California Diesel

[Desert185]

I spent a week in KA with the wifey at BIL's property doing various chores. Normally, I fuel for a roundtrip back to NV, but I had to take a 5 gallon sip of diesel from a Valero in Cameron Park before heading home. This resulted in a total of about 15 gallons to get me home towing a 16' enclosed utility trailer.

I noticed an increase in exhaust smoke after fueling that continued until I was able to fill the tank in NV the following day. With the filled tank, the smoke stopped and the Cummins appeared to run smoother after the fill up. Has anyone else experienced this?

I know the wife's Volvo mileage reduces almost 2 MPG when running KA gas compared to NV gas, but I didn't think diesel would be any different.

At least the gas and diesel in KA costs more...

[xcntrk]

Wow first I've heard of this, but it wouldn't surprise me if CA diesel fuel was made from used cooking oil, flower pedals, and liberal tears )

[Bolo4u]

Originally Posted by xcntrk

Wow first I've heard of this, but it wouldn't surprise me if CA diesel fuel was made from used cooking oil, flower pedals, and liberal tears )

The liberal tears are reserved exclusively to be used as DEF, at least in the newer trucks...


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[chuckster57]

Could be any number of things. Switch from winter to summer blend, bad tank at that store...my truck has never smoked except when it was forced to drink 20% bio in Albuquerque in '09.

[bsmith0404]

Don't know, I've made several runs through Sacramento down through Pomona and back into NM. Fueled up in NV and then again in NM. Not buying fuel in CA was the advantage and the main reason for an auxiliary tank.

[msubobcats]

Bet you can't wait until the at least $0.20 tax increase goes through.

[Barbell]

We put an aux tank on so we can get through Texas w/o having to buy fuel. Have to cut thru the Panhandle and down thru Dallas tho because El Paso to Shreveport is too far even for our 70+ gal capacity. Texas fuel cuts mileage by 1.5 to 2 mpg. Truckers say its because they put too much water in the fuel there.

[Ddubya]

I live in Texas and have no problem with mileage. I only use fuel from major suppliers. I have found that stations such as Walmart have fuel that effects mileage and some stations only sell 20% bio-deisel. Just watch what and where you purchase. Cheaper price may not be the best in the long run.

[JRTJH]

Ddubya,

The problem I faced while in Texas the last several times is that NONE of the stations are clearly marked. For someone who lives in the area, it's a matter of "personal experience" both self and people you know. For someone passing through, it's a "one time pig in a poke" type choice.

If the stations would CLEARLY mark what's in their diesel, it would help tremendously, but from what I've seen, if you can find the amount of "bio" in the diesel, it's on the pump, on some small sticker advertising that the pump was inspected by the Texas Agriculture department and pumps the correct amount of diesel per the meter reading. Certainly, by the time a "passer through" drives around reading pumps, it's, at the very lease, a matter of being completely frustrated trying to find diesel with "little or no bio" in the mix.

So, even though I don't have a 50 gallon+ fuel tank, every time I drive through parts of Texas I wish I had a 100 gallon tank. And, to be fair, it's not just Texas, there are several states that have started treating diesel fuel as a "cash cow": by adding "junk" to the fuel just like they add ethanol to the unleaded.

I'm not a "do it every day" kind of RV owner, and so far, I haven't found any way (other than just being lucky) to know what quality diesel you'll find in the next town or for that matter, at the next station.....

OK, I'll get off the soap box now.......

[Ddubya]

I see stickers at all brands of stations with 20% bio. I know that most major stations have additives that help their brand but some like Walmart and Circle K do not seem to have additives. I try to find major stations near the Walmarts that lower their prices to compete that do not have 20% bio.

[SkiSmuggs]

Interesting. CA and TX both mandate higher cetane levels and I've heard folks report BETTER fuel mileage with CA diesel. I have no knowledge of the bio content in either state, but I have a friend in TX who gets much lower fuel mileage in both his F350 and F150 than I do with an identical drive train in Vermont where cetane is only 40 as is most of the country. Europe mandates 51 and above for better mileage and less soot.

[Ddubya]

I found this on Truck Trend. For the complete article.

http://www.trucktrend.com/how-to/exp...ts-your-truck/

Think of the CN for diesel as one would for the octane rating of gasoline—only opposite in meaning. That’s because the higher the octane rating of gasoline, the slower it ignites, which stops detonation, or pinging. A high CN means the fuel ignites faster, producing a longer, cleaner fuel burn than diesel with a lower CN.
A cleaner diesel fuel burn means lower emissions. That’s why the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the government’s air-quality police, set a minimum CN of 40 across the country, with the final CN left up to individual states’ EPA regulations. For example, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) currently mandates a minimum 53 CN, while Texas (TxLED) set its highway diesel CN lower, at a minimum of 48.
Diesel Is Diesel
Other U.S.-refined, non-biodiesel fuel can vary in CN from 40 to 60, and those numbers fluctuate depending on a lot of variables, from the initial refining process to the time it flows out of the nozzle and into our truck’s tank.
One reason for this is the comingling of fuels that do not have the same CN. For example, refined diesel is sometimes mixed in the pipeline that runs to the distribution center or in the massive holding tanks where it was stored before it was trucked to a filling station, with higher- or lower-rated fuel. Comingling can also occur when the new diesel is added to the fuel station’s underground tanks, and its CN changes when it mixes with the remaining fuel in your truck’s tank.
The bad part about such cross-mixing with varying cetane numbers is there’s no regulation that requires the actual CN for fuel coming out of the nozzle to be posted, as is done with gasoline. All you know for sure is it’s at least the “minimum” as required by the EPA for your area. Hence, the adage that “diesel is diesel.”
“It’s a crapshoot as to what CN [rating] you are pumping into your truck,” says Jeff Kramer, VP of Sales in the Western U.S. for Power Service Products, a major supplier of diesel fuel additives. “If you live outside of California or Texas, one day you could be filling up with 40 CN, the next week it could be 50 CN from the same pump.”

[Desert185]

Good article. I've been using Diesel Kleene in every other tank, primarily for increased lubricity.

[chuckster57]

Diesel Kleen in every tank since I bought the truck.

[Cyberian]

I had no issues running WalMart (Murphy) #2 in central TX for better than 6 months in my '03 CTD. ONE fill-up of Shell #2 in Pasadena CA, and it was a genuinely unhappy Cummins. I usually try to avoid ARCO/ CITGO/ 7-Yo! cheapo fuels because of lack of additives. First time I've seen this in a big brand diesel.

Back in CA now (once I fly back from FL. A long story-) and the truck has been fairly happy if I stick to Exxon/Mobil #2.

Too bad I didn't tow here, but a jobsite in Beverly Hills is just not conducive to RVing.

[Bolo4u]

Originally Posted by Cyberian

I had no issues running WalMart (Murphy) #2 in central TX for better than 6 months in my '03 CTD. ONE fill-up of Shell #2 in Pasadena CA, and it was a genuinely unhappy Cummins. I usually try to avoid ARCO/ CITGO/ 7-Yo! cheapo fuels because of lack of additives. First time I've seen this in a big brand diesel.

Back in CA now (once I fly back from FL. A long story-) and the truck has been fairly happy if I stick to Exxon/Mobil #2.

Too bad I didn't tow here, but a jobsite in Beverly Hills is just not conducive to RVing.

You could have pulled a Cousin Eddie (Christmas Vacation) and set-up camp on the front lawn of some celebrity who didn't have a wall around their palace?

[bobbecky]

A cousin with his older GMC Duramax had told me that he filled up with B20 diesel several years ago, and it took him a week to get the truck running right, due to the biodiesel. The older engines were not designed to work with the B20. Our rig, being a 2012 and built to work with up to 20% biodiesel, thrives on it. No smoke and no difference in power or mileage. I've even heard that the extra lubricity of the B20 actually helps lube the injectors and other parts of the engine.

[Desert185]

Originally Posted by bobbecky

A cousin with his older GMC Duramax had told me that he filled up with B20 diesel several years ago, and it took him a week to get the truck running right, due to the biodiesel. The older engines were not designed to work with the B20. Our rig, being a 2012 and built to work with up to 20% biodiesel, thrives on it. No smoke and no difference in power or mileage. I've even heard that the extra lubricity of the B20 actually helps lube the injectors and other parts of the engine.

B20 may have been the case with my issue, but the Valero pump didn't indicate that the fuel was B20. With just adding five gallons to the approx 10 gals onboard, I didn't check mileage (and I'm glad I didn't add anymore). At least it was $.30/gal more than in NV, and scheduled by Gov Moonbeam and his crew to increase diesel fuel tax by $.20/gal later in the year.

I understand that B20 results in a reduction in mileage. Has that been your experience? I know you said no mileage reduction, but I had to ask anyway. I'm getting a consistent 21 MPG with #2 diesel. Biodiesel is hard to find in my area, and I am glad for that. Everything is the federally mandated ULSD.

[CaptnJohn]

Originally Posted by Desert185

B20 may have been the case with my issue, but the Valero pump didn't indicate that the fuel was B20. With just adding five gallons to the approx 10 gals onboard, I didn't check mileage (and I'm glad I didn't add anymore). At least it was $.30/gal more than in NV, and scheduled by Gov Moonbeam and his crew to increase diesel fuel tax by $.20/gal later in the year.

I understand that B20 results in a reduction in mileage. Has that been your experience? I know you said no mileage reduction, but I had to ask anyway. I'm getting a consistent 21 MPG with #2 diesel. Biodiesel is hard to find in my area, and I am glad for that. Everything is the federally mandated ULSD.

I do not find any difference in the way the truck handles or performs with B20. It is avoided when at all possible and yes, my mileage seems to drop by 2 mph.

[jsmith948]

Originally Posted by CaptnJohn

I do not find any difference in the way the truck handles or performs with B20. It is avoided when at all possible and yes, my mileage seems to drop by 2 mph.

I have read that the Cetane # is actually higher on B20 fuel. I haven't seen/felt any difference in performance. On our last trip, filled up with B20 at Love's in Tehachipi and actually got better mileage. However, terrain and wind conditions were probably a factor.