Hello to all. My name is Kurt and I live in the Caribbean Island of St.Lucia. I am currently considering importing a brand new 2007 3.0 Diesel Toyota Hilux. My only issue with ordering the vehicle is that I am skeptical about the SULFUR CONTENT RECOMMENDED for this type of vehicle.

Also I cannot seem to find the SULFUR CONTENT of Diesel in my country. So what what I would like is for one of you professionals to please tell me the Sulfur Content of the Diesel in my country and i would also like to know the recommended Sulfur content for this vehicle.

It would also be useful if you can please tell me what will happen to my vehicle if the sulfur content is too high or too low.

Thank you very much in advance for you help and assistance.

The Vigo now comes with what is called Common Rail Direct Injection (CDI) engines on their turbo-diesels. This technology requires the use of low sulphur fuels. The setback with lower sulphur fuels was thought to be the lack of lubricity (if this is a word), but on the other hand you have less harmful emissions contributing to the "greehouse gas" effect we are now experiencing in our environment. It appears that the loss of lubrication for critical engine parts don't become a factor until the sulphur content drops to 500ppm and below- see this article "http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article.php?a_id=41132" However, regulations in Asia where this vehicle is made now requires the use of diesel whose sulphur content does not exceed 50 ppm- particularly vehicles transiting or in use in Singapore as they primarily are. It is my belief the manufacturers in Thailand and Japan would have engineered for this fuel regulatory requirement and therefore lubrication issues would not be a problem. What might pose a problem is "excessive" sulphur content with the CDI technology. My solution is to install a fuel conditioner / filter ("Algae X" / model 200) in the fuel line to capture contaminants in the diesel fuel where you might have hi-sulphur content and other contaminants in the fuel (as can be anticipated in the Caribbean- their regulations are behind the times), and every or every-other fill-up I add a diesel fuel additive (supplied by local auto parts store, read the label that it does what you want) meant to lubricate and reduce harmful emissions. Lastly, you should ensure your vehicle has a "diesel particulate filter" kit installed; this eliminates the typical diesel smoking out the tail pipe by capturing the harmful particle matter in the exhaust side of the engine before being released into the atmosphere (that is of course you care about your environment). If you really must know your local diesel sulphur fuel content your regulatory environmental agency is required to know this (and would do periodic verification testing)- should be public knowledge, even so, you can call the head office of the fuel company headquartered there for the same information. Hope this helps. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/banana.gif)