ULSD Shelf Life

[Lawrenceu]

I have been curious about the rash of bad diesel that we have been experiencing around here. It doesn't really seem to be location specific. After making several calls and doing a little bit of research I have been told by three folks (one of whom is a well known performance tuner, the others were fuel reps) that ULSD has a 'shelf life' of one week to one month, in spite of the fact that it is billed as having one of six months. After one week microbial growth begins to take off.

So, have any of you heard the same thing?
Are you experiencing more microbial growth in your fuel?
Have you seen more water?

[mxfever090]

I've never heard of a shelf life for low sulfur. What has me wondering though was when I was filling up yesterday the pump still had the "winterized fuel" sign on it. If this is the case then that fuel is a couple of months old. I fill up at the same pump everyweekend and haven't had any issues yet. (insert smiley knocking on wood)

[JK23112]

I never thought that diesel fuel had a "shelf life" or went bad the way gasoline does. Then again, the way the EPA has been mandating different fuels and additives...nothing should surprise me anymore.

Our gasoline - which contains 10 percent ethanol at all stations - DEFINITELY goes bad if left unused for awhile. My 'lawnmower gas' gets nasty unless I add stabilizer or use it up quickly; and it was never that much of a problem until the E10 was forced upon us.

I drive 18-wheelers at work, but there is no time for the fuel to go bad. We fill up at those unmanned "fleet stations" (swipe card, fill and go) with dual pumps (for our saddle tanks); but they get at least two tanker loads of fresh diesel fuel every day!

P.S. They leave the "winterized" sign up all year long. Doh!

[mxfever090]

Originally Posted by JK23112

P.S. They leave the "winterized" sign up all year long. Doh!

I fuel up there every weekend and for some reason never noticed it before

[Lawrenceu]

I sort of miss the days when I had a fleet card and could fill up my F250 at those pumps.

[d and b installer]

I know that when I was in the airforce our heavy machinery fuel pump tanks had to be cleaned about once every six months the garbage that came out of those tanks was amazing. This was california diesel and microbial growth can plug up filters in all kinds of bad ways. We were not allowed to put more fuel in a rig than could be burned in a month.

[ToMang07]

I have no clue as to shelf life, but I did have a "water" issue the other day...

We had a torrential downpour, my truck was parked throuigh it, but later that night I was 10 miles from work and as I pulled into a gas station my water in fuel light came on.... truck was running fine, so I figured if it came on again I would dump it... filled up.... didn't come back on.

[Mister Moe]

I filled up my truck in the fall and stored it (unheated) for the winter. I haven't burnt more than a 1/4 tank out of it and haven't noticed any problems at all.

[ToMang07]

I just thought I should add.. I know algae is a bigger isse with bio-diesel... so IDK if the people having more issues have blended fuel or not.

I know my truck isn't sitting long enough for anything to go bad.... Although the car will be back on the road pretty quickly...

[Zaairman]

If stored in a properly sealed clean container out of the light, diesel will last a very long time. My girlfriend's dad had diesel in their 6.0 that was over a year old, and it was still running great.