Ultra Low Sulfur Fuel - Cold Weather Issue?

[rv_safetyman]

Yesterday the Wall Street Journal had an article on some major school bus problems in Indiana.  This comes on the heels of a conversation with a relative in Iowa where they had a huge problem with both large and small truck diesels.  In fact, his son lost all of the injectors in his diesel (small) truck due to starving for fuel and galling.

In the Iowa incident we laid it off to B10 fuel not getting out of the supply system.  Now with the WSJ article, I am beginning to wonder if there is a major cold weather problem with the new low sulfur fuel.

We hit some very cold weather on our last trip and did not have a problem.  However, the Eagle tank is somewhat shielded between the bogey wheels and exposed to some reasonable bay temperatures due to the Aqua Hot boiler giving off heat.

I am trying to post a PDF of the WSJ article since you must have a subscription to view the article on line.

[niles500]

Jim - Low Sulpher Diesel has been out for quite some time - I believe your refering to ULSD which recently was introduced - Vehicles NOT DESIGNED to run on ULSD are NOT REQUIRED to use it - HTH

[belfert]

Nope, vehicles that don't have 2007 engines are not required to use ULSD, but where are you going to find LSD fuel for long?  A few places might have LSD yet, but not for long.

My VW TDI has sat outside in temps as low as -15F in the past few weeks and it starts and runs fine as long as plugged in.
the fuel filter was last changed 10 to 15K miles ago.
Brian Elfert

[gumpy]

Well, I don't know much about this issue, but I find it very interesting that in my last two oil analyses, my sulfation reading spiked. The first 4 changes (2002-2005) had readings of 1, the next one afte the AK trip showed 4, and the last two (2006-2007) spiked to 17. 

The explaination of the sulfation reading is: "Sulpher products caused by combustion of diesel fuel which contains sulfur. Sulfur products cause corosion and may lead to piston ring sticking. Reported in terms of absorbance X 100 (The maximum normally allowed is 34)."

[rv_safetyman]

Niles, my error.  I did mean ultra low sulfur.  The new fuel has been in CO since early August.  I remember the conversion in CO.  There was a severe shortage and truckers were limited to 50 gallons for a few days. 

Brian mentioned that low sulfur diesel might be hard to find.  As it turns out the complete conversion is not mandated to be completed until 2010.  As a result, low sulfur will be available in parts of the country and not others.

I recall all of the anticipated problems with the conversion to low sulfur diesel (not ULSD) several years ago.  Everyone predicted that almost all fuel pumps would fail quickly due to poor lubrication (sulfur is the lubricant).  Of course, not much happened and that conversion went pretty smoothly.

When all of the hue and cry started with this latest conversion I was not concerned.  The biggest issue was supposed to be, again, lubrication.  The new formula was said to have some alternative chemical to provide needed lubrication.

It just kind of freaked me out that in two days there were two significant incidents that might involve the new fuel. 

Tonight I did some googling and find that there can be issues with ULSD and cold weather.  One source said the following:

"The refining process used to attain the sulfur ratio of ULSD affects the naturally occurring paraffins (wax) inherent in diesel fuel in such a way that can cause the fuel to gel more readily in cold temperatures. "

A couple of interesting websites are listed below:

http://www.fleet-central.com/gf/t_inside.cfm?action=news_pick&storyID=26395

http://www.13wham.com/mostpopular/story.aspx?content_id=378aa919-2d3b-47c7-9ecc-7c34884f48df

Looks like parts of the country could have some cold weather gelling issues.

[NJT 5573]

Gear oil is high sulpher. Does anyone know why I can't run a quart to 100 gallons of fuel until this thing shakes out?

[NJT 5573]

Jim. That is almost funny! (1)EPA states there is nothing wrong w/the fuel. It just needs some "special additives". (2) Some refineries may not have used the proper "mix of additives". (3) If you want the additives, so you have "GOOD ULSD" its an extra $.37 per gallon after you buy the fuel.

[belfert]

Folks who work at refineries are reporting that their refinery is only making ULSD because they don't have the resources to make both.  80% minimum of all diesel is to be ULSD so where are you going to find that other 20% easily?

Flying J seems to be one of the only truck stop chains that still is supplying LSD in a big way.  For me personally, I'm not going to worry too much about using ULSD.  If I go to a Flying J that still has LSD I'll probably buy it, but I doubt I'll find LSD elsewhere.

Brian Elfert