Dyed fuel vs "road fuel"

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PaulTGarrett

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I've been noticing a few threads where people are talking about being caught with dyed fuel in their trucks. I do know the difference between dyed (non-taxed) and clear (road taxed) fuel.

My question is why is anyone even worrying about it? Here in Florida I've never even been looked at as far as fuel. Granted, I've only had my truck for just shy of a year now, maybe I'm just running lucky so far.

I have a bed-mounted tank for filling generators and winch motors and have been getting it filled wherever I needed to. Pump diesel, marina, bulk fuel distributor... Whoever is the most convenient at the time. I often top off my truck from the aux tank, again, not even giving it a second thought.

Is this a northern/midwest kinda thing, to worry about having your fuel checked? I know some of the states up there have some pretty... invasive... laws. It seems most of the comments I see are in those areas...

Just curious as to why anyone is giving a rat's backside about the color of your fuel...
 

BWL

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The marked fuel has less taxes an it vs road fuel. Apart from that it's the same. They sometimes check especially guys with slip tanks as it's basically tax evasion running marked on the road. It's a risk a lot of people take, but to my knowledge the consequences if caught can be pretty severe. If you're buying clear then you can fill out of your aux tank all you want.
 

wutech

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Sometimes also referred to farm fuel, the taxes you pay on the fuel help pay for the roads (or we are told) dyed fuel for farms or off road use only.
 
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PaulTGarrett

PaulTGarrett

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I know the difference in the taxes, I just don't care and run whatever is marked "#2 Diesel"... Other than commercial trucks, I've never heard of anyone around here ever being checked or even questioned about it...

I was just wondering why it seemed like people in other states were more concerned about it. Do other states have law enforcement with too much time on their hands so they have to run down a pickup truck to dip the tank??
 

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Once you run dyed fuel, its nearly impossible to cleanse it from the system sans replacing every part of the fuel system. Most of the time the only people who will get tested are those who are hauling or have a DOT number. I still wouldnt risk it due to it being $10/gallon or $1,000 per violation in fines.
 

BWL

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I know the difference in the taxes, I just don't care and run whatever is marked "#2 Diesel"... Other than commercial trucks, I've never heard of anyone around here ever being checked or even questioned about it...

I was just wondering why it seemed like people in other states were more concerned about it. Do other states have law enforcement with too much time on their hands so they have to run down a pickup truck to dip the tank??
People living in farming communities and guys with slip tanks in their trucks are the most likely to get checked since they're the most likely to use marked. Commercial carriers are also up there since they get randomly inspected for safety at scales and dipping the tank is really easy on those trucks. Do what you want, but it seems you know the rules/laws on this. If you're going to break them I'd keep it to yourself rather than posting a confession on here.
 

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I've known a lot of farmers and ranchers who were afraid to run dyed fuel in their road vehicles.
 

TurdHorn-2500

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i think the risk here is if you get tattled on or maybe if a fuel station's camera catches you at a farm fuel pump. it's been decades since LE has routinely checked tanks here in Oklahoma, if i recall correctly.
i've ran up and down the road over recent years with an aux diesel tank for about 20k miles or so without an officer inspecting me. not that i'm worried. cause i don't run farm fuel in my truck... not that i'm against it :D
 

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I've been noticing a few threads where people are talking about being caught with dyed fuel in their trucks. I do know the difference between dyed (non-taxed) and clear (road taxed) fuel.

My question is why is anyone even worrying about it? Here in Florida I've never even been looked at as far as fuel. Granted, I've only had my truck for just shy of a year now, maybe I'm just running lucky so far.

I have a bed-mounted tank for filling generators and winch motors and have been getting it filled wherever I needed to. Pump diesel, marina, bulk fuel distributor... Whoever is the most convenient at the time. I often top off my truck from the aux tank, again, not even giving it a second thought.

Is this a northern/midwest kinda thing, to worry about having your fuel checked? I know some of the states up there have some pretty... invasive... laws. It seems most of the comments I see are in those areas...

Just curious as to why anyone is giving a rat's backside about the color of your fuel...

This is mostly a concern for those that pull commercially. Private sector not really concerning as much


I Love My 2018 RAM 2500HD 4x4 6.4L. USMC (ret)
 

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pretty good fines around here if you get caught running it in vehicles that you aren't suppose to. we got MTO, MOF and i believe MOE that will check for something like that if they believe you are running it. i know i got pulled over by the MOE once so they could make sure all my emissions equipment was in place. they didn't dip my tank but there was no real need to since like others have said there is no obvious reason for them to check that on my vehicle. now i don't know if it is true or not but my dad told my if you let the fuel sit in pails out in the sun the dye will eventually separates from the fuel.
 

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There’s also the potential that they can backtax you on every single mile you have on the odometer since there’s no way to tell when you started running it, just that you have etc. so just something to consider when you think it’s not that big a deal, could screw you in the end
 

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It's like anything in life, nobody worries about consequences until it is your turn in the barrel and then you are singing a different tune.

Many years when I live in the Texas Panhandle, it was common to get inspected at any large gathering of diesel vehicles at county fairs and rodeo events. Gets interesting when most folks have a truck gun and are working stiffs and having their livelihood towed off and impounded for trying to cheat the tax man.
 

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now i don't know if it is true or not but my dad told my if you let the fuel sit in pails out in the sun the dye will eventually separates from the fuel.

I'll confirm this. My company transports vast amounts of diesel, among other commodities, in the PNW. I deal with product transfer from tank to truck, and do routine testing of the product. We will pull samples from the holding tanks in glass jars, and within minutes of sitting in the sun in a sealed glass jar, the dye just disappears.

Once you run dyed fuel, its nearly impossible to cleanse it from the system sans replacing every part of the fuel system. Most of the time the only people who will get tested are those who are hauling or have a DOT number. I still wouldnt risk it due to it being $10/gallon or $1,000 per violation in fines.
Not exactly true. Where the dye will remain is in your filters. The red dye is amazing, really- you don't want to get that **** on you. It takes very little to effectively color a gallon of diesel, and its staining properties are plainly evident in the filter element. But the remainder of the system just needs to be flushed, and that only requires a couple of gallons to purge it. Its just a colossal pain in the ass to do it.
 

John Jensen

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A red dye using person probably doesn't worry about fishing without a license either.
I don't get it, why don't people obey the laws?
 

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It's like anything in life, nobody worries about consequences until it is your turn in the barrel and then you are singing a different tune.

Many years when I live in the Texas Panhandle, it was common to get inspected at any large gathering of diesel vehicles at county fairs and rodeo events. Gets interesting when most folks have a truck gun and are working stiffs and having their livelihood towed off and impounded for trying to cheat the tax man.

^^^^ This---In my experience in Northern Colo much of the enforcement was done at "sale barns" and auctions. Many of the farmers and ranchers had tanks at home that would be filled with diesel for their farm equipment and they would just use the same fuel for their pickups and hope not to get caught. Most I knew did think much of it---until they or a friend of there's got caught, then it was the cop's fault not there's. Pretty dumb IMHO
Jay
 
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PaulTGarrett

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A red dye using person probably doesn't worry about fishing without a license either.
I don't get it, why don't people obey the laws?


I have a lifetime Florida hunting and fishing license... Have had them since I was 18, I think...

I burn whatever will turn my engine's crank. I don't care about the "road tax" laws because so freakin' little of that tax we pay actually goes to actual road care... I'm sure that in the People's Republic of California that "all" of your taxes are used for what they are designated for... Here in the real world, the state uses whatever it can get it's hands on to pay it's bills, not actually use tax money for it's designated purpose.

Frankly, I go for whatever fuel is the cheapest. I have found dyed marine fuel at almost a dollar a gallon cheaper than pump diesel. That keeps almost $200 in my pocket on a full (truck tank and bed-mounted tank) fill up. Don't care if ol' Smokey knows it, I don't have a commercial vehicle, so unless they have a warrant, they're not sticking anything in my tank!

I was only asking in the original post because it seemed like a lot of peeps in the Northern Territories worried about being caught by their overly invasive powers that be. I just can't see non-commercial vehicles being pulled over and their tanks dipped for dye... I have never in my life seen it done on a private vehicle... I guess our Smokey's have better things to do down here...
 

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Interesting discussion about tax evasion involving the road use of off-road fuel.
Yet electric car drivers pay no fuel taxes.
 

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