Fuel Contamination

kmolldenver said:

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Lastly, I have no idea if any of this applies to diesel (for automotive/truck purchases), but I KNOW that these facts apply for gas.

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I believe most of it is true for diesel powered vehicles as well.

Water in a modern diesel injection system will cause some very expensive damage very quickly. It usually entails replacement of the entire fuel system at a cost of many thousand dollars. Diesels have water separation devices but they don't always work, esp. if overwhelmed by a huge volume of water in the fuel.

I have an F-250 diesel pickup to tow our fifth wheel (and to occasionally haul a Beemer). I'm very careful where I buy fuel and to drain the water separator regularly (altho I've never found any water at all in it...knock on wood).

I don't want to sound smarterer than I am,

I did a seminar for the vocational teachers that teach young mechanics, on fuel last summer. I did it because most mechanics don't actually know what fuel is being used. There is a wide variety of gasoline and diesel products on the market. They look the same at the filling station but they aren't.

My comments are universal but may not apply universally, if that made any sense.

Gasoline with Ethanol is always a grain extracted blended. Varying amounts of Ethanol are reported as the maximum amount. However, small amounts may not be reported at the pump. Blends as low as E2 are extremely hygroscopic. It can take moisture form the atmosphere readily.

Diesel fuel with the renewable resource bio-fuel can be anything from animal fat all the way to seed/bean extracted. Again, maximums are reported at the pump but minimums aren't mandated to be reported. Any Bio-Diesel HAS water in it.

In my experience, gasoline or diesel, has a shelf life of about six weeks, less, in my opinion during warmer ambient. Either is prone to microbial contamination. Some of these bugs eat skin and will kill you.

My focus during these seminars was PPE, Personal Protection Equipment.

I can substantiate my claims with some very graphic images of a young mechanic that lost 30% of the tissue on one arm due to microbial contamination in gasoline.

My advice for what it's worth, you can't avoid bio-fuels. If they say it isn't there, they are lying to you and smiling because they think you are a fool.

Use high-turnover stations as much as you can. Always use PPE, that includes safety eye wear, when servicing any fuel system.

If you think Premium fuels don't have a certain amount of bio-fuel, gasoline or diesel, in my opinion, you are gambling.

Maybe we need to return to the pumps where you can see the fuel through a glass column.

dieselyoda said:

... If you think Premium fuels don't have a certain amount of bio-fuel, gasoline or diesel, in my opinion, you are gambling.

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I agree, but I have no scientific basis for my opinion. I simply do not trust most absolute statements, whomever they come from. When anyone from any governmental agency (federal, state or local) tells me something is definitely true (or false) I ignore them. Especially for ethanol in gasoline--no matter what it says on the pump, I assume there is some ethanol in the product.

AntonLargiader said:

Maybe we need to return to the pumps where you can see the fuel through a glass column.

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We need to return to the TIME when you could see the fuel through a glass column.I just love those visible pumps.

royce said:

I agree, but I have no scientific basis for my opinion. I simply do not trust most absolute statements, whomever they come from. When anyone from any governmental agency (federal, state or local) tells me something is definitely true (or false) I ignore them. Especially for ethanol in gasoline--no matter what it says on the pump, I assume there is some ethanol in the product.

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Here's a link to a science article about what happens when biofuels contaminate something that should NEVER have biofuel in it. In short, the entire fuel delivery system is contaminated so Royce is absolutely right.