1986/01/13 Caterpillar

All Diesel Engines

Continued use of diesel fuel with excessive sulfur can severly damage an engine. Previously, if a dealer or customer needed to know the amount of sulfur present in a sample of diesel fuel, the sample had to be sent to a testing laboratory for analysis. This was costly and it was impossible to obtain immediate results.

Now, an 8T910 Fuel Sulfur Analyzer is available from Caterpillar. This is a portable, low cost instrument that can be used by dealer personnel for S·O·S (Scheduled Oil Sampling), or at a job site by dealer personnel, or by customers to determine sulfur concentration in diesel fuel. The percent of sulfur present in a diesel fuel sample can be accurately determined in less than 15 minutes.

The person performing the test needs no formal training on the use of the instrument. No background in chemistry or S·O·S is required. The following items are required to use this analyzer:

... An 8T5179 Fuel Sample which must be ordered separately. This is a 59 mL (2 oz) minimum sample of diesel fuel with 1% sulfur. This sample is used for calibration testing.

... An 8T5177 Tube Sulfur Dioxide Detector, which must be ordered separately. Ten tubes are in each box under this part number.

... An oxygen regulator.

... Welding or medical grade oxygen with minimum purity of 99.6%.

... Two 2-volt batteries (included with the analyzer).

... Special Instruction SEHS8545 which comes with the analyzer.

The fuel sulfur analyzer available from Caterpillar. (The bottled fuel sample is not included with the analyzer.)

The analyzer will determine, within ± .1%, the amount of sulfur in distillate diesel fuels containing no more than 1.5% sulfur by weight.

If you use an oil with a TBN (Total Base Number) that is too low, the sulfuric acid formed by sulfur in the fuel cannot be neutralized. The oil should be matched to fuel sulfur content. For more details on this, see "Fight Fuel Sulfur", SEBD0598.