Older Tractor Diesels and ULSD/CJ-4

[Eastexan]

I have an older Ford 3000 diesel farm tractor built in 1973, and with all this ULSD/CJ-4 controversy, I need some advice from you Pro's

out there.

Since there's a lower amount of sulphur in diesel fuel now-a-days, I've been told to use(and have been using) an OTC additive such as Diesel Kleen to make up for the lack of sulphur in the modern diesel fuel, as I've heard ULSD is tough on older diesel engines.
And now, from what I understand, the newest CJ-4 oils have less zinc. But some say that that's ok since ULSD and the new additive package in CJ-4 seem to work well together in newer diesel engines.
What I'm wondering is:

Would it also work well in older diesel engines that were older technology and somewhat dependant on the sulphur and zinc in the fuel and oil?

Should I still use an OTC additive to the fuel and/or perhaps the oil, to make up for the loss of the sulphur & zinc? Or would that conflict with the compatability of ULSD and CJ-4?

Also, since oil technology has come such a long ways since the tractor was built, should I still use the straight HD-30WT dino? Or would a HD multi-vis(15W30, 10w30, 10w40, dino or syn) be better?

I appreciate your advice.
Ronnie

 

[bullwinkle]

I use 2 stroke oil, at a ratio of 100-1, in my mechanically injected 6.2 GM/Detroit diesels (they have Stanadyne rotary pumps/DB2s), & I use straight 30 Delo 400 CH-4(because of the SUPER cheap AutoZone closeout of a couple years ago, I have around 60 quarts left. I've seen ULSD quality all over the place, from funky yellow colored to absolutely clear/K-1 looking/no lubricity fuel. I don't think it affects the common rail pumps/injectors at all-but I'm sure someone will chime in with different opinions than mine.

 

[Jim Allen]

Well, I have two old tractors, one very similar to yours (a Ford 2810) and a '70 Farmall 826 (with 8300 hours).They run great on ULSD! Smoke less in fact. I have been running ULSD in them since the changeover, as well as CJ-4 oil. No UOAs on the Ford but I have on the Farmall and it was stellar. Another coming this fall. I do two year OCIs on both tractors.

My research shows that there haven't been significant problems with ULSD in tractors. Whatever lubricity substitute they are using seems to be fine. You can use any of the commercially available additives, but as bullwinkle mentioned, 2-stroke oil is a fine, inexpensive substitute. In fact if you Google "lubricity test" or something like it, you will get a nice report done at a lab to test various additives, including the "old wive's tale" ATF (which was nearly worthless) and 2-stroke oil, which was the surprise contender.

I generally do not run any lubricity additives. I have on occasion, just to play, but I don't note any differences.

As to oil, my Ford gets Rotella-T 10W30 and the Farmall 15W40. I use the lighter oil in the Ford because it's my winter snowplow and also the utility tractor on this small farm and does lots of short runs. I think the lighter oil is better in this venue. If you want to hear more on why, search for some of my earlier posts and you read me wax poetic on that topic.

Bottom line, I would advise just going with ULSD and CJ-4 and not worry about it. That's what I did and in two plus years, for me, no trouble. If I was worried, I would do the 3-stroke thing. But I'm not, so I don't.

PS- I would say the same thing about my vintage diesel pickup ('86 Ford F-250 6.9L diesel), which aslo does great on ULSD and CJ-4.

 

[dnewton3]

There really are two related, but not identical, issues to resolve here.

Both the products (fuel additive and lube oil) will effect the engine overall, but in different manners. In an on-road vehicle, the removal of the sulphur aids in the longevity of the DPF and Cat systems. Because of this, removal of sulphur from both the fuel and the lube was important. But off-road equipment doesn't have those issues. It's very common to still see LSD fuel in the dyed form for off-road use.

I'm going to stab at the numbers, so I might be off a bit. As I recall, the old diesel fuel had 3000ppm of sulphur (which is why it stunk in raw and consumed form). The LSD came along and the limit was 500ppm. Now, ULSD is capped at 15ppm. That's a HUGE reduction of sulphur over the years.

The loss of sulphur (actually the aromatics) in the fuel can effect the fuel injection systems, especially in older units. They were designed for fuel that, at the time, had a high lubricant value due to the sulphur. The upside is that these older, low-tech, low-pressure systems are not too sensitive to the loss over the short term. Long term effects are probably hard to detect because the effect would be so gradual over time. Therefore, adding some fuel treatment is a good idea; it's a low cost insurance policy.

Newer tractor engines were designed with at least LSD in mind, so the lower sulphur content isn't much of an issue, if at all. However, for me personally, I do use a multi-function treatment year round; added lubricity, anti-gel, cetane boost, etc all add up.

As for the engine's internals (not the fuel system), the CJ-4 oils seem to work well in all equipment. CJ-4 is best paired up with ULSD fuel, because there is a bit less TBN. Not that it can't be used with LSD; it's just something to make note of and keep an eye on your TBN if you're doing long OCIs.

Jim has had some good experiences, and UOAs to show it. I'd say you would do well to add some type of lubricant to the fuel. Two-stroke oil has been a good performer for older engines, but it's only advantage is lubricity. A true fuel system treatment adds not only that, but cetane boost, detergents, moisture removal, and anti-gel (depending upon product chosen).

 

[Eastexan]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the good info.

Thats interesting about the ATF being an old wives tale. It was highly recommended by a friend of mine years ago. So I started adding a little to the gas in my old Ford Jubilee. I didn't know it wasn't doing it any good, but I guess it made ME feel better.

Also, I never would have guessed that 2 stroke oil would be beneficial. You learn a lot on BITOG.