Rawze's thoughts on Fuel Additives...

[Rawze]

Fuel Additives, Is It Worth The Cost?...

For improving fuel economy...


Putting additives in your fuel to improve its economy does actually work with a couple products out there, but the cost of every single additive out there far outweighs the slight benefit they would ever provide if your truck is already running fairly well. Their claims of 'Free mpg', and things like 8% improvements are actually based on mechanical NON-ECM engines that are already running horribly bad. When you look at the hard evidence backing their claims, this quickly becomes apparent. Newer EGR engines regulate how hot the fuel actually burns as well, so any additive that claims to be a cetane booster, when put in, will be compensated for by the EGR system, further reducing the effects it might have had. Fuel additives that claim to be 'Injector cleaners', used on a regular basis, can in fact help keep your injectors slightly cleaner, but if your injectors are already dirty, these additives are not going to reverse the problem by any measurable amount. Also, most injector cleaners are very abrasive to the engine and fuel system components, causing excess wear. As of September 2012, there is only one actual injector cleaner product on the market that passes HFRR testing, meaning it is NOT as abrasive, and slightly helps to keep injectors clean. I am by no means promoting this product, but 'Diesel Kleen' seems to be the only one. If used about once a month, it will actually help a bit, but using it more often doesn't seem to improve its effects. Here is some comparrisons if your curious. Just look at the chart at the very bottom of the document...


  Diesel_fuel_additive_test.pdf (Size: 130.69 KB / Downloads: 497)

Of the products listed, the WORST, and most abrasive listed ...

-- Lucas Upper Cylinder Lubricant (this does not surprise me, it is amazing how marketing dupes so many truckers)
-- B1000 Diesel Fuel Conditioner
-- FPPF Lubricity Plus Fuel Power (although their FPPF RV, Bus, SUV Diesel/Gas Fuel Treatment is very good, how Ironic)
-- Marvel Mystery Oil
-- ValvTect Diesel Guard
-- Primrose Power Blend 2003

Of the products listed, the BEST, and LEAST abrasive, actually qualify as fuel system Lubricants under lab tests, they are...

-- Opti-Lube XPD
-- FPPF RV, Bus, SUV Diesel/Gas Fuel Treatment
-- 2-Cycle TC-W3 Engine Oil (As long as it is an Ash-less oil).
-- Power Service Diesel Kleen + Cetane Boost (cleans injectors, and still qualifies as a lubricant to your fuel system)




For keeping the fuel system itself clean...


Asphaltene is a black, gritty substance that gets in your tanks, plugging up fuel filters and injectors. Fleetguard makes a product called 'Asphaltene Conditioner' that is pretty good at reversing asphaltene buildup problems if you get them. Many mechanics mistake this as 'soot', or oil intrusion, but it is actually a by-product of bio-diesel after it has started to separate under extreme pressures. This is actually a common problem with Cummins engines because the fuel compression is so high in the injectors, so it is a good idea to keep a close eye out for it if you own an ISX. Using an external filter/water seperator, such as a Davco, with a 10-micron or smaller filter in it will keep asphaltene at bay quite well on its own as well. Asphaltene can be treated by using 10 or smaller micron filters along with an occasional use of an Asphaltene Conditioner.

Algae, yes, there can be life forms growing in your fuel system. Algae, if it gets into your fuel tanks, can be a very serious problem, not only plugging up filters and costing you fuel economy, but can kill injectors fast, putting you in the shop for some expensive repairs. Algae can get into your fuel tanks very easily if there is moisture. Trucks that sit for days on end with low fuel tanks are at the most risk. Second, is drivers that do not keep their fuel tanks full on a regular basis. Condensation builds up on the inside walls of the fuel tanks whenever the air temperature around them changes, and they are not full. Once algae gets in, it will spread rapidly causing big problems. Topping off regularly and having a good fuel-water separator helps a lot to prevent it. If it gets in, it will be a black substance that clogs your fuel filter, but instead of it being gritty, it will be very slimy and nasty. Fuel additives like 'Bio-Bor' ( Biobor Jf Diesel Biocide ) are very good at getting it out, but will not cure bad injectors.


To Lower Fuel Costs, Urban Legends?...


Before leaving the subject of fuel additives, it is probably worth mentioning some of the urban legends that float around out there when it comes to saving fuel. Adding gasoline, alcohol, and/or methanol to your fuel actually lowers fuel economy because they all actually contain less energy per gallon than diesel, of which these are also very abrasive. Water/methanol injection does not help fuel economy in commercial trucks because the charge air cooler is big enough to cool the air without further assistance. There are people who swear by the whole methanol injection thing, and they do so for a reason, but it is a false one. Any diesel engine with an Air-to-Air (Charge Air) cooler that is too small, such as some brands of pick-up trucks, or a big rig that has a very, very dirty charge air cooler, that is NOT cooling the air properly before it goes into the intake, will not have as good fuel mileage as its supposed to, because of hotter than normal air going into the intake. Injecting just about any liquid (in their case, methanol combined with water/soap/etc.) that is slightly combustible will obviously cool the air further and make it more dense. This leads to slight improvements in fuel economy, but actually fixing the problem, such as cleaning or replacing the Charge Air Cooler, will do the same thing, only better. Same thing goes for those stupid butterfly-looking contraptions people stick into their intake piping. Like I said, just keep your intake system in good shape, and NONE of these products will become valid options to saving fuel.

Putting motor oil in your tanks does not improve, or hurt your fuel economy, but can be very bad if the oil is not CJ-4 compliant, and you have a DPF. You will end up with ash problems, and if that oil is used, it will have abrasive wear metals in it that cause excess engine wear. Kerosene is sometimes used to keep diesel from gelling and/or is used to circumvent paying fuel taxes. This is in fact true, but it is very abrasive and causes excess wear. It actually isn't bad as a 'Roll your own' anti-gel product if it is first mixed with a good ash-less 2-cycle engine oil mixed at 128:1, to make it less abrasive. Some of the anti-gel products on the truck stop shelves are nothing more than this anyways.

Ash-less 2-cycle engine oil itself is actually a product that can slightly improve fuel economy as well as reduce the abrasive effects of ULSD fuel. When the oil companies were forced to reduce the sulfur content of fuel, they turned to 2-cycle oil as a replacement. Unfortunately, Most oil suppliers cheat a bit on the amount the fuel is supposed to have by about 3-5% typically. Adding too much, though, has NO increased benefits at all, so to compensate for your average ULSD fuel, you can add the missing oil back in, but the proper mix ratio to be added back for a class-8 truck is still a problem. The proper mix ratio, after digging very hard to get the scientific answer, and not some salesman's recommendation, is 200:1. At this ratio, the combined benefit of both lowering component wear and the slight fuel economy increase, is about 3% at best. Mixing it 128:1 or 148:1 will not improve its effects, and for a truck that has two 100 gallon tanks, this is about 1 whole gallon of 2 cycle oil per full fill up. Weighing costs, the 2 cycle oil would have to be sold at less than $6 for a gallon just to break even, so, there again, yes it helps, but no, it is not worth the cost of the product.

ATF (Automatic Transmission fluid), otherwise knows as 'Dextron' is actually NOT a very good product to run in your fuel tanks. Although it sometimes helps to soften old seals in the fuel system, they can become too soft over time, deteriorate, and fail. Dextron ATF does in fact help a bit with lubricating the fuel pump and other metal components themselves, however once it enters the cylinders, the whole ball game changes. When burned in the combustion chamber, it produces high amounts of ethylene, produces small amounts of ash residue, and abrasive crystallization occurs, threatening long term piston and cylinder wall lifespan. That certainly is NOT good for your pistons and liners.

Besides the increased wear, the fluid is RED in color, and the D.O.T., if they see red fuel, are going to think you are using farm fuel and you can incur some pretty hefty fines for it. It sometimes has been known to help clean slightly dirty injectors a bit but there are other, more effective products for this. Diesel Kleen, or something similar seems to be a better product for assisting in cleaning injectors.

Vegetable oil, also referred as VSO (Straight Vegetable Oil), when added to, or used as diesel fuel, has very similar qualities and efficiency, but, like other additives, there is a problem with it. It leaves a higher content of carbon buildup on all the engine components, resulting in excess wear long term. It also seems to not have any benifit to lubricating the fuel system components, and can attack and destroy seals over time. Vegitable oil also has a much higher viscosity than diesel. This means that it will spray into the cylinders with bigger droplets and tends to cause a higher rate of 'coking' (gumming up) the piston rings over time, reducing the oil's effects of lubricating them. Not very good for putting in your truck if you ask me.

[FjSouth]

any ideas on Howe or Xp3?

[Mrkentee]

I started using Primrose Power Klenz ID 5007 about 1 1/2 years ago when I had a lot of asphaltine in my primary filter. Been using it regularly to keep it at bay. I have no idea if it is abrasive or not.
This article has me concerned about it.

[windowrattler]

Primrose is the only "snake oil" product we use. It seems to do what it says it should do. The 5007 is great for winter time to prevent clogging filters due to carboxylate fall out. I'd love to hear any opinions on their products good, bad or ugly.

[Mrkentee]

I found this.

{garbage fuel addative advertizement removed}

[tree98]

Is it adding sulpher ? If so I wouldn't use that on a mandated engine. Sulpher= Soot. And for that matter, whatever it is if it's not sulpher is probably adding to soot levels.

[Rawze]

(09-13-2023 )tree98 Wrote:  Is it adding sulpher ? If so I wouldn't use that on a mandated engine. Sulpher= Soot. And for that matter, whatever it is if it's not sulpher is probably adding to soot levels.

Actually... Sulfur in the fuel + a DPF system = Sulfur-Dioxide = Sulfuric Acid!.

VERY VERY VERY VERY BAD!!!

That is exactly WHY the fuel formulas were changed for the USA markets.

The proper replacement for the missing sulphur is 2-cycle engine oil, and the fuel suppliers already add it in, so it should not be a real issue.

Goes right back to truck owners obsessing and over-thinking, putting all kinds of crap additives in their fuel system out of sheer ignorance and being dupped by those cool-aide sales ads. It mostly does more harm than good when it comes right down to it, as well as it costing you WAAY more to keep putting s$it into the tanks than just to simply care for, and maintain the fuel system properly.

For those who are just finding this old thread... READ THE FIRST POST ON THE THREAD!!! if you want to know why I say this.

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SOOOO>>< That looks like another one of those GIMMIK HORSE-S$IT PRODUCTS to suck truckers money away from them, it looks like to me!!!.

[MommaBurt]

Thoughts on ferrocene?

[Peashooter67]

Adding anything that contains sulfur or anything that bumps your sulfur content of your fuel is bad for your emissions system. It will permanently clog your particulate filter. As far as your engine goes sulfur in your fuel is great for your fuel pump and injectors.