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Old 10-12-2002, 03:21 PM
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LightMan LightMan is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Cleveland, OH
Posts: 349
Diesel fuel testing !

For those of you who haven't or don't know. Diesel fuel test kits are finally available to the public at a reasonable price. They are around $50 at www.avlube.com.

I dont work for avlube or have any connection. I just actually purchased and completed two tests myself. The results were shocking. I tested my local Amoco #2 diesel, and my local Texaco 'premium diesel'. They both had the same cetane index, but the amoco fuel was INCREDIBLY more dirty. So dirty that the lab exercised caution and advised to NOT fill there until their problems have been taken care of. The texaco premium was remarkably clean. However, this is one particular station, which means your local texaco station owner/manager could maintain his tanks differently, and yours could be dirty. The only way to know if you're getting good fuel is to TEST. Particles in the 5-10 micron range cause wear in high pressure fuel injection equipment. While older mb's have lower pressure systems than new diesels like VW tdi's, they are still affected/worn by fuels heavy in particulate matter.

I urge those who are interested in the longevity of their cars to test their local fuel source.

Also alternative fuel filtration or replacement of the stock fuel filtration with a high efficiency 2 micron filter, such as a racor, cat, baldwin, or stanadyne, would really help as well. Due to the new ability to test diesel fuels, we've tested fuel AFTER it's passed through the fuel filter, and have unfortunately found the stock fuel filters to be pretty much worthless. 50% efficiency at 15 microns. The above mentioned high efficiency perform as spec'd, 95% efficiency at 2microns..

If anyone is interested in seeing my fuel test results, email me.
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