Ford Mondeo II (1996 - 2000) - Diesel Life Span | Motoring discussion | Back Room Forum

What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks

Thu 14 Aug 2008 12:51

Diesel Life Span - britmonkey

Hi (Im a newbie so please be nice)

Basically i have a large tank of diesel and I want to know if its safe to use it?

A site we have just taken control of has large and full diesel fuel tank, and I want to know if the contents are still useable.

The tank was filled with standard diesel (not red diesel) after the fuel strike as a back up to supply the companies vans if another strike happened.

It is being used to run the building generator without any problems.
But Ive drained a sample off and its a dark brown colour.
(There may have been some red diesel left in the tank when it was filled up with ordinary diesel).

I have found a link to a local company who claimes to clean diesel (mostly for boats), but not sure if they give any guarantees.

So does diesel have a shelf life? has it been contaminated with bacteria? Should I use it mixed with new fuel?

Britmonkey

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Thu 14 Aug 2008 14:19

Diesel Life Span - Mapmaker

What do you want to use it in?

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Thu 14 Aug 2008 14:47

Diesel Life Span - Dynamic Dave

What do you want to use it in?

Guessing a Mk2 Mondeo - as per the choice he made when composing his question. I was about to remove it as I thought it was a general question, rather than make/model specific. DD.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Thu 14 Aug 2008 14:24

Diesel Life Span - oldnotbold

How full is the tank? The more air in the tank, the more chance there is of bacterial growth.

If there was even a small amount of red in the tank it will show up on an HMRC tank dip test, which is not good, as the vehicle will get crushed, and the owner then gets a day in court...

Your best bet is to sell it to a farmer/boat yard or someone who won't use it on the road. You can not clean red diesel of the dyes, despite what people may say, and even if you did, the risk is still far too high. People with canal boats will chew your arm off, as very soon they won't be able to buy red diesel.

You could filter the fuel through a fine cloth filter to clean out the bacterial gunge, but it's a mucky job.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Thu 14 Aug 2008 16:31

Diesel Life Span - cheddar

If it was filled just prior to the recent fuel strike then it cant have developed much in the way of bacterial growth.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Thu 14 Aug 2008 16:48

Diesel Life Span - oldnotbold

Cheddar - but we don't know what was in there before it was filled.

Does the OP mean the Shell drivers' strike earlier this year?

Edited by oldnotbold on 14/08/2008 at 16:48

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Thu 14 Aug 2008 18:21

Diesel Life Span - britmonkey

Hi Oldnotbold

Thanks to everyone who took the time to read and reply.

Alas it was bought for the strike in 2000, so the fuels 8 years old!!!

Im now assured the red diesel was drained off prior to the tanks filling.

The company who are pushing to clean it have said this.

---------------------------------------

My advice is: don't be worried about diesel. The ageing process is only the contaminant gathering. Once we get that out (or 95% = of it at least) the diesel should be fine. We can always run a test for you in our own van.

We are proposing a special low price to help the situation for you. Just think what the cost of replacement fuel will be!

Its a 10,000L tank so I guess if it can be made usable, it could be worth 9000 GBP of fuel in our vans to our vans.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Ask Honest John

Sell Your Car

Real MPG

Fuel Calculator