Funky Smelling Diesel

[HawkinsHollow]

I am relatively new to diesel engines, only owning my tractor since April then having minor exposure to diesel fuel before that. But I know what diesel smells like. Here is my issue. I bought a diesel "gas" can at the flea market a couple months ago. It was clean and I rinsed it with a little diesel before using it. I use this can to transport diesel from my local gas station to my tractor. Last couple of times I bought diesel I noticed a funky, for a lack of a better word, smell in the diesel fuel. By funky I mean rancid smelling, not sure exactly how to describe it but like dirty nasty feet or something. It overpowers the actual diesel smell. Has anyone experienced this before? I am not super worried about it as I have been burning through 4 or 5 gallons a day the last week or so as I am doing some pretty extensive dirt work. As I am typing this I am thinking of was to answer my own questions like getting diesel from another station, adding some sort of treatment, etc. I was just wondering if anyone had experienced this before, what it is and if it is an issue. Thanks for sharing your vast knowledge with us newbies.

 

[BRMyers]

Are you talking about a "rotten egg' type smell?

Also, are you buying regular diesel or ULS Diesel?

If you are buying regular diesel it can have a concentration of Sulfur (H2S) in it that gives it a rotten egg smell.

 

[3930dave]

Modern (ULSD) diesel is more prone to growing bacteria. If at all possible, buy fuel at a high volume truck stop - I drive past several other small stations, to get to the truck stop I buy at - they usually get at least one delivery a day. At USA/Canadian retail today, it is likely that you are buying ULSD.

Is water accumulating quickly in your separator ? A water separating device like Mr Funnel may help. Water leads to bugs growing, and that can clog a fuel filter quickly.

Good practice in general, but esp. with questionable fuel, find a deal on filters, if you have no spares on the shelf now.

Best choice is better fuel, but if you are choice limited, a biocide may be needed. Get some from an established Ag or Fuel dealer; make sure you read the Safety Warnings/Safe Handling info - it's not something you want to splash about.

Rgds, D.

 

[ruffdog]

Maybe the flea market fuel jug had a bad case of foot fungus that even a doctor couldn't cure. Good new jugs can be had for $10. Fuel biocide should be used to clear up the fungus problem before the problem is incurable.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

This is ULS.

It is not really a rotten egg smell, although there are hints of rotten egg.

I doubt the station I get it at is super high volume by any means. My next step is to get some at a high volume truck stop along the interstate and see if that changes things.

No water in the accumulator at all in 42 hours.

Again not super alarmed as I have been burning through it pretty quick. Thinking about adding a biocide just to be on the safe side so it doesn't turn into a problem, you know, get rid of any potential contamination .

Where can you get a 6 gallon fuel container for $10? This is a 6 gallon fuel jug WITHOUT one of those crazy nozzles like they put on them now, I rather like my $5 flea market fuel jug. Let's just hope it's not giving my something nasty. I'm sure there is a cream for that anyways. :thumbsup:

 

[RjCorazza]

My money is on old dried up sludge in the flea market can being slowly cleaned out by the fresh diesel.

 

[Fallon]

This is ULS.

It is not really a rotten egg smell, although there are hints of rotten egg.

I doubt the station I get it at is super high volume by any means. My next step is to get some at a high volume truck stop along the interstate and see if that changes things.

No water in the accumulator at all in 42 hours.

Again not super alarmed as I have been burning through it pretty quick. Thinking about adding a biocide just to be on the safe side so it doesn't turn into a problem, you know, get rid of any potential contamination .

Where can you get a 6 gallon fuel container for $10? This is a 6 gallon fuel jug WITHOUT one of those crazy nozzles like they put on them now, I rather like my $5 flea market fuel jug. Let's just hope it's not giving my something nasty. I'm sure there is a cream for that anyways.

EZ-POUR Replacement Spout - Water Jug Or Gas Can Spout - Update Your Old Can https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CYNDNM8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_YCUhDbS6T1JEB or you can find similar in most farm stores.

They are only for old cans & not new ones that have the exact same openings & thread sizes on them. They even come with the vent on the back & tell you what size drill bit you need to make them fit. But they are only for the old cans, not the new no-spill but spill everywhere cans. Nuge nuge, wink wink.

 

[PILOON]

I find that all those ribbed filler tubes simply don't stand up to the cold as they fail rapidly.
Cold make the plastic tubes brittle.

I found small, cheap ($10.00 ish) 12 volt impeller pumps that fit into most 5 gal jugs and mine has seen service for 3 years with no problems.
Better yet is the impeller pumps have very lose tolerances so that the fuel in the hose simply drains back so no spills occur.
In that the small DC motor is actually immersed in fuel the caution is to never use for gasoline.
For my filler tubing I use radiator coolant 5/8 hose as it is designed for oily environments.


Like it so much I have a 2nd pump as standby 'just in case' as I refuse to hoist 5 gals onto my hood and spill fuel everywhere as I attempt to aim for the filler hole. (and then to realize the ribbed section is split)
(Also I am in that 'senior' category that no longer enjoys hoisting 5 gals at arms length.)

Also have retired my rubber gloves that were earmarked for fuelling operations.

 

[FarmLife4]

Wait! Where in the lower 48 can you buy regular diesel? Are you referring to low sulfer #2? The stuff before ULSD?

 

[FarmLife4]

I would like to add when considering where to buy diesel fuel keep in mind that high volume retail locations have by far less contamination when it comes to diesel fuel being loaded onto a tank truck.
The reason is that high volume retailers usually get a full or at least half of a load of diesel delivered in one delivery.
A small mom and pop retailer could get as little as 500 to 800 gallons per delivery. Why this is critical is that not many distributors dedicate a truck to haul one flavor of fuel. This is usually only practised in the aviation end of fuel deliveries, for obvious reason.
So, if you have a truck driver loading 500 gallons of diesel fuel for sal's corner station that previously delivered 800 gallons of gasoline to bettys stop n shop there is undoubtedly residual gasoling left in that compartment. This could be mere drops or it literally could be a few gallons or more. Ive seen it happen.
So if you have the same residuals left over but the driver loads say 2500 gallons on top of it the contamination is far less.
Just something to consider.
Keep in mind thag states with an 80k pound weight limits this would be about 7500 gallons of diesel fuel. For heavy haul states the diesel load would be somewhere in the 9k to 10k gallon range. One can easily deduce why buying from high volume retailers is a much better bet especially when trying to diagnose engine/fuel issues.