I always wonder how something diluted at a 400 to 1 ratio can do anything other than,,,
Have wondered the same thing about other products. Like herbicides and 2-4d, roundup, etc and all that other stuff that gets sprayed on fields that is heavily diluted. Always wondered how that worked.....but it just does.
As to the diesel issue.......the general consensus from many in the field that I have talked to is that if you always use fresh fuel, there is little to worry about with a modern diesel.
IF you live in a climate that varies like mine, and we have both winter and summer diesel available depending on the time of the year.....and you have a bulk storage tank that lasts several months. Then the need for a winter additive is a real concern at times.
As is algae if you have untreated fuel left sitting.
My truck holds 35 gallons. It gets used to haul my tractor in the summer for business, and used for plowing snow in the winter. Depending on the jobs, and the snowfall, its not uncommon to go 3-months between fill ups. Thus algae is a real concern.
I purchased my 5.9L cummins truck at 70k miles about 6 years ago. it currently has 95k miles. What I assume was the OEM pump, went out at 85k miles. 1.5 years and 8k miles later, the bosch CP3 went out again. It was sent in for warranty evaluation and denied due to contamination.
Its easy to point a finger at poor fuel.....but what the h3ll is a guy supposed to do? How can one prove poor fuel when you use several different stations? And these are all large truck-stop type stations? Dont notice all the big trucks breaking down as a result. So I have to trust that the fuel company has their ***** together and the issue is with ME and not driving often enough to always ensure fresh fuel in there. (and yes, I keep the fuel filter changed every year, which is ~6k miles. and about 4-5 times a year I flip the lever to drain any water out of the bottom of the filter bowl).
Weather additives work or not, I have no idea. But every single company that rebuilds these bosch pumps that I have talked to all said I need to run some type of algacide at the very least. So for less than 10 cents per gallon, thats what I do. If it dont work....its not like it put me in the poor house. And if it does work, it will save me a few $1000 injector pumps every 25k miles, it was money very well spent.