Engine tinkerers, beware

[JRTJH]

I had a 93 F250 7.3l Navistar diesel. You couldn't start it in the garage with the garage door closed and it was the same with out 99 Navistar diesel, only it had a turbo. Guaranteed black stench on everything within 60 seconds. Loud, dirty, always had a black carbon streak on the curb side of our Holiday Rambler and often after a long hard pull, we could smell the diesel stench inside the trailer at every rest stop/overnight campsite.

Fast forward to today, we tow with a 2015 F250 6.7l Ford diesel. Starting it in the garage is almost the same as starting the DW's Escape. No smoke, no diesel clatter, garage door open or closed, no black cloud and no diesel stench. I have not yet (45,000 miles) had any "black diesel streak" on the trailer, no diesel stench in either the truck or the trailer. I will say, however, that it's not uncommon to find dirty diesel pump nozzles and oily dirt around them, so I usually put on a rubber exam glove to refuel, watch where I step and toss the glove when I'm done.

As for DEF, I buy mine at WalMart, 2.5 gallon containers and in 45,000 miles have used maybe 15 containers (around 37.5 gallons of DEF). That equates to around 1 gallon every 1200 miles. At $4 a gallon ($10 for the 2.5 gallon container) that comes out to around $0.003 per mile (for those not familiar with decimals, that's about 3/10 of a penny per mile. For me, a cheap price not to have black soot on everything in the garage and to be able to eat lunch at a rest stop without smelling diesel exhaust inside the trailer. YMMV