Thread: Diesel fuel treatments.. wich one? if any?

Ive not used addatives in diesel itself before but I have used various addatives in the oils to promote different things.

Soaping agents to desludge engines and remove the masking effects of other agents to assist in fault finding prior to purchase/rebuild

Gelling agents to help dying seals

Dewatering and thinning agents to get crud from within the engine into the filter.

Stabilisers to help reduce burning and chemical failure of the oil caused by blowby

IMHO if you need to put addatives into the oil/fuel your only doing it to hide a problem be it you couldnt get the right fuel/oil in the first place or your trying to make it last a little bit longer before doing some real work on it.

I'm using a Doring Industries inline fuel cat. Tested down to 15ppm in south africa and engines still going, plus I'm getting 8.8lt per 100km.

It's nice that you all live where the fuel is actually treated. I live in a remote part of Central Asia and we get -40c in the winter regularly. I can't get any commercial products out here. Can you really treat diesel with kerosene? How do you calculate how much to use? I want a Defender because it's perfect for my work, but a 110 tdi isn't going to cut it if it sits in the field all winter frozen.

yep you can thin diesel with kero, the engine oil too so its easier for the oil pump to shift it... (the kero will evaporate with the engine heat and be removed via crankcase ventillation.)

ITs generally a suck it and see as to how much you need to add.

Make a mix and experiment with it in different temperatures...

A better solution would be the fitting of preheating gear to the vehicle cause at those temps your going to get other problems long before the diesel itself becomes an issue.

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

IMHO if you need to put addatives into the oil/fuel your only doing it to hide a problem be it you couldnt get the right fuel/oil in the first place or your trying to make it last a little bit longer before doing some real work on it.

Mate, there are many justifiable reasons for using additives in fuel. I've just recently sold an 11m cruiser which had 800 litres on board in 2 tanks. Without treating it with Chemteck it grows an algea which has a sevear and detrimental effect on your pump and injectors.

My diesel fitter that did my work on my boat (read consultant he advised I worked) uses chemteck in his Troopy (turbo 6 diesel) for the same reason. Not quite as critical in cars but once your stored capacity of fuel rises with longer retention times then treating the fuel for agae growth is essential.

If you were in the position where u had a 130l tank and only drove your fender once or twice every fornight like i do you would treat the fuel.

Ahhh yes the dreaded diesel snot...

Not what I had in mind when I posted my reply but even if you do use the chemtek or equivilent stuff unless you clean the tank out or treat it repedatively you will eventually get the problem again...

Personally in this case Id personally rather reuse the chemtek. If I never have to help scrub out a tank again It will be way too soon.

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

Personally in this case Id personally rather reuse the chemtek. If I never have to help scrub out a tank again It will be way too soon.

Ahmen Brother, been there dun that, still washing the slimy crap out of my forearms. Incidentally a bloke I know who is a chemist says that the Agal groth alters the PH balance too which if u have alloy tanks could be a real bugger.

The really really nasty part about it is that it is an "interface" algea. By this I mean that it grows on the interface point of two different things, be it the fine line between the fuel and water or the fuel and the tank.

And the (apply suitabley long string of expletives here) stuff when pulled out of suspension(drain the tank and its all sitting in the bottom) sticks like brown stuff to a blanket.

If you thought it was bad to get out of a normal sized tank just imagine how bad it is to get out of a baffled 8000l tank.