Well, as you know I am new again to putting diesel in a car. Well I am a moron and accidentally put highway diesel in my 85 300SD. Wasn't paying close enough attention. Is this going to be detrimental to my car or is that it's just not legal to put in a passenger car. Car is still running great!
What is this low sulphur warning I am seeing on a few pumps?
Do I need to worry about that too?
Thanks for the help.

You have absolutely nothing to worry about..... Highway Diesel is just regular diesel fuel......


The stickers you have been seeing on diesel pumps is basically just to let you know that they have lowered the sulfur content of diesel fuel.

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1983 Mercedes 300D
Atlanta, GA

I believe the posted "warning" about the low sulfur fuel is to contrast it with the "no sulfur" fuel that is going to come for 2007 and later model year Diesels. Not sure if there will be "no" and "low" sulfur offered at the same place and the same time. The stickers I saw merely note the fuel contains some relatively small number of parts per million of sulfur and that even such low concentrations are illegal for use by, and could damage, 2007 and later model year Diesels meant for "highway" or over the road use (vs. farm use, or construction site use, possibly). It is perfectly ok for any earlier model year Diesels. Jim

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Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles

Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)

Cool, thanks buds! Was worried and feel like an idiot. Usually not brain dead, maybe it's the heat.(lol) The filler didn't fit right in my tank, should have told me something but didn't. I have noticed when I put in "normal" diesel that sometimes the filler isn't fittin right in the tank. But I guess things change from 1985 to the present. Is low sulfur diesel gonna lower the performance or quality of the fuel?

The only thing different in low sulfur diesel is that it doesnt have the same lubricity that the higher sulfer diesel has.

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1983 Mercedes 300D
Atlanta, GA

My question is, since the 2007's are on the brink of release, when will this fuel be updated for those cars?

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1989 300E 144K

I think your answer needs futher explanation:

Yor are correct if you mean at the first stage of refining - but my understanding is that the refiners will then add sufficient additives to bring it up to recommended or acceptable lubricity standards.

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1984 300SD TURBO DIESEL

No, it will not affect your car's performance. The lower sulfur fuel will work with modern catalytic converters, etc., so that pollution is reduced, and so that manufacturers like Mercedes, VW, etc. can once again meet EPA emissions requirements, enabling them to sell the same excellent diesel-engined models here in the US that they have been selling in Europe and elsewhere all along.

As far as the pump nozzle not fitting in your tank... It has nothing to do with the car being a 1985, or anything of the sort... You were just using a "truck" pump, which is perfectly fine.

It's the same fuel....

The difference in "truck" diesel pumps -vs.- "normal" diesel pumps is that the "truck" ones pump fuel at a much faster rate, for obvious reasons... most large commercial trucks have large, high-capacity fuel tanks.

This high-speed fuel delivery rate is not necessary for the relatively small fuel tank in a car, and it actually can cause accidental overflow and fuel spillage, so the high-speed truck pumps are fitted with a bigger nozzle, to discourage people from using them to fuel cars.

Regular gas stations typically have diesel pumps with the "normal"-sized nozzle, whereas truck stops have the larger-nozzled "truck" pumps, but they also usually have a couple of specifically designated "car" or "car/RV" pumps, with the smaller nozzles that will fit in your tank's filler neck properly.

The stuff that is illegal to burn in your car is "farm/off-road" diesel. It is also exactly the same fuel, but it is dyed red to make it easily identifiable. The reason that it is illegal to use this in your car is because it is untaxed. The government doesn't want you driving around on highways that you're not paying for (the aforementioned fuel tax). It is not typically found at gas stations and/or truck stops, so you shouldn't need to worry about accidentally putting it in your vehicle.

Mike

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1979 300 SD
350,000 miles
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1982 300D-gone---sold to a buddy
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1985 300TD
270,000 miles
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1994 E320
not my favorite, but the wife wanted it

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A Valero gas station in East Moriches Long Island has a sign for "truck diesel". There is no difference except that you have to know to go around to the side of the building to the "truck diesel" pump. The pump has the small tube that fits past the reducer plate on my 1985 300TDt's tank. The only difference is if you don't know to drive around to the side, you purchase regular diesel at about $.07 more per gallon. Go figure.

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Doug

1987 300TD x 3
2005 E320CDI

Whats "Highway diesel? No 1 or no 2???

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Most of the stations that have the LSD signs are probably pumping out ULSD anyway. They have to flush their tanks with several batches of ULSD in order to get it in spec. The sticker is probably just to exclude them from liability in the event someone fuels up their 2007 Diesel and then comes back and gives them a hard time. I would expect most of these stations to keep that sticker on there until the government requires them to change it.

The same reason most mfrs aren't making Diesel passenger cars for 2007. During the changeover...i am sure more than a few people will accidentally fuel up using LSD instead of ULSD which will damage the PMF for the new 2007 Diesels. Then you can bet people would be playing the blame game. It's best for them to just wait until the switch is fully set in, before they start rolling out the vehicles with this new emissions equipment. When someone drives a 60k car, they are probably a lot more likely to pay attention to what type of fuel they put in...but you can bet it will still happen. Not only that, but in VWs case, they are going to be switching away from the pump dusse (unit injector) system, and moving to a common-rail setup for the 2008 TDI models. This is due to the fact that the unit injection models are unable to meet light-duty emissions requirements.

Just my two cents.

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2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee 3.0 CRD (OM642)

Also there is off-road diesel (no highway tax$) and truck diesel high volume pumps. If you fill from a high volume pump DO NOT WALK AWAY FROM THE VEHICLE WHILE PUMPING!!!!!!!!!!!!! These pumps pump around 20 GPM.
My '79 300SD filler neck won't take some pump nozzles but to h!@!! with them, I burn WVO!

"Highway Diesel", "Truck Diesel" and "Diesel #2" are all EXACTLY the same thing. Only difference may be the sulfur amounts, depeneding on labels where you get your fuel. "Off highway diesel" is also the exact same thing, except it does not have tax(s) added to it, and is dyed pink. Because it's not taxed, it's not legal for use in cars, but intended for farm machines and generators etc. In rual places, where people have their own fuel tanks, sometimes inspectors will come around and dip in to fuel tanks to make sure dyed diesel isn't in their road cars.
The truck stop pumps are fun too. They do pump around 0.6-0.8Gal/sec. Normal pumps are 0.06-0.1Gal/sec. The guy who used to fill the 500gal tanks on the farm used to have a 1.1-1.5Gal/sec, much fun. But at truck stops I can fill my SD in under a minute.