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[largecol]

Ok, well ive been to look over a Tractor Estate this evening, GLS but hardly a mark on it for its age - 1998. Its got 167k on the clock but still pulls on ok. BUT (and its a BIG BUT) the guy has taken the Tractor tag a bit too literally and has been regularly running the old girl on the RED stuff!! .
Should i make my excuses and exit stage left, or does she still have a chance? The guy is askin a fair price, but is the damage already done? :-/ :-/

[iainb]

Red & blue diesel are the same as you get from any high street pump but it has a dye in it to mark it for TAX purposes

[Iain]

Yeah mate only dye,shouldn't have any effect on the motor...

My mate runs his 4x4 on red constant,no problems and has never been caught,had the jeep about 6 years now

[Bent valve]

 Are you concerned about fuel duty or whether the motor has suffered?

[KillerWatt]

As above, the only difference between "red" and "pump white" is the fact that "red" has been dyed to indicate it is for off road use only.

If "red" really did f**k your engine up, do you really think for one minute that boat owners with £10,000 worth of Volvo Penta engine would be running their craft on sub standard fuel?

[HolyCount]

Motor will be OK ---- you won't if you get stopped with a tank full of the stuff.  

[doz]

Sorry guys red and normal diesel are not the same. Red has a much higher sulfur content and other low grade stuff sunk into it. This won't cause you to much grief but the dye doesn't come out and if your stopped by custom and excise they will still impound your motor and fine you loads. I've got to say it's probably best to walk away.

[Omega man 2]

My old man used to run his opel rekord on green (it's acutally green over here ) diesal and never did any damage to the motor.

If you dont want to get caught by customs I suggest you run a couple tanks of normal diesal through it and change the filter

[tmx]

i know from good sources that BMWs with that engine run fine on the red stuff cant blame him its nearly half price!

you have to change the oil and fuel ilter more regually if your on the pop

[iainb]

Sorry guys red and normal diesel are not the same. Red has a much higher sulfur content and other low grade stuff sunk into it. This won't cause you to much grief but the dye doesn't come out and if your stopped by custom and excise they will still impound your motor and fine you loads. I've got to say it's probably best to walk away.

Sorry to tell you this is a myth
The men from the customs and excise carry dye dispersant for tankers that have coloured dye by mistake and it happens quite regularly

[doz]

Were gonna have to disagree on this one. I work in a oil refinery were we import the red dye to inject into the diesel. It stains everything and if you have run the car on red for some time it is almost impossible to remove it.

[iainb]

Cant dis agree about staining and I see enough engines to prove your point.
But on the othere subject lets agree to disagree

[KillerWatt]

Were gonna have to disagree on this one. I work in a oil refinery were we import the red dye to inject into the diesel. It stains everything and if you have run the car on red for some time it is almost impossible to remove it.

Yes the dye stains everything, and yes the sulfur content is slightly higher (so it smokes a little under hard acceleration).
However a filter change and a couple of tanks of "pump white" will be more than enough to pass any customs check (customs only check the fuel in the tank, they don't go looking to see if the motor has run on red at any time in it's past).

I ran our old Xantia on red for years, and the only time it ever saw "pump white" was 2 weeks before the MOT...when it had a filter change as well.
Come smoke test time, it always went through on a "fast pass" with a reading of 0.51
Soon as it passed the MOT, back on the cherry for another year..

[hoj]

Someone i know (hahum) had a Granada diesel 10 years ago and ran on red for at least 2 years whilst working on a building site.
Around 18 months after stopping using red they got stopped car took off them and fined too.
Never did any damage to engine though

[p j morgan]

going back ten years or so i had a twin axle transit van .the customs knocked on my door at 6 am and said they wanted to check my fuel .they checked the tank and injectors ..i had the normal white stuff in .they went away leaving me having to bleed my system  .no  sorry for bothering you or nothing !ignorant gits