high sulphur diesel (HSD or S5000) which is typically used for marine and locomotive use. The new fuel has 15 ppm or sulphur and is known as ULSD or S15.

BTW, If you live in California all you can get is ULSD and the pumps will NOT be marked.

There are several threads in the Fuel and Lubrication forum that have discussed the new fuel in detail and the changeover dates.
 
   / Diesel fuel for a 2006 tractor #8  
Marcussen said:
The off road diesel is 40 cents a gallon cheaper but the pump is labeled high sulphur. Is there any problems putting the high sulphur diesel into my new Kubota. I know in a few months the high sulphur will not be alowed for off road use any more. I heard 2006 diesel engine are designed for low or ultra low sulphur.

Thanks!:confused:

High sulfur=more frequent engine oil changes. Buy the cheap stuff and enjoy the savings.
Bob
 
   / Diesel fuel for a 2006 tractor #9  
Guys I want to add one more thought here on the new fuel and the "lubricity" that will be needed for both indirect and direct injections systems. On the new 2007 EPA compliant diesels (high pressure systems up to 30,000 psi) the tolerance of these injectors will be in the .00001 range for radial clearance. My point here is additives that are alcohol based that are designed to dispurse water and actually mix it and burn it with the petroleum will destroy these systems. Simply put the High Pressure Common Rail, HUEI and MUEI fuel systems, unit injectors, and the older conventional rotary distributor and the inline pumps will all be protected from 'wear scar' with lubricity compounds laced with Naphthalene and Ethyl benzene with 1,2,4- Trimethylbenzene compounds rather than the alcohol based additives. Why, because these compounds drive the water in diesel to the bottom of your storage tanks and into water/fuel separator filter systems saving your injection components. The only current additive I know of that has these compounds is Stanadyne. If anybody out there knows of a better, cheaper additive please post it for all of us to review. I know Ford's additive marketed under the FOMOCO label is cheaper than Stanadyne and works great in the 6.0 Liter ( VT365 Navistar ) new generation diesels with these close tolerances.
 
   / Diesel fuel for a 2006 tractor #10  
Hardly any ag diesel (red dye) has PPM > 500. Not practical to put >500 in the normal pipeline since most fuel is used for on highway. They just add the dye at the tank farm before it gets transported out to the dealers.

Most of the complications regarding lubricity were realized in fuel pumps built prior to the mid 90's. That being said, I still add a reputable lubricity such as Power Service or Howes. Doesn't hurt to add it and it also raises the cetane to enable better combustion.

Cliff
 

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