Ed White
Kelowna, BC, Canada
Senior Member
Joined: 01/30/2001
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
 Offline
|
Just to add to my earlier post, the vehicles that are the MOST sensitive to sulfur in the fuel are Duramax diesels (maybe because they are the only ones not "cheating" on emissions") and no Duramax owners have reported any problems on the route to Kino Bay for at least 3 years.
|
MEXICOWANDERER
las peñas, michoacan, mexico
Senior Member
Joined: 06/01/2007
View Profile
Offline
|
I worked for Fernando and EriK Duran straightening out the cross border mess around 20 years ago. Duran Trucking, which used to be on Emery Road in Tecate, CA. So the words I got were from US Customs and the California Highway Patrol. At the COMMERCIAL ENTRANCE which none of you see, on USA land a Highway Patrolman used to dip tanks. If they found any truck in Secondary with non ULSD the ENTIRE FLEET was banned from crossing. The test the CHP used detected something like >75 - 100 PPM, and from the looks of the Halliburton encased instrument it did not look at all cheap. The officer drove a Dodge RAM SUV pickup with camper shell that the sides opened up. These guys were anything but talkative.
Here's the way the operation worked.
Cargo like processed foodstuffs were hauled to the Duran yard in Tecate. A cross border shuttle then brought the stuff to the Duran yard on Emery Road. The trailer content was transferred to a USA rig - trailer and tractor. They hauled as far as to the San Francisco Bay Area and to El Paso Texas.
Fernando was worried about two things - drugs hidden in the tractors, and non ULSD in the shuttle tanks. Zero gasolineras in Tecate had anything other than ULSD. I have no idea of what stations outside of town had - that was not my turf. Duran used a gasolinera on the East side of Tecate on Mex 2. When the cap was screwed onto the tank a pressure crimp seal was applied. If the CHP cut it off the driver brought the cut "cable tie" to the yard and reported it. The seals were metal and numbered.
If drugs had been found here is what would happen. Tractor, trailer and contents seized. Driver arrested. Fleet banned from crossing (I do not know for how long). The number one hundred thousand was mentioned as a fine. The DOT would revoke Duran's license, The California Dept of Transportation would revoke commercial carrier license. And finally the carrier insurance would be revoked.
I can see why Fernando was paranoid. Some of the driver's, young punks, resented me keeping an eye on things. They were absolutely marijuanos. I smelled it on them, and when I wiped my finger in the tractor ashtry I could smell it. So could Fernando and Erik. Those drivers were let go.
Why was I even there? Duran hauled and made arrangements to haul two 53' van loads to Mazatlan where the vans were hauled to Tepic, then changed tractors then hauled to Morelia Michoacan. This is how I got some of my stuff home. The rest came by cargo container by sea. I built home, generator shed, 14 tons of 2 volt cell batteries, three thousand high strength concrete blocks, insulation, wiring, a three tons of tools. If I had hired a broker and commercial haul service it would have cost me a king's ransom.
I wired the Duran CA lot, and a 12 bay truck repair shop in Tecate Baja for Fernando. I set up a communications link so that thirty or so Mexican telephones of theirs had direct dial USA connection. And USA phones, direct dial Telnor access. I lost track after crossing that border 400+ times.
With regard to this area I speak with some experience. But it must be remembered this was a long time ago. ULSD is much more common now. I have my sources inside Petroleos Mexicanos but it isn't for pinpointing which gasolinera has UBA. It's for general interest. Process unit updating, renovating or creation. This is how I learned of the battle over five percent ethanol sales of comistible to Mexico.
I rejoice when others have initiative to pursue quests of who has what. But I dislike disinformation. It causes people headaches. Arguing if Salina Cruz UBA Premium process units are producing when surveyor's tape is all that has happened. Things are changing now more rapidly in one month than they did in five years. So I gladly hand the baton off. When Ernesto tells me Mexico has completed it's first Alkylation Plant, that is what interests me.
But I accomplished my goal. Moving in excess of thirty tons of material 1,445 miles south of the Nogales POE. Over 2 tons of it is Space Shuttle Discovery and Endeavor surplus wire from Lockheed auction in Palmdale. Fifty Cents Per Pound.
Hope this clarifies rather than confuses.
|
Talleyho69
Playa la Ropa, Zihuatanejo, Mexico
Moderator
Joined: 09/29/2010
View Profile
Offline
|
The topic is the availability of ULSD. Let's stay on topic, please.
|
MEXICOWANDERER
las peñas, michoacan, mexico
Senior Member
Joined: 06/01/2007
View Profile
Offline
|
Chofers de pipas, LARGE tanker, truck drivers are mostly aware of what they are carrying. They won't respond with an answer "To Keep You Happy".
Basic brief question
Tu pipa lleva diesel UBA?
Buenas (whatever) Two-PEE-pah yay-vah DEE-sull Oo-Bey-AH?
Your tanker is carrying ULSD?
The pronunciation interpretation is good enough for them to understand.
|
moisheh
North America
Senior Member
Joined: 05/04/2002
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
|
Of course Ed does not get any reports from Kino about problems. I doubt there are 30 diesel trucks a year that come to Kino. How many are later models? Ed has a lot of knowledge on this subject but there is not enough proper statistical data to come to any conclusion. If I had a new $60,000 pickup I sure would not take a chance. I might add the following: I was having check engine lights on our 08 425ISL. Took it to Cummins. They dumped the ECM data. It was a problem in the setup for regens. Fortunately after that it cleaned the DPF and all was good. The Shop Foreman showed me a print out of some of the data. Every regen was shown with the back pressure before the Regen and the back pressure after the regen as well as how long the regen lasted.. So if using Mexican fuel shows lots of regens the US dealers can tell that something is wrong. I might add that the head of the Mexican Trucking Association says they will not have any trucks that need ULSD until they can be assured the fuel is available. I do agree that within the next year there will probably be ULSD everywhere.
Moisheh
|
|
|
Ed White
Kelowna, BC, Canada
Senior Member
Joined: 01/30/2001
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
Offline
|
Oh Moisheh - give us a break. For almost TEN YEARS you have been 100% NEGATIVE on this issue despite ZERO personal experience with any diesel later than 2008.
Besides which, the DPF is NOT THE PROBLEM for diesels that have issues with Mexican diesel fuel. It is the SCR (Selective Catalytic Reducer) that uses Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) which suffers from temporary sulfur poisoning between regenerations.
|
MEXICOWANDERER
las peñas, michoacan, mexico
Senior Member
Joined: 06/01/2007
View Profile
Offline
|
Ed, isn't there a way to manually make regeneration cycle more frequent? Sure, it would show up on a scan readout but isn't regen preferable to having stuff damaged?
The object is to get more folks safely down and back.
I guess I've been looking in the wrong places but I haven't stumbled across a report from actual owner of a late model with catastrophic emissions damage.
|
Ed White
Kelowna, BC, Canada
Senior Member
Joined: 01/30/2001
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
Offline
|
Yes, it is possible to trigger a regeneration cycle to burn off sulfur deposits on diesel pickups, which are the vehicles most affected by temporary sulfur poisoning of the emissions system. The method for doing this depends on the truck manufacturer and model year, and nothing is stored in the ECM memory that would cause a technician to think/suspect that the owner had triggered a regen. I provide recommendations and suggestions to owners based on where they plan to travel in Mexico, their truck model year, and manufacturer.
The reason that there aren't any reports on the net of catastrophic emissions damage is because temporary sulfur poisoning doesn't cause damage. Everything returns to normal after a regeneration cycle because the sulfur is burned out of the system.
A number of pickup owners do run in to sgtressful issues every winter while at their Mexican Snowbird locations but these situations have always been manageable. The most affected vehicles are Duramax powered, but I have trained volunteers all over Mexico who can perform "rescues" when necessary. In almost 10 years of monitoring the situation I have only ONE case on file where an owner had to spend serious dollars to get his truck back to the USA. This was more to do with the way he managed the situation than the problem itself.
|
moisheh
North America
Senior Member
Joined: 05/04/2002
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
|
A DPF is not designed to burn off Sulfur. The particulates are not sulfur. It is ash, soot and some base metals. I am not an engineer. But until Ed gets a SAE certification or becomes an engineer I will remain from Missouri. I would also expect Ed to offer to pay for any repairs caused by using Mexican fuel.
Moisheh
|
Ed White
Kelowna, BC, Canada
Senior Member
Joined: 01/30/2001
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
Offline
|
OF COURSE a DPF is not designed to burn off sulfur. Numerous times I have written that the process of burning off the soot deposits in the DPF, known as regeneration, also has the side benefit of burning out deposits of sulfur compounds in the SCR. It is those sulfur deposits in the SCR which cause NOX emissions to go out of spec, which in turn leads to the Check Engine Light on, as well as a warning of "Poor Quality DEF", and the presence of codes P2BAD and P20EE. Vehicles that do not use DEF never have any issues with sulfur in the fuel, and not all vehicle makes and model years that do use DEF have issues.
* This post was
edited 11/06/17 09:33am by an administrator/moderator *
|
|
|
