I know in gas there is top tier gas and I have found my Benzes have preferred Chevron or similar gas. This GL is my first diesel Benz.... Have you all found it to be finicky about buying your fuel from a top tier gas station? We have a truck stop not too far away that has diesel for $.80 cheaper a gallon compared to the stations by my house. Any harm going there when I drive by on the way to my kids summer camp all summer?

 

I dont have Diesel so could be not accurate, but as far as I know Truck Stop Diesel is better than the Shell\Chevron if your state is one which allows BIO-Fuel (Corn) to be added into the Diesel, Highway Diesel is 100% pure and much much safer to GL compare to those crap the Shell\Chevron offer which says 5-10% or more Bio-Diesel.
I doubt the Cashier at the Gas Station would know what is Bio-Diesel or how much Bio-Fuel is added in Diesel. If it says Highway Diesel I know its pure so look for Truck stop which says Highway Diesel...

Thanks

 

Make sure you are buying ULSD and stay away from anything containing bio-diesel. In my area the local shell station has the lowest price on ULSD.

 

It all depends where you live.

For example, up here in MN ALL diesel has a bio mix that varies by season, and yes, it's still considered ULSD.

And one thing that you want to be careful of is "cheap" truck stop diesel sold by certain outlets. Typically "branded" fuel (Chevron, Texaco, etc.) will have minimum standards for cetane, lubricity, and other additives that bottom tier generic "truck stop" fuel may or may not meet.

Your best bet will be a high volume station that sells name brand fuel or a quality truck stop.

This is all kind of misleading, at least in the USA.

Per the FTC any diesel pump that contains a bio mix must be labeled...so you will know what is being pumped, truck stop or service station.

And all diesel sold for on-road vehicles is considered "highway" compared to "off road" for commercial equipment or farm vehicles. It's essentially a tax issue not a fuel issue.

 

About a year ago, after a diesel fill up in Maryland at Royal Farms station, my GL350 started running rough and the engine felt as though it was missing at low throttle.
I ran that tank almost dry and filled up with good truckstop fuel and all returned to normal.
Well last week I tried Royal Farms again and the same thing happened. Damn.
I will do the same agin to fix it.

 

I have stuck to pretty much the name brands (Sunoco, Speedway/Hess, Exxon) and Wawa. I havent tried the truck stop diesel. I have been in some situations where the nozzle was meant for the big rigs so had to find a nozzle meant for passenger cars since I didnt have the adapter.

So far no issues. Have driven up and down the east coast. Changed the fuel filter at 50K. If the diesel is an issue around your area, plan to change the filter often.

 

Diesel #2 contains no biodiesel. Someone mentioned that if a pump dispenses biodiesel, the feds require that the pump be labeled as such. Good in theory, of course. But when the diesel pump is not labelled #2 or biodiesel, it's quite the dilemma because you don't know what you're getting.

Here in Arizona, I almost never see biodiesel. But when I travel, I run into the problem all the time that fuel is biodiesel or not labeled. I avoid getting gas in both situations if it is possible but sometimes it isn't so I just pump whatever crap the station has and hope for the best. So far so good.

 

Well... it ALL depends on what state we are talking about... since in several states that have mandated "strange" diesel laws - pumps often are not clearly marked..

That said - $.80 per gallon difference - in my area at the moment diesel is around/under $2 a gallon - $.80 under that would be too-damn-cheap..

$.80 a gallon savings - there would HAVE TO BE A REASON so dang cheap... and unless we're talking a Indian Reservation - I would be very/very suspect - why risk it ?

Keep the beat !

 

We are in California. Here, the stations near my house are just under $3 a gallon. This place is about $2.15. Not an Indian Reservation. It is a well reviewed privately owned truck stop. I just called to see what kind of diesel they have...the worker said only bio diesel. Asking a friend of mine he said that most trucks don't run on bio diesel so the worker's response might not make sense. Guess I'll make driving up to check it out sometime. Don't need to fill up quite yet.

 

According to the Code of Federal Regulations, 16 CFR Part 306.10, all fuel pumps must be labeled with what they dispense. Here is the link.

https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-20...roup-id655.pdf


The meat of it is:

Oddly enough, in searching for this info I came across a site that said no disclosure of biodiesel less than 5% need be made so if a pump says Diesel #2, it could be as much as 4.99% biodiesel. I forget where I saw that. Regardless, Mercedes says less than 5% biodiesel is acceptable so it makes little practical difference.

Typically, a federal regulation supersedes any state regulations, so it seems unlikely states would take it upon themselves to promulgate regulations allowing retailers to ignore federal rules. If they did, I think the feds would be all over them pretty quickly.

So, all that said, it looks like pumps are supposed to display the fuel that is dispensed. In my travels, I find that routinely they don't.

 

Yeh - all well and fine ALL pumps are to be clearly labeled - and frankly in most areas when it comes to diesel they are not.

On the $.80 per gallon savings - sounds like that station is selling B20 - 20% biodiesel content - and frankly that's a no-no-no for any Euro diesel engine.

 

Just thinking out loud.....are there even tax credits in CA for bio??? (I don't know).

It would seem that bio is typically more expensive than pure dino juice and that would only be exacerbated by current oil prices, no?

 

Rather simple, use #2 diesel or run the risk of a repair bill. If it's not a labeled pump and it's cheap, what does that tell you?

Your risk rises greatly as the weather gets cold. High bio diesel content will start to gel as the temps drop.

 

Hmmm. Sounds simple. Why didn't I think of that?

Oh,yeah, I recall now. I'm traveling in a state where biodiesel is the rule, not the exception (Illinois, anyone?), and I need fuel. I drive to one name brand station...no pump label or worse yet, B20. So I drive to the next name brand station...no pump label or B20. Maybe repeat again. And by now I really, really need fuel. So I pay my money and take my chances. 50k miles with only occasional doses of mystery diesel or B5-20 when it couldn't be avoided and so far so good, thankfully.

But now that I know the much more simple plan, I'll just drive from station to station until I run out of fuel and sputter to a stop. Then I'll call Roadside Assistance who will bring a couple gallons of fuel, probably from one of the unlabeled or B20 pumps I passed up. Then I'll do it all some more until I traverse Illinois (or other like minded states) 2 gallons at a time.

Depending on the state and how lucky you are in finding #2, sometimes you're forced to play biodiesel roulette or knowingly put B5-20 in. And how come MB diesels are the only German motors that can't take up to B20? But that's for another discussion, I suppose.

 

Biodiesel up to B20 is the rule in several states. I personally know about Illinois and I think I read that Minnesota recently went biodiesel in a big way. I bet there are others. Last I heard it gets pretty cold from time to time in those parts and I haven't heard of diesel vehicles being immobilized due to gelled fuel. If biodiesel so easily turned to jelly in cold conditions, no one would buy and no company could sell diesel vehicles in the NE, Midwest, North or large parts of the West, even parts of Arizona, New Mexico and California...pretty much most of the country.

If you're talking about B100 or thereabouts, you could be right. I don't know. But, the only biodiesel fuel relevant to passenger vehicles is B20 or less and the solution is to treat the fuel.

Fact check: http://biodiesel.org/using-biodiesel...-weather-guide

 

I made two points:

If it's not a labeled #2 pump, you could have warranty issues. You agreed.

B20 has a greater gelling issue vs straight #2, the colder it gets. The link you provided also agrees.
Both will gel of course, but there is a significant difference in temps where treated #2 will gel and where treated b20 will gel. Something like 20 degrees difference.

Best of luck.

 

Okay...did my first fill up. Found the best price locally...$2.36 a gallon by driving 5 extra miles vs $2.99 right by my house. I can stop at this station as I come in from the freeway and then it won't be extra distance. It was labeled #2. You do have to use your debit but that's okay with me.

 

FWIW, that's pretty much the reason that states like currently MN vary their bio mandate seasonally. We don't necessarily get 20% in the winter and the mix we do receive has enough additives not to gel---this lesson was learned the hard way a few years back, FWIW. This is also the reason why 20% is currently the limit in the first place.

The upshot: there are plenty of concerns* involving bio, but winter gelling is not high on the list.

YMMV.

 

Say what? Not sure where you're reading anything other than with B20 or less, there are no winter issues regardless of temperature if the fuel is properly treated.

 

Yes - there are states that have approved/mandated B20 - as a "green blush" thinking B20 with higher bio content was more "green" than B2 diesel, or more recent B5 diesel.

Now - Europe has been way farther down that train than the US - and the major impetus behind recent improvement in diesel technologies - let's put that to the side.

Yes - technically B20 diesel in theory can provide 95% of the "boom-boom" of B2/B5 - unlike ethanol in gasoline which lowers fuel effectiveness dramatically.

However - the problems I have seen in B20 - and not seen in B2/B5 - is the nature/composition of the higher 20/bio-content - in other words there is a LOT of sh*t B20 especially as related to high-efficiency-Euro-diesels.

A Kubota tractor B20 - a Peterbuilt on B20 - yeh, "maybe" no problem - a Euro high perfromance passenger diesel engine - "probably" a problem if consistently using B20

Personally - if I lived in MN or IL with mandated/allowed B20 - and without clear pump labeling - Euro diesel would not be a good fit for me.

Not trying to sell anyone anything - and there are dedicated diesel enthusiasts in BOTH MN and IL - I am just sharing how I see it - and I have had friends and customers get caught up is sh*t B20...


Keep the beat !

 

Agree, which is why I said it's a risk you take when you use a cheap, unlabeled pump.

>B20 is the widely accepted winter limit when blended with #2, as above 20% it starts to walk away from the lower cloud point of #2. Which is why I said, the higher you go with bio, the greater the risk. Can't measure that risk if you don't know what's coming out of the pump.