Australia: Diesel engine crisis looms

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Diesel engine crisis looms

03jan01

THE engines of thousands of vehicles could have been damaged by recent diesel-fuel content changes, according to a motoring body.

The Royal Automobile Club of Queensland said it had received several hundred phone calls in the past week from Queensland members claiming their vehicles' engines had been damaged by low-sulphur-content diesel fuel.

The calls were only the "tip of the iceberg", the RACQ said.

The RACQ is investigating compensation avenues for its members while some affected companies were considering legal action.

The problem follows BP Australia's move last July to refine low-sulphur diesel fuel at its Brisbane refinery.

The introduction of the fuel regime, stemming from State Government regulations, coincided with a rise in the incidence of engine damage to four-wheel drives and other diesel-powered vehicles built between five and 10 years ago.

BP Australia spokesman Neil McMaster said the company was aware of isolated cases of engine problems, typically in pre-1992 four-wheel drive vehicles, caused by the new type of fuel.

But he denied claims that thousands of people would be affected and said moves towards legal action were a "total over-reaction".

"There are certainly some issues and we want to solve them," Mr McMaster said.

"There is nothing wrong with the fuel -- it meets all specifications.

"It does cause issues with diesel fuel pumps in isolated instances and that certainly concerns us and we want to do everything we can to help our customers out with this."

Mr McMaster said people with problems could call 1300 130 027 to register at BP's customer service centre.

An independent assessor would look at their claims, he said.

If it was found that the fuel was at fault they will be "helped out".

Western Australia, which has similar regulations to Queensland on low-sulphur content in diesel fuels, had several complaints early last year which BP addressed, he said.

Legislation passed last year in Federal Parliament but not yet enacted will bring the rest of Australia in line with those two state's low-sulphur diesel standard.

http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,1572658%255E421,00.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), January 02, 2001

Answers

So what's the problem with the fuel? Is sulfur a necessary component like lead was in gasolene 30+years ago when valve seats were not hardened?

-- John Littmann (littmannj@aol.com), January 02, 2001.

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