On Road Diesel Fuel

jtavent

New User
Recently I have been running Off Road Fuel from a local station and I started having fuel problems in my John Deere 5425. A trip to the shop later and we determined that there was algae in the tank and the tank had to be cleaned completely. I wrote that off as negligence on my part since the tractor sat up a lot this winter. On another note, I was running our Cat bulldozer two days ago and began to notice some of the same symptoms that the tractor showed. I have determined that I will not use fuel from that station any more but my question is would I have any problems using on road fuel? I might start using it just because I can go to a local truckstop that gets fresh fuel all the time. I know it would cost more but I would rather spend more on fuel than in mechanic bills on that dozer. Any help would be appreciated. On another note, does anyone know of a good additive that I could put in the dozer's tank to try to get rid of the algae?
 

Biocide will kill algae but won't get rid of it's residue. Cleaning tank &/or changing filter must be performed to get rid of the residue. Why pay dealer to clean the tank when you can probably perform the task?

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(quoted from post at 05:19:48 07/16/16)
Biocide will kill algae but won't get rid of it's residue. Cleaning tank &/or changing filter must be performed to get rid of the residue. Why pay dealer to clean the tank when you can probably perform the task?

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I would try to clean the tank but on the tractor we really did not know what the problem was until the dealer began eliminating other things. On the bulldozer, the tank is just too big for me to try to drain and clean on my own. Its hard to get to and I just do not have the facilities to tackle a project like that but thanks for the advice.
 
Thanks for the info TX, i just ordered the power Service stuff from Amazon. $26.09 in the mail. Got prime plus the local Wally World does not stock it.
 
The only difference between on-road and off-road diesel fuel is the dye that is added and they are
completely interchangeable for use in off-road vehicles.
 
Napa and others sell a biocide or such that takes care of the algae. You better get two sets of fuel filters as you'll have to change them after the fuel treatment.
 
That biological slime stuff grows at the interface of diesel fuel and water. I got into trouble with it in my JD855 probably from many years of condensate building up in the tractor's fuel tank. I was using road fuel. Had to take tank out of tractor and clean it out. I now use the "bug killer" with all Diesel fuel. The JD855 has no drain in the bottom of the tank so to get water out out siphon is about the best way. I know the JD5000 Series tractors started out with drain cocks in the very bottom of the tank. That made getting accumulated water out pretty easy. I don't know if "cost reduction" might have caused the tank drain to be omitted from your 5425 or not. Shelf life and freezing could be a problem with the "bug killer" for Diesel fuel.
 

Call your local bulk supplier and see about getting your own tank. Gas stations around here sell off road for 10 cents less than on road fuel. Fed charges nearly 40 cents per gallon highway tax on diesel so stations are ripping you off for nearly 30 cents per gallon.
Highway fuel here is $2.19 and off road at their pump is $2.09, Take off Fed highway tax and in my state there's no sells tax on farm fuel so I get it delivered to my farm for around $1.75 to $1.80.
Also with your own tank you can add a water separator and treatments to the fuel before it goes into the equipment's tank.

John
 

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