With all the talk about adding lubricants to ULSD to replace the lost sulfur it occured to me that the most obvious additive to use would be.....well, SULFUR?

I just did a quick search and found that sulfur is pretty cheap to buy. What I don't know is if powdered sulfur is soluble in diesel fuel? I know it says it isn't in water and only slightly in alcohol.

I was just thinking why this option hasn't been brought up? It may not work for a million reasons, but since I know nothing about chemistry in general I figured someone here might know.

 

IIRC Lubricity is lost during the process of removing the sulfur. The sulfur itself isn't a lubricant.

 

That is correct.

MikeyB

 

x3, Slufer is not the lubricant. The process of removing the sulfer, removes some lubricity. The fuel manufacturers have to add it back to meet specs for diesel fuel, so I do not see the need for enhancing it further. Until someone shows me the insides of a worn out injector that has run good quality ULSD and can prove that this was the only factor, I am not believing there is even an issue.

 

I'm with you on that. Too many people think if you don't dump this and that in your fuel and don't run bypass filters with all Amsoil fluids then your engine will blow up in 50k miles.

 

Read last sentence of my signature!!!

Yah, that's my opinion, I guess we all have one!!!

 

Coolslice-the other thing to remember is that elemental sulfur-the yellow powder that you're thinking of buying-isn't what is pulled from diesel fuel when they crack it to ULSD. What they pull out are sulfur-containing organic compounds, like benzothiophenes (the "thio" means sulfur). Just dumping elemental sulfur back into your tank won't do a thing except maybe gum up your injectors. When elemental sulfur melts, it turns into a brown tar that's really sticky.

Just my 2 cents-

Fitz

 

That's the question. How do we know that we are getting good high quality ULSD with the proper amount of lubrication? Pull a sample and send it to the lab at every fillup?

MikeyB

 

Excellent question!! Only time will really tell. On the flip side though, there hasn't been a torrent of complaints about ULSD torching motors. Only a lot of discussion of what ifs..........?! All we know is that the ASTM standard for lubricity for the ULSD is the same as it was for LSD. The loss of sulfer related compounds in ULSD and their effect on diesel engine longevity is yet to be seen.
Cheers
Mike
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In the last month or so there's seems to be a rash of '03 injector problems on this forum. ULSD may or may not have contributed to the issue but it does make me think.

MikeyB

 

I've been noticing that aswell but then again you have to stop and think about this for a second. These 03's are rounding the bin on being 5 years old, alot of them have/had some kind of a upgrade to enhance power/fueling in some way shape or form. Im sure running a programmer or two at the same time isn't the best thing in the world for a set of sticks, especially if their "old" and only good for factory specified parameters.

But onto the addative subject. Alot of people use it for their peice of mind, and that's fine. But at the same time it does offer things like a higher Cetane #, lowers the chance of gelling, helps clean the system out, ect. And if it does add lubricity, that's even a better plus. I run a Power Service addative in my truck, I don't realy see a difference in mileage but it gives me that piece of mind so i'll continue to use it as long as I can buy it.