How Dirty is the Diesel Fuel I buy from Filling Stations?

On my Cummins 6.7L I change my oil every 12,000 miles.

I pull a 28 foot gooseneck trailer and get 10 Miles Per Gallon.

With 12,000 miles @ 10 MPG that is 1200 GALLONS.

I cut my frame mounted spin on filter open to see how dirty it (and the front / motor - filter) were after 1200 Gallons.

Here is what I found.

https://youtu.be/ZElbIAOgmEI

I like to mention that the guy at the station you went to that put oil in his diesel tanks and selling it to you is breaking federal laws. You should report him for others sake.

The diesel fuel is filtered through out the refining process. Its filtered when put into the shipping tanks and filtered from the storage tanks to your truck.

But there are ways for debris to get into those tanks and your tank while your driving. You have atmospheric vacuum breakers on your truck tanks that can suck in a bit of debris while driving. Add the fact that as time goes by, your truck tank can collect debris at the bottom that can circulate through out your system that hopefully be caught by the filters.

Actually I'm glad the filters are getting black with trash ... way less going to my engine parts.

Good clip, thanks.

BTW - the service station that dumped used motor oil into the diesel tanks was 20 years ago - out of business for years now.

Oh I normally fill 5 gallon tanks for my tractor fuel and it looks honey color and clean from the fuel station pump.

When I get to see the fuel I get at stations (in small containers or watching it flow from the pump nozzle into my truck filler neck) it usually looks real clean.

I'm not sure where the gunk came from in the frame mounted filter?

I know that the motor filters always start looking "dark" after just 100 gallons or so.

I figure anyone without the frame mounted filter - any solid crud is gong to accumulate in the bottom of the motor mounted filter housing.

I have a Ram ‘14 2500 6.7 and I installed an aftermarket fuel filter from fuelfilterkits.com. It allows me to run the cat filter 1r-0750. They filter down to 2 micron better than factory which I believe is 6 micron at best. I’ve cut my cat filter open after 15K miles and I was surprised the garbage it had in it. The fuel at the station may look clean but in reality it isn’t.


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I thought the color change was when it circulates the fuel system and picks up / removes heat from the pumps and such.

Debris is from what I mentioned before.

Lets see if others kick in.

I only purchase fuel from CFN (at home) and Pilot/Flying J (when I’m on the road) and I’ve never? gotten a bad tank of fuel.

Thank you for taking the time to video your findings.

That filter media has me scratching my head - It would be interested to see others.

Found this - Granted I will never let my rear filter go 25K miles - 10K is max for me on the Rear & 15K on the Front.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl93-NlmlvI