Low sulphur diesel in old engine?

[gandy]

Hi, Anyone recommend a suitable additive (preferably readily available) if I use normal low-sulphur road diesel in a mid-1970's Perkins A4.212? It's a distributor injector pump, not inline.

I've seen some comments about the necessity, but I would appreciate comments from some of the diesel and oil experts here.

Cheers, Tony S

 

[Guest]

Sorry for not looking at your location before clicking reply !! But where are you and why do you not use normal red or agricultural diesel ? Why do you want to use more expensive ULSD ?
If you use agri or red - you will have no trouble as the sulphur content is much higher.

In ULSD - the sulphur content is very low and lubrication property is much less .... termed Lubricity. To keep the diesel within market tolerance an additive is already added to the diesel to return the product to acceptable levels. It is debateable whether the amount is sufficient for the real older engine ... and to be honest a small - I mean SMALL amount ... literally an eggcup full to a large can ... of light lub-oil..... would just about answer all ...

Yes there are additives - but generally the type that I use in large qty's ... but its trade and not retail. I also do not have it in small containers ... smallest I have is 1 ton containers ....


Maybe its time for me to break into the additive retail trade .... !!

 

[gandy]

Cheers Nigel, that was exactly the sort of common sense opinion I was hoping for. As you'll be aware there's a lot of hearsay about stuff like this. I'm in Scotland.

Why not use Red? Well I only use relatively small amounts, and I reckon that the extra hassle of obtaining it isn't worthwhile. For example fuel in the can couldn't be used to top up the car. The can couldn't even be reused to carry road diesel without worrying about traces of "red" in the car. (Not that I've been checked yet, but as a rural resident with a diesel car I assume it is likely at some point).

Maybe I should own up .. it's not a boat engine.

Tony S