Any risk of bad diesel fuel?

[dlundblad]

I normally buy my off-road/ dyed diesel fuel at a station outside a small farm town. High ag traffic. Highly regarded station and owners. Never any issues with my fuel. Somewhat out of my way, but buying ~30 gallons at a time makes the hassle worth it. Above ground steel tanks.

I found a place last week with off-road diesel fuel that I drive by everyday to work. Very convenient and same price. Also a very highly regarded station brand. Underground tanks. I showed up this morning with 2 (5) gallon cans and noticed that nobody has purchased any fuel since last week as the price still read “$17.60.” I chickened out and didn’t buy any fuel.

Am I overthinking this? I am not sure in this case if the dye is added at the station with the underground tanks or at the blender. If blended at the station, it could be fresher? I transfer my fuel to a fuel caddy with a filter/ water separator before use. If there is any water or dirt, the caddy filter should take care of that.

 

[atikovi]

I showed up this morning with 2 (5) gallon cans and noticed that nobody has purchased any fuel since last week as the price still read “$17.60.”

How would you know that? I've never seen the date of last usage on any gas pump.

 

[dlundblad]

How would you know that? I've never seen the date of last usage on any gas pump.

I am assuming nobody has purchased fuel since it still read the most recent dollar amount of $17.60 from last week.

 

[Cujet]

Hard to say. There are sometimes differences in diesel fuel blends between locations, brands and stations. Some may contain biodiesel, in various amounts, as an example, and bio does age quickly. But bad fuel is more likely to be due to poor handling, such as a tank that allows water in. This can happen anywhere people or equipment are below par.

 

[atikovi]

Diesel doesn't go bad like gasoline does. 20 year old diesel will run as well as 20 day old diesel unless algae is growing in it, but that can be treated.

 

[Kira]

noticed that nobody has purchased any fuel since last week

That alone seems worthy of further description.

As far as the tax dye goes......Something makes me lean towards it being dyed at the blender where there'd be personnel and equipment more suited to the task of reporting competently to the tax man.

Yes, you're overthinking this as the addition of dye is separate from the fuel's freshness.

 

[thastinger]

I'm presently running 10 year old off road diesel in my 68 3020 tractor, if it goes bad I don't know how long it takes.

 

[atikovi]

As far as the tax dye goes......Something makes me lean towards it being dyed at the blender where there'd be personnel and equipment more suited to the task of reporting competently to the tax man.

Yes, you're overthinking this as the addition of dye is separate from the fuel's freshness.

From what I understand, they add the dye to identify people that use the fuel in cars used on the road and are thus avoiding tax. Seems like minimal risk to the average person driving their BMW, Mercedes or VW diesel. Can they even pull you over to search your car's fuel tank without a warrant?

 

[cptbarkey]

Chances are the pump is broken and that number is to discourage folks. My local red dye pump run by Texcon was non functional for almost 2 weeks when I wanted to fill a 55 gallon drum. I eventually gave up and went to QT and bought regular street diesel.

 

[Kira]

To atikovi: The red dye is, to my understanding, a 'tell-tale' designating that any road tax has not been paid.
Something makes me think that "revenue cases / investigations" get all the broad warrants they need as a matter of course.
I'd bet money on there being an equivalence drawn between authorities looking for a required window sticker (reg or inspection) and the presence of a dye in fuel.
Add to that the inertia behind the collection of tax revenue and the relative insignificance of visually sampling fuel.
I bet such an inspection of any vehicle on public roads is routine and not an issue.

 

[atikovi]

To atikovi: The red dye is, to my understanding, a 'tell-tale' designating that any road tax has not been paid.
Something makes me think that "revenue cases / investigations" get all the broad warrants they need as a matter of course.
I'd bet money on there being an equivalence drawn between authorities looking for a required window sticker (reg or inspection) and the presence of a dye in fuel.
Add to that the inertia behind the collection of tax revenue and the relative insignificance of visually sampling fuel.
I bet such an inspection of any vehicle on public roads is routine and not an issue.

If you get pulled over for speeding or running a red light, it is my understanding they can't search your car without a warrant or if they observe something from the outside like a crack pipe on the seat. They can ask you for permission to search, but you aren't required to let them. Doubt they would go through the trouble for a few bucks of untaxed fuel in a passenger car. Now a commercial truck, sure they might.

 

[Kira]

...or cars if the offending fuel station was selling to everyone.
"They" mightn't stop a passenger car just for "a few bucks". They'd stop it to make a solid case.

 

[dlundblad]

I ended up filling up this AM. We shall see.