Just throwing this out there. All diesel fuel on and off road is now Ultra low Sulfur fuel. There were a couple of stations that still had low sulfur fuel until recently, but no more
What this means for older diesel engines that relied on fuel for lubrication in the injection pump is a “probable” slow death, much quicker if one is ran out of fuel. I’ve seen my share of failures over the last 2 years and most have come after someone ran a unit out of fuel. I would recommend using some sort of diesel fuel additive on any older diesels running an injection pump. Stanadyne, Lucaus, and few other companies make a good product.
If you need any testimony call Superior Diesel in Charleston Or Testmasters in Savannah. If they will admit to all the fuel related failures is a question but I would imagine they would back this up. Both have repaired several pumps for me.
Our EPA hard at work. This Tier 4 stuff is really a pain.
The new “Ultra Low Sulfur Deisel” and it’s related problems were the primary reason I got rid of my Cummins. Too expensive to repair if you are only using it for pleasure driving and not earning a living with it. The EPA “knows” what’s best for us. Funny part is, that the black smoke that the “tree huggers” were complaining about, is soot and is a solid. Not a gas that would “tait” the atmosphere. I tried to get an EPA official to explain to me how adding a Deisel Particulate Filter (DPF) to an engine and requiring a higher fuel burn and more frequent oil changes was beneficial to the environment. He looked at me like I was from Mars. Lol. Fricken maroon!
“There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter.”
Ernest Hemingway
And what’s really funny about doing away with the “black smoke” is on the lower levels of tier four engines during a re-gen they actually inject more fuel and ignite it in the exhaust to burn off the soot in the DPF increasing fuel consumption.
When you can buy aftermarket kits to get rid of EPA mandated equipment and gain horse power and fuel economy, something is wrong in the system.
Fred 67 is correct, the issue with using ULSD in older diesels is lubricity. Personally I would recommend Fleetguard products. If using a good lubricity enhancer with every fill up you will not have any issues with ULSD. Cummins/Fleetguard also make fuel filters available that have the lubricity additive in the filter so you never need to add it. They are good enough to allow the military to use light distillates like JP-5 in all types of injection systems.
And what’s really funny about doing away with the “black smoke” is on the lower levels of tier four engines during a re-gen they actually inject more fuel and ignite it in the exhaust to burn off the soot in the DPF increasing fuel consumption.
When you can buy aftermarket kits to get rid of EPA mandated equipment and gain horse power and fuel economy, something is wrong in the system.
The teir one engines do the same thing. My buddy has a 5.9 Cummins and gets 16-18 mpg in a Ram 2500 4x4. I had the 6.7 Cummins in a Ram 2500 4x4 and got 13-16 mpg due to the motor dumping fuel to increase the exhaust temp in order burn the ash in the DPF. When I moved to Charleston in 2008, my check engine light kept coming on in my Ram 2500. The mechanic at Dodge said I needed to get the engine rpm’s up and keep them up in order to burn the ash in the DPF. I asked how I was supposed to do that in traffic. He suggested that I drive 60 miles on the interstate every couple of days to burn the ash out of the DPF. For no other reason than to burn the ash out of the DPF. And this needless trip was to protect the environment? Really??? WTH?
“There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter.”
Ernest Hemingway
Yep, unless your fueling up out of country. The Cat’s fuel system is not as bad as those running Cummins from what I’ve seen. The biggest issues are usually when someone runs a unit out of fuel which is something most boat owners never do ( or at least those that have the money that need diesels to power a boat:smiley:). IMO.
Texasred is right, Fleetguard filters are by far a superior filter, especially the stratapore line.
Fuel lubricity is easily resolved with 2 stroke oil. Mix it 50 or 100-1 and run it. Some people I know run ATF but it can leave deposits since its not designed to be burned.
07-2010 The DPF regeneration needs a constant temperature above 500* for the catalyst to work. Once the catalyst is hot enough, diesel fuel is injected and a chemical reaction happens causing the exhaust temperature to rise above 950* converting the soot into ash. There is never an ignition in the exhaust. There is no oxygen left after engine combustion to start a fire. It just kinda smolders.
2010 and up you now add SCR (selective catalyst reduction) to the mix. The SCR reduces the NOx gas emissions from over 500ppm to less than 25. It does this by a chemical conversion with another catalyst and urea injection. This particular catalyst cannot tolerate soot, so the DPF has to be working correctly for the SCR to work.
SCR is not the evil monkey everyone thinks it is. Starting in 04 the EPA mandated NOx reduction and it was done with EGR(exhaust gas recirculation)and reduced injection pressure. EGR is bad in many ways for engines. The SCR system is so efficient that the EGR system is used less than 10% of what it was before. The injection pressures are up over 30k psi too. Both of these increase efficiency and power. An 04 VED12 averages 4.5-5 MPG but the new version is exceeding 7 MPG making more power with the SCR system.
These systems are very complicated and are really in their infancy. This is what I do every day. I enjoy the challenge of diagnosing these sophisticated systems. You guys talk about catching fish all day, something I cant seem to do. Finally someone pops up a subject I know about.
. There is never an ignition in the exhaust. There is no oxygen left after engine combustion to start a fire. It just kinda smolders.
Some of the lower level tier 4 do have a magneto with spark plug and do ignite the fuel with temps @ 1800-1900* This was the biggest concern for off road equipment, but so far so good! Hottest we’ve seen around the DPF has been 480* it’s insulated pretty well. I’m still curious what the final stage of tier 4 will detail. I’ve heard some really interesting things in the works for 2016.
. There is never an ignition in the exhaust. There is no oxygen left after engine combustion to start a fire. It just kinda smolders.
Some of the lower level tier 4 do have a magneto with spark plug and do ignite the fuel with temps @ 1800-1900* This was the biggest concern for off road equipment, but so far so good! Hottest we’ve seen around the DPF has been 480* it’s insulated pretty well. I’m still curious what the final stage of tier 4 will detail. I’ve heard some really interesting things in the works for 2016.
Bed time good night everyone!
The Mack LEU/MRU run a spark ignited DPF assembly, but its far from the norm. I believe they are less than 1% of the OTR trucks. Carolina Waste and Republic both have the non-catalyzed DPF’s here in Charleston and have tons of problems with them. They do get rip snorting hot. I had one actually melt the ceramic DPF which melts over 4000* in the shop. It caught fire internally and would not go out even with the truck shut off.
They actually has one burn down about 2 years ago. Total loss over 300k for a front loader.
Republic just bought 52 new trucks that run a Cummins on CNG. All of them are coming through our dealership. That is a goofy set-up. I think they said it cost 1.5mil just for the refueling station here in CHS. 325hp/1000ft lb tq. I think there are going to be a lot of low power complaints as they are down about 400 ft lbs from the MP-7 engines.
got a 07 dodge 5.9 diesel. have not had any problems yet, do I need to start adding something to fuel ?
any help to keep it running for long time to come would be great.
Mine is an 05, they have the same engine. We have a CP3 high pressure fuel pump. It has little pistons that pressurize the fuel up to 26k psi to feed the common rail. This means the pump has extremely tight tolerances, less than .0001in. The pump only receives lubrication from the fuel.
I personally triple filter my fuel with a 30mic Racor, 10mic, then 2 but I am over 600whp running tons of pressure.
BTW, make sure you run a Fleetguard LF16035 oil filter. They can be purchased at any Cummins distributor. Absolutely best oil filter and its about 12$. Also, check the little plastic bracket that holds the fuel line at #4 cylinder. They rub and will cause the line to break. It’s a 20$ part from Cummins, 140$ from the dodge dealer. If you ever go to Cummins and get the run around about it being in a dodge, pm me on here and I will get you the correct Cummins part numbers to give them.
Is there an additive y’all would recommend for my '85 6.2? I knew they were changing the diesel formula, but I didn’t actually realize it was this bad. Thanks for bringing this up, Fred!
Semper Fi
18’ Sterling
115 Yamaha
Big Ugly Homemade Blue Push Pole
Hoofard I can’t tell you what’s best, but there are several good products out there. Hairball added a good one through Fleetguard. If you decide to use oil I would use nothing that wasn’t designed to be mixed and burnt. I.E. 2 cycle oil Klotz mixed and 200:1 still give the exhuast a nice smell. that’s roughly 12oz to 20 gallons. Most other fuel additive are around 400: 1 6oz to 20 gallons. Also with a fuel additive you are increasing your diesel Cetane rating which is also lower now than it was.
(Fuel system was t/s first with no restriction or air entry)
We had a unit that was surging/loping really bad at idle and sluggish going to high idle. I’ve got a contact that works at Testmaster and he sent me some STANADYNE fuel additive to try before sending him the injection pump. We filled a new filter with it and let it run for a few minuets and shut it down. Came back the following morning and it ran like a top. I’m not much for “cure” in a bottle but this stuff did fix this problem. We’ve tried it on others and not been so lucky.
Hoofard, clean the mud off that engine! Blazer or pickup?
The mud adds character. It’s an old Army Blazer. I paid $800 out the door at an auction about ten years ago. I leave the boat hooked up to her, and that’s really the only time I drive her.
Semper Fi
18’ Sterling
115 Yamaha
Big Ugly Homemade Blue Push Pole
Both have repaired several pumps for me.
Finally someone pops up a subject I know about. 
