Cheap diesel-does this sound right to you?

[makemineatwostroke]

Sean, there is a tax for Ameican truckers in Mexico I don't know if there is one for the Mexican truckers or not but I know for a fact entering Texas from Mexico you pay taxes on anything over 120 gals in a truck

[luvrbus]

Guys, all I know is that I have over 200 gals of red fuel in my bus from Mexico with a receipt stating the date,mileage and cost and was told by the guy at Pemex that I need to have it because of the red fuel

[makemineatwostroke]

Clifford; you bought the ULSD fuel they have 2 grades of fuel the ULSD is dyed red and it all comes from the US 67 million gals so far this year  have a great day

[Sean]

Sean, there is a tax for Ameican truckers in Mexico I don't know if there is one for the Mexican truckers or not but I know for a fact entering Texas from Mexico you pay taxes on anything over 120 gals in a truck

The cross-border commercial regs, in both directions, are byzantine, to say the least.  I make no pretense to understanding all of them, as I do not drive commercially.  Just to be clear, my earlier comments (regarding in-tank fuel within the "personal" exemption) were meant to include only private, non-commercial use, which would include most of us here on this board.

... the ULSD is dyed red and it all comes from the US 67 million gals so far this year ...

OK, now this makes sense, and is consistent with what I wrote in my earlier post about US fuel sent to Mexico.

Do you happen to know if there is a deliberate intent, in Mexico, to have ULSD be dyed (just to keep it from being confused with LSD), or is this merely the consequence of the ULSD being sent from the US, whereas the (much more common) normal LSD fuel is refined domestically?

I know that ULSD availability in Mexico has been very thin outside of the BC border zone, where they have been trying to make it available to facilitate cross-border trips from newer US trucks.  We've never taken on any ULSD in Mexico, because we tend to avoid the border zone whenever possible, and we prefer regular LSD for our two-stroke anyway.

-Sean
http://ourodyssey.blogspot.com

[belfert]

Isn't a consequence of using LSD with the new CJ-4 oil that oil must be changed about twice as often?

I haven't seen LSD locally since shortly after the changeover, but I have had the opportunity to still get LSD at some Flying J truck stops.  I choose to buy ULSD of the oil issue and because of the hassle of using the truck lanes.  The RV pumps at Flying J are pay at pump and no credit card surcharge.  My credit card still gives me 5% cash back at any gas station.  It is worth it to me to spend an extra 10 minutes fueling at the slower pumps.

[luvrbus]

Thank you Cole and Sean I did not know about 2 different types of fuel next time I will buy the other for my 8V92

[Lin]

These last posts bring me back to a question I had a while ago.  I mentioned that I seemed to be getting more power out of my 8v71 and wondered if different fuel could make the difference.  The first fuel was purchased in the truck lane at a Pilot.  The refill that seemed to give the improvement was from a local gas station.  Is the fuel at the truck lanes usually LSD, or is it something that you would need to look for?  Would they have a lane of it that I could have stopped at unknowingly? 

[Sean]

Thank you Cole and Sean I did not know about 2 different types of fuel next time I will buy the other for my 8V92

In Mexico, my guess is that any given Pemex will have one or the other, but not both.  Generally, they have only one diesel storage tank per station.  So to find regular (LSD) diesel, you might have to move away from the border zone, or possible even out of Baja (Fonatur is making a big push to have ULSD throughout Baja, as the lack of it is impacting RV tourism -- many folks afraid to run their newer diesels on higher-sulfur fuel).

Here in the US, availability of LSD varies by state, brand, and station.  In California, for example, it is flat illegal to sell anything else, so all road diesel there is ULSD.  Eventually, it will be illegal in the rest of the US, too.  At the moment, however, it is still legal in many states.  Whether a given station sells it usually depends on whether or not they have more than one storage tank, with separate dispenser plumbing.  Many Flying-J stations, for example, offer a choice -- look on the canopy above the truck lanes to see which lane is which.

We don't worry too much about getting a tankfull of ULSD; it's impossible to avoid in many places, and I have great faith in the chemical engineering that's been done to deal with the potential side-effects.  However, when we have the choice, we go for the higher-sulfur option, because (1) it's usually cheaper, when there is a price difference, (2) the long-term effects of the process to remove the sulfur, which lowers the lubricity of the fuel (which then gets a special additive package to restore the lubricity) are not yet fully known, and (3) there is a potential fuel-mileage reduction (which we, as yet, have not been able to confirm personally) when using the ULSD blend.

-Sean
http://ourodyssey.blogspot.com