Just went out today and bought my first tank of ultra low sulfur diesel. It's now available throughout California at all ARCO and BP stations that sell diesel fuel (even though not required in the state until 2006).

My only local station turned out to be a 30-mile cross-town roundtrip, so I probably won't buy there often, but I wanted to give it a try. The price, by the way, was on par with diesel everywhere else.

Anyway, here's a link to all the ARCO stations that sell ULSD. Find the station near you and give it a try. It's the right thing to do...way cleaner-burning than regular diesel.

(Note that this is a .pdf file):
http://www.ecdiesel.com/documents/ecd-1_retail_list.pdf

This site has all the info about the fuel:
http://www.ecdiesel.com/

Happy motoring!

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'81 300TD turbo <<sold 12/05 to another diesel nut

Thanks for the heads-up. Nothing anywhere near me unfortunately :-/. I'll have to watch for Arco stations next time I go south though.

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'81 300TD Wagon 355k (Miss Diesel)
'83 300SD 180k
'84 500SEL 190k (Parting it out)

Better add some used engine oil to the low sulphur fuel or say Bye Bye to your injection pump.

P E H

Or add a liter or two of biodiesel! Even a 2% biodiesel blend in ULSD gets you more lubricity that regular sulfured diesel does. Go up to B5 or B10 and you'll be doing even better.

peace,
sam

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"That f***in' biodiesel is makin' me hungry."

1982 300TD Astral Silver w/ 250k (BIO BNZ)
2001 Aprilia SR50 Corsa Red w/ 5.5k (>100 MPG)

It says on the FAQ that they have added addatives to replace the sulfer,I would guess that they know what there doing, after all they are wearing lab coats.

I don’t think that normally I would go out of my way to find low sulphur fuel, but that cetane rating got my attention.

What’s up with the discrepancy between “east of the rockies” and “west of the rockies” formulation? For the west coast, their datasheets show a “typical cetane index” of 52.5, and a “typical cetane number” of 54. However, the datasheets for the “east of the rockies” product lists a “cetane number minimum” of 45. Big difference - I guess that I should be glad that I’m on the left coast.

They apparently add a lubricity additive to offset the concerns about high wear rates that are inherent with ultra low sulphur content fuels. Shouldn’t be much concern to us here in MBZ land, what with the Bosch pumps being lubricated by the engine oil. Personally, I’ll still toss a bit of power service or redline additive in anyways to help keep everything clean. Of course, I did buy an entire case of “STP diesel sulphur substitute” when I spotted it at the 99-cent store – I figure it can’t hurt (I hope!) & it’s cheap enough at 99 cents; each quart bottle treats “up to 150 gallons”.

It will be interesting to see if I get any better mileage or better running characteristics with this stuff versus the usual low-end swill I’ve been buying at Shell.

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Current rolling stock:
2001 E55 183,000+ Newest member of the fleet.
2002 E320 83,000 - The "cream-puff"!
1992 500E 217,000+
1995 E300D 412,000+
1998 E300D 155,000+
2001 E320 227,000+
2001 E320 Wagon, 177,000+

Prior MBZ’s:
1952 220 Cab A
1966 300SE
1971 280SE
1973 350SLC (euro)
1980 450SLC
1980 450SLC (#2)
1978 450SLC 5.0
1984 300D ~243,000 & fondly remembered
1993 500E - sorely missed.
1975 VW Scirocco w/ slightly de-tuned Super-Vee engine - Sold after 30+ years.

The EPA requires a minimum cetane number of 40, but in California the CARB requires a minimum of 48, so the "east of the rockies" stuff (which is probably cheaper to produce) wouldn't cut it. Why 54 cetane, I dunno, but I'm not about to question BP's decision .

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'81 300TD Wagon 355k (Miss Diesel)
'83 300SD 180k
'84 500SEL 190k (Parting it out)

Thank you for that clarification – I was not aware that the CARB specified a minimum cetane rating. Perhaps I was wrong in assuming that the stuff I’ve been buying is “low-end swill”…

One other thing I was wondering about: I believe that the cetane rating is solely a measure of propensity to combust. If the energy content (BTU’s) of *any* given diesel fuel is the same, then would it be logical to assume that there would not necessarily be a gain in fuel mileage due to higher cetane numbers. (Or does higher cetane diesel fuel necessarily coincide with higher energy content as well?)

__________________
Current rolling stock:
2001 E55 183,000+ Newest member of the fleet.
2002 E320 83,000 - The "cream-puff"!
1992 500E 217,000+
1995 E300D 412,000+
1998 E300D 155,000+
2001 E320 227,000+
2001 E320 Wagon, 177,000+

Prior MBZ’s:
1952 220 Cab A
1966 300SE
1971 280SE
1973 350SLC (euro)
1980 450SLC
1980 450SLC (#2)
1978 450SLC 5.0
1984 300D ~243,000 & fondly remembered
1993 500E - sorely missed.
1975 VW Scirocco w/ slightly de-tuned Super-Vee engine - Sold after 30+ years.

I've have swapped my last couple of tanks full from the normal Exxon here in town with Arco low sulpher available a few miles up the road. I notice a quieter idle with the low sulpher stuff. Maybe it's my imagination, but it also seems to have a bit more zoot. You can sure smell the difference if you spill some on your hands. The low sulpher fuel, smells, well, sort of minty. :p

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'78 300D 310K Maple Yellow / Bamboo
'87 300D 81K Barolo Red / Safron (RIP @ 113K)
2003 E320 34K Pewter/Charcoal
-------------------------------------

Does Mercedes Benz spec a cetane rating for various diesel engine's? That would be the ? I imagine

werd - art

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Art Bourget

1983 300SD
1st In Class - Starfest Concours 2004
1st In Class - StarTrack Concours 2003
1983 300TDT
1985 300D

MBCA - Niagara Section

I think it is 45 for the OM617.

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'78 300D 310K Maple Yellow / Bamboo
'87 300D 81K Barolo Red / Safron (RIP @ 113K)
2003 E320 34K Pewter/Charcoal
-------------------------------------

I went to two (Arco) stations that are listed, and they both are priced around $2.50+ per gallon, while at other stations, diesel is currently around $2.25 per gallon. Their gasoline prices were low and in line with current gas prices, so it's not these two station(s) that are necessarily priced higher than others.

Additionally, there is no labeling or other indication on the pumps as to what is being dispensed. When I asked an attendant if it was the low sulphur fuel, before I had even finished the sentence I realized the futility of my question; the doe-in-the-headlights response that I received was all that could be expected.

__________________
Current rolling stock:
2001 E55 183,000+ Newest member of the fleet.
2002 E320 83,000 - The "cream-puff"!
1992 500E 217,000+
1995 E300D 412,000+
1998 E300D 155,000+
2001 E320 227,000+
2001 E320 Wagon, 177,000+

Prior MBZ’s:
1952 220 Cab A
1966 300SE
1971 280SE
1973 350SLC (euro)
1980 450SLC
1980 450SLC (#2)
1978 450SLC 5.0
1984 300D ~243,000 & fondly remembered
1993 500E - sorely missed.
1975 VW Scirocco w/ slightly de-tuned Super-Vee engine - Sold after 30+ years.

Yes cetane rating is the measure of how easily diesel fuel combusts. I don't think higher cetane fuel would result in higher fuel mileage, but it would certainly result in quieter engine operation. 54 cetane fuel would be awesome and it would probably eliminate the combustion knock that my W124 has. I wish I could get my hands on some right now.

__________________
2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

From Chevron's website.

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85 300CD
83 300TD
78 240D (daughter)

that's what happend to me also, no lable on the pump to tell if it's ulsd then I try to ask the guy working their and I say that loosely, he didn't know what I was talking about, in fact he hardly evenspoke english. I hate when some one works somewhere and they don't know anything, I think we need to email arco to tell them to get some signage to let people know that they have ulsd, and also fire their employees