I found this to be interesting.
I was out of town with a friend, and he went to fill up at the local Citgo. The fuel sign looked something like this:
Regular gas - $3.03/gal
Mid grade - $3.13/gal
Premium - $3.23/gal
Diesel - $3.35/gal
Off Road Diesel - $2.98/gal

Surprisingly, I've never heard of the stuff before, nor am I finding much information on it right now. The cashier said it's a heavier grade that will run in any diesel. Does anyone have experience using it and know why it's so much cheaper?
We were in Daytona Beach by the way.

It's sold for agricultural and other non taxable purposes. It's got red dye in it and if you use it for fuel, they'll test your tank one day when you least expect it and fine you for everything you've got.

It's the same stuff as regular diesel except it has full sulfur instead of that silly ULSD stuff... but the red dye makes it not worth the risk.

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~Michael S.~
Past cars:

1986 300SDL
1987 300SDL
1982 240D
1982 300SD


Current:

1987 300SDL

Heh, I see. That makes sense, and it's nice that tractor owners have the option of using it.
Now the real question is why that clerk didn't tell me I'm not supposed to use it in my 300D.

Same stuff as regular diesel wo/taxes. The only danger is to your wallet if you get caught using it.

Fines are usually $1000+ depending on how much they think you have used.

I think in Iowa its a 10,000 dollar fine minimum. They do check a lot of pickups that say diesel. Someone I know has used it for the last 25 years, and said if he gets caught it wouldn't matter since he has saved a lot more.

NOT the off road diesel but never putting a license plate on it. The fine for no trailer license is less than the plate and title fee....6 years and counting. It does help that he's buddies with a police SGT and never goes off their island with the boat.

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1987 300D (230,000 mi on a #14 head-watching the temp gauge and keeping the ghost in the machine)
Raleigh NC - Home of deep fried sushi!

It's $10K minimum on your first offense here, plus they add felony tax fraud, plus they make you tow the vehicle to a repair facility to have every last drop of it purged from your fuel system at your expense....they pretty much stick to dipping trucks & pickups though, especially those with the in bed tanks for equipment. There's advantages to some locals living out in the sticks and driving the barely traveled backroads to work though, I'll leave it at that.

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Chris
64 190D R.I.P.
80 240D W/617 engine -for sale
82 240D -for sale

yep my grandmother used it for years... in fact that why their are Mercedes in the family. my granddad installed a diesel pump and a huge diesel tank for farming purposes. and then my grandma wanted a new car... back in 78... so a 300D it was! to this day my grandmother never buys fuel. we were worried that she would put diesel in her new Toyota, so they had to change the locks on the pumps so she could only unlock the gas not the diesel.. kinda sad that from 1978-2006 she was driving a MB diesel and now a Toyota. O well.

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I'd like to see how they'd dip a MB's tank. It's hard enough to stick a siphon hose in the tank.

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DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012

Just have to look at the clear prefilter to see the red dye it is pretty obvious (bright red!)

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"I have no convictions ... I blow with the wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy"

Current
Monika '74 450 SL
BrownHilda '79 280SL
FoxyCleopatra '99 Chevy Suburban
Scarlett 2014 Jeep Cherokee
Krystal 2004 Volvo S60
Gone
'74 Jeep CJ5
'97 Jeep ZJ Laredo
Rudolf ‘86 300SDL
Bruno '81 300SD
Fritzi '84 BMW
'92 Subaru
'96 Impala SS
'71 Buick GS conv
'67 GTO conv
'63 Corvair conv
'57 Nomad

Yes, there's no end to how much we subsidize farmers.

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Kent Christensen
Albuquerque
'07 GL320CDI, '10 CL550. '01 Porsche Boxster
Two BMW motorcycles

Ok, so how do they test for the dye?
Is it visual or some chemical test?
Which brings up another question. B-100 (at least the homebrew kind) is similar in color to the Dyed Diesel. And I know that you can get a similar fine for running B-100. But how do they know if you purchase the B-100 at a station, or homebrew it?

at least in Europe, test the exhaust gas with a strip of paper similar to litmus. But bio diesel looks nothing like off road fuel (non highway taxed.) It's a red as transmission fluid. The law as it stands before the sunset on it, home brewed B100 is legal as long as you do not sell it without a license and proper tax collections.

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1987 300D (230,000 mi on a #14 head-watching the temp gauge and keeping the ghost in the machine)
Raleigh NC - Home of deep fried sushi!

But winter I opt for the B0 high sulfur option - HEY WHO POURED Marvel Mystery Oil in my tank??

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1987 300D (230,000 mi on a #14 head-watching the temp gauge and keeping the ghost in the machine)
Raleigh NC - Home of deep fried sushi!