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Have you ever had your tank dipped?

steelandcanvas

Well-known member
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Southwestern Idaho
"Mike, I think if it came down to this I would demand a chemical analysis to prove my case. "

How long would that take on the side of the road? The police get paid to do their job, you could be there as traffic whizzes by for a long time.....
Emmado, If this is such a concern, don't put anything red in the tank. I was just trying to assist the Gentleman, should he have to respond to a summons to court, not a LEO attempting a roadside chemical analysis. Are you always like this?
 

Recovry4x4

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This is true. For the most part they enforce attitudes more than laws. Challenge them and they will do what they can to make your day unpleasant
 

Crash_AF

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A man in Charlotte NC was fined $1000 by the state and $1000 by the feds for driving his 1981 Mercedes diesel on 100% vegetable oil.

In Colorado, they don't do a lot of checks (About 21000 were done last year) and they only caught 23 trucks using dyed fuel but other states are different. Arizona, for example, is VERY organized in their enforcement of fuel tax evasion and collected $3M in back taxes and $226K in fines/penalties last year.

The federal rule for fuel is that if you are caught, you are fined for the capacity of the tank and it is presumed that you loaded up a full tank of illegal fuel even if you only used 5 gallons to get to the store. The rule is not only for red dyed fuel, but any non taxed form of fuel. Even if you had a 5 gal bucket of ATF in the back, you'd be hard pressed to talk your way out of a citation.

As far as ex military trucks, I'd be careful if you are running civilian plates on it since they stand out as Reb said.

Later,
Joe
 

Crash_AF

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I'll second that, you don't have to prove anything on the side of the road... the longer you argue, the longer it takes and they get paid the same either way. Press hard, 5 copies.

Later,
Joe
 

OPCOM

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I had my tank dipped. or rather the 5 gallon jerry can. The neighbors thought they'd "borrow" some gas from me at night to top off their tank and went on a trip to Waco or some such. I-35 is close by, about a mile away, so I'm sure they jumped on and roared down the road at 70MPH, disco/rap blaring to cover up the sounds of increasing tortured agony from the engine. With 10-12 gallons of gas (if that much) and 3-4 gallons of diesel in a V-6 pulling a station wagon.. Their POS oldsmobile wagon was towed back to their house by a beat up pickup truck the next day and never ran again. It would not even start, just sputtered and smoked and made racket. The guy that owned it was about 550 LBS and claimed he could not work, or work on the car, due his condition. But he would always wedge his butt-n-gut into that car and be putting around during the day. There was a wheesing sound and alot of smoking from the rag they had tuck in the PCV valve hole in the rocker cover. not sure what got ruined. The guy said the engine died about halfway to Waco. Apparently they were stuck the night there off the road.

I was trying to help them look at the car the next couple days, and only noticed then the fuel can was almost empty and put 2+2 together and got fitty cent. At least they didn't steal the can, it's the one Bjorn gave me. They are gone now I got rid of the pests. I'm sure that they will be doing much better next year, per my important bulletin below. So be glad you don't have this kind of tank dipping going on.
 

mikes47jeep

Member
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North East PA
I had my tank dipped. or rather the 5 gallon jerry can. The neighbors thought they'd "borrow" some gas from me at night to top off their tank and went on a trip to Waco or some such. I-35 is close by, about a mile away, so I'm sure they jumped on and roared down the road at 70MPH, disco/rap blaring to cover up the sounds of increasing tortured agony from the engine. With 10-12 gallons of gas (if that much) and 3-4 gallons of diesel in a V-6 pulling a station wagon.. Their POS oldsmobile wagon was towed back to their house by a beat up pickup truck the next day and never ran again. It would not even start, just sputtered and smoked and made racket. The guy that owned it was about 550 LBS and claimed he could not work, or work on the car, due his condition. But he would always wedge his butt-n-gut into that car and be putting around during the day. There was a wheesing sound and alot of smoking from the rag they had tuck in the PCV valve hole in the rocker cover. not sure what got ruined. The guy said the engine died about halfway to Waco. Apparently they were stuck the night there off the road.

I was trying to help them look at the car the next couple days, and only noticed then the fuel can was almost empty and put 2+2 together and got fitty cent. At least they didn't steal the can, it's the one Bjorn gave me. They are gone now I got rid of the pests. I'm sure that they will be doing much better next year, per my important bulletin below. So be glad you don't have this kind of tank dipping going on.

wrong kind of tank dipping, the dipping we are talking about is when the feds pull you over and take a sample if diesel to see if you are running "non taxed fuel" AKA offroad diesel.

however i used to get my car siphoned back in highschool, had to put a locking gas cap on it
 

dm22630

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The SIMPLE solution to this is....

Put a quart or two of new motor oil in it (multifuel engine)....the ENTIRE tank will turn black.

Lets see them tell what is in there then. 2cents

AND.....

Cops dont care if you are right or wrong....they will tell you "tell it to the judge". Do NOT get an attitude with them if you are stopped.
 

cattlerepairman

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NORTH (Canada)
This is true. For the most part they enforce attitudes more than laws. Challenge them and they will do what they can to make your day unpleasant
Recovry4x4 - so true. I did a bit of self-reflection and admit that this is very much what I do when I am out there.

Many infractions I encounter are minor and I tend to be more lenient with people that are straight and honest (as opposed to fake) and I certainly follow "the book" when presented with attitude.

Hereabouts I would consider the likelihood of having the tank dipped as being rather low.

However, as already stated by a fellow Canadian:
"The use of coloured fuel in a licenced motor vehicle is prohibited.". Note that it says "fuel" - not diesel. That means that ATF and all other coloured liquids that contribute to the combustion are prohibited.

The fines range from $335 to 2000, depending on what you end up being written up for. Attitude is charged extra.
 

ida34

Well-known member
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Location
Dexter, MI
I have never been dipped or have ever dipped a tank. That being said, I have WVO that I am going to make biodiesel out of so I will be running none taxed fuel also. Some states allow a certain amount of fuel to be made and used untaxed per year. If you exceed that amount you need to get a permit. The whole point of this is that it does not matter if it is used motor oil, ATF, or off-road diesel. The are not looking for red fuel they are looking for untaxed fuel. Basically, they are looking for the blue regular diesel. If it is black then it is not taxed fuel. Any officer caring enought to dip the tank will know not to just look for red fuel. I don't think you would have much of a problem if you are not operating commercially. Like I said, I am going to use untaxed biodiesel.
 

Crash_AF

Active member
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Colorado Springs, CO
If it doesn't 'appear' to be hooked up, no... but if you get caught with it feeding the engine and it has red fuel in it, you're in deep caca...

Later,
Joe
 

Hammer

Well-known member
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Location
Winlock, WA
Yeah, appearing hooked up is the big key. The second tank can carry anything as long as it's not tied into the system.

I was thinking along the lines of 'I added some WMO as 'lubricant' to help out the old injection pump on this motor that was designed to run on a different fuel then the current ultra low sulfur stuff.'

I haven't ran any red fluids yet, but I will be running a bit of ATF pretty soon. They dip around here because of all the farmers using the red diesel, so it IS of a concern to me.
 
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