headhoncho
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- Jul 17, 2022
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OK - wanted to put this post out there just for real-world observations instead of someone reading something and then injecting their OPINIONS on what works and what doesn't. This is NOT to address the legality nor ethicality of using heating oil/Off road in a standard vehicle. It's not legal and you could be fined big time if found out.
That being said, other than the first tank used in the 1500 ecodiesel, all subsequent fills were with heating oil that was purchased when the price was at $1.59/gallon in 2020 (ridiculous how much diesel has risen since then!!). We have a huge tank and knowing that oil should not be cheaper than that in my lifetime persuaded me to fill that sucker up for my tractors as well as the new pickup. So now fast forward a couple of years and 82,000 miles on the 1500, I can give you a couple of observations.
Truck for the most part has been running great. I get awesome mileage - around 26-28mpg. Great power in towing 24' enclosed trailers (with a race car) and a 32' RV. I do get check engine lights from time to time regarding a clogged valve with the EGR but I'm told from the dealer (and also my friend) that that is very common since I do drive a lot locally and no easy way of keeping the RPM's at a certain level for soot to burn off.
Recently, I had to bring my truck into service for the recall flash (for the emissions - lol). So to prevent any potential issues, I had to drain my tank to get rid of any telltale signs of the red dye. It's a royal pain to drop the tank (especially when it's near full with a 33gal size) so I did the lazy thing and disconnected the hose from the fuel filter and had the truck pump the fuel into containers. Still a pain and took about 2 hours but I didn't have to risk spilling anything if removing the thank. So for those who wonder how powerful the dye is. I pumped the tank by turning the truck to the on position and letting the 15-20 second pump prime do its work. I should have recorded how many times I did it but it is probably somewhere near 120 times or so to empty the full tank. Once the pump stopped pushing fuel, there's probably another 1-2 gallons left in the tank. So if I put in clear diesel, it would be colored by the residual fuel. What I did was to put 1-2 gallons of clear diesel in at a time, get the pump to do it's job again, and to keep on doing this cycle - each time diluting the fuel lighter red until it comes out an acceptable color. Even after 5 dilutes, the red was very deep. I found out that it took me 7 additional cycles before the red was fully flushed out. That dye is powerful and difficult to completely get rid of unless you do a full flush like I did. See my photos on how the color became lighter and lighter.
So if you are going to cheat the system over the long run, it would make it more feasible to use the off road - especially if you prebought the fuel when it was dirt cheap. Probably not worth it if you don't do this much or don't have a LARGE tank (as in 5000 gal. for me - a hefty savings of over $20k). It is a royal pain in the neck to clear out the red each time you go in for service so that is a consideration. And of course, the ethical/legal reasons for doing so. There are a LOT of people willing to do EGR/DPF deletes and that has the same ethical/legal ramifications so this post is to educate a little more to those type of people. For me, having the emission controls MAY seam more environmentally cleaner but I think for the significant power and MPG loss makes you burn more fuel and it becomes a wash in the end - so I would consider that when my warranty runs out. As far as how the truck runs, I see absolutely zero difference between dyed and undyed fuels. Truck runs great and fuel mileage is great.
That being said, other than the first tank used in the 1500 ecodiesel, all subsequent fills were with heating oil that was purchased when the price was at $1.59/gallon in 2020 (ridiculous how much diesel has risen since then!!). We have a huge tank and knowing that oil should not be cheaper than that in my lifetime persuaded me to fill that sucker up for my tractors as well as the new pickup. So now fast forward a couple of years and 82,000 miles on the 1500, I can give you a couple of observations.
Truck for the most part has been running great. I get awesome mileage - around 26-28mpg. Great power in towing 24' enclosed trailers (with a race car) and a 32' RV. I do get check engine lights from time to time regarding a clogged valve with the EGR but I'm told from the dealer (and also my friend) that that is very common since I do drive a lot locally and no easy way of keeping the RPM's at a certain level for soot to burn off.
Recently, I had to bring my truck into service for the recall flash (for the emissions - lol). So to prevent any potential issues, I had to drain my tank to get rid of any telltale signs of the red dye. It's a royal pain to drop the tank (especially when it's near full with a 33gal size) so I did the lazy thing and disconnected the hose from the fuel filter and had the truck pump the fuel into containers. Still a pain and took about 2 hours but I didn't have to risk spilling anything if removing the thank. So for those who wonder how powerful the dye is. I pumped the tank by turning the truck to the on position and letting the 15-20 second pump prime do its work. I should have recorded how many times I did it but it is probably somewhere near 120 times or so to empty the full tank. Once the pump stopped pushing fuel, there's probably another 1-2 gallons left in the tank. So if I put in clear diesel, it would be colored by the residual fuel. What I did was to put 1-2 gallons of clear diesel in at a time, get the pump to do it's job again, and to keep on doing this cycle - each time diluting the fuel lighter red until it comes out an acceptable color. Even after 5 dilutes, the red was very deep. I found out that it took me 7 additional cycles before the red was fully flushed out. That dye is powerful and difficult to completely get rid of unless you do a full flush like I did. See my photos on how the color became lighter and lighter.
So if you are going to cheat the system over the long run, it would make it more feasible to use the off road - especially if you prebought the fuel when it was dirt cheap. Probably not worth it if you don't do this much or don't have a LARGE tank (as in 5000 gal. for me - a hefty savings of over $20k). It is a royal pain in the neck to clear out the red each time you go in for service so that is a consideration. And of course, the ethical/legal reasons for doing so. There are a LOT of people willing to do EGR/DPF deletes and that has the same ethical/legal ramifications so this post is to educate a little more to those type of people. For me, having the emission controls MAY seam more environmentally cleaner but I think for the significant power and MPG loss makes you burn more fuel and it becomes a wash in the end - so I would consider that when my warranty runs out. As far as how the truck runs, I see absolutely zero difference between dyed and undyed fuels. Truck runs great and fuel mileage is great.
