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Had to put off road fuel in my truck

78K views 24 replies 19 participants last post by  bugman 
#1 ·
Well title says it all, my truck was low on fuel today on our jobsite, had 8 miles left on the miles to empty. I put 5 gallons of off road fuel in just so I could make it to a fuel station. Some guys were saying its ok that its just dyed fuel and others say its unfiltered and its bad for my truck. I had to put fuel in it and thats all that was available. Is it really that bad for my truck?
 
#4 ·
No one is being clear about the wallet statement. The thing is that if you're caught running off-road diesel fuel, you will be VERY HEAVILY fined. Off-road fuel is the same as on-road fuel (as long as you're sure it's ULSD); the exception is the dye. Off-road fuel isn't taxed like road fuel is, hence the dye and hence why you'd be fined if you're caught.

I don't know about our trucks, but I know on my buddy's VW TDI, there's a portion on his fuel lines that is clear, and allows for inspection to see whether offroad fuel was used.

Our government wants its cut of taxes... so just be careful.
 
#5 ·
My buddy put half of a tank of 500ppm offroad diesel in his truck and crapped out his dpf. His check engine light came on before he got 100 yards away. He drove it straight to the dealership and shelled out $2k for a new DPF.
 
#6 ·
Dyed off-road fuel is the exact same thing as clear on-road fuel. Your not the first person to do this as I've done it myself a few times along with everyone else I work with. As mentioned above, you will be very heavily fined/taxed if caught espically if your a business. They will go back and tax you for every gallon of dyed fuel you've bought within that year... even if you only ran 1 gallon of dyed through an on-road engine. Your DPF is also fine as it does nothing different than on-road fuel does to it.
 
#10 ·
What I was saying was 500ppm LSD vs. 15ppm ULSD. Much of the offroad diesel is still 500ppm. You don't want to put that in a truck with a DPF, trust me.
 
#7 ·
It's only a $1000. a gallon fine you could say you put transmission fluid in it as injector lube maybe they will believe you or not.
 
#12 ·
ALL DIESEL fuel either on or OFF had to be Ultra Low Sulfur..15ppm by June of 2010. There is no more 500ppm unless its sitting in tanks. 500ppm sulfur fuel should not be used in a DPF equipped vehicle...but it will run more than 100 yards.
 
#13 ·
I was exaggerating about the 100yds... Sorry. I still get 500 ppm offroad every week at my business. 2000 gallons of it. At least that is what the ticket says. I live in rural NM though.
 
#14 ·
Change fuel filters before going to the dealer. It will color them purple. They will know. And by law, need to call proper authorities. So I've heard............. :nono:
 
#15 ·
So when I am running Purple (local colour for offroad/farm fuel) diesel through one of our trucks when using it off of the highway on a jobsite or the farm you think a dealer is going to call the local authorities on me if I bring said truck in for a filter change? :lol:
 
#17 ·
Haha. I doubt they actually would... but it's possible.
One of these days I could see them adding an additive in off-road fuel that makes the exhaust smoke red or purple, then it would be really hard to get away with it.
 
#18 · (Edited by Moderator)
I work for a big excavating company. My brother is a mechanic there. Ask him how many times they have had to dredge the tank on a piece of equipment to get the %(^* out of the tank! I think those vendors that sell road-taxed fuel are more diligent about filtering it. Maybe our off-road diesel vendor is just careless. Either way- no red fuel for my truck.
 
#24 ·
What I know is that dyed fuel doesn't receive the TLC the on road fuel does, there is more dirt, water and algae, the reason is storage and clean outs and fuel companies that buy dirty fuel from clean outs they give it a stage 1 filtering which isn't enough and think it will be ok for off road heavy equipment so when you run it in on road systems you may be running a risk, there is not more carbon, it is the same as on Road fuel, it's just mishandled and recklessly care for.
 
#22 ·
#23 ·
Iv ran hundreds of gallons of red 500ppm diesel in my 7.3. This was when i farmed and got paid partly in fuel from the farmer, truck loved it, rolled the coal out like none other. Smelled diff too. I wouldn't run LSD in any ford over 2003 b/c of the soot build up on EGR valves and turbo vanes, emissions. Thats why i love my 7.3
 
#25 ·
This is a ll year old thread.

Off road fuel is exactly the same as on road except it has the red dye in it. It may be dirtier due to the source that is comes from such as a tank mounted on a truck, but if it is filtered before being pumped into a vehicle it should be no dirtier than any other diesel fuel.
 
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