Use of Cetane in fuel

[Gary Fowler]

I add nothing to my diesel. My opinion is they are generally a waste of money. A modern diesel just doesn't need any additives. I do add Howes in the winter to help with gelling but even this let me down last winter.

People will always say I have been adding xxxxx for years with no problems. They probably wouldn't have problems if they didn't add anything.

Exactly, I never add anything including anti-gel since it rarely gets cold enough for fuel to gel. Never had any problems. Back in the 60-70's that I farmed with my Dad, we went thru thousands of gallons of fuel each year and never added anything to it, but that was in the days of high sulfur fuel which keep down the algae if water got in the fuel.
I keep my fuel tanks inside my enclosed shed and never had an issue with water or algae and never put anything into the fuel. I have only needed to change the fuel filter on my B26 once at 450 hours, my RTV has 750 hours and still runs good on the original filter. I did remove it once when I thought it was bad but come to find out, I was nearly out of fuel (dummy me forgot to fill it up and didn't notice the fuel gage was showing empty).

 

[flingwing1969]

When I first got my tractor (I live at 4000') in the late summer, it never really started cleanly nor ran well when cold. The thing smoked like a mosquito sprayer, actually. I complained and the dealer had several "solutions" none of which really corrected the problem. I hauled it the 60 miles to the dealership (350' elevation and 25 degrees warmer usually) where it sat in the lot for two days to "cold soak" and then started and ran flawlessly.

I questioned whether the elevation might be a problem and was told by LS that they had the same tractors operating at 6000' without an issue. So, back it went and it continued to start similarly and got worse when the temps dropped as fall approached. After the first start of the day, additional "cool starts" after several hours of sitting did not produce similar clouds of white smoke. The dealer suggested maybe boosting the cetane with Power Service so I began using it, with zero improvement initially, but I kept it up anyway.

Now, I no longer have this cold-start condition - the engine is still a cold starter with a bit of blackish smoke when she starts and several seconds before the throttle will have any affect but I'm told by others that this is not unusual for the Mitsubishi engines, and I am less concerned. I can't say it was the regular use of the Power Service or just a coincidence but it is vastly improved over what was my experience as shown in the attached video.

 

[grsthegreat]

What are your low temps during colder-than-average winters? One time we were filling our Ford and it was around -18F, and I discovered the winter blend was gelled in the hose at the fuel pump. We were pretty low on fuel and in a remote area, so we didn't have the option to just go to another station, so we moved around to the other side of the island to a pump whose hose was in the sun, which was not gelled. In situations like that I add some PS before pulling away.

Edit: My wife says -18F was the temp when we got to our destination, and was "minus 20 something" at the pump.

were just south of Canada here, and winters can get into the -20F regularly. all the stations up here sell winter blend diesel. ive started my tractor without any issues now since 2011, and the trucks go back to 1994. all rigs get plugged in for block heat which are controlled by time clocks.

 

[crashz]

One thing to remember is that most of the fuel in the states do not meet the requirements by the fuel system manufacture's (going by Bosch and Standyne) for lubricity and cleanliness. I've also seen very bad batches of fuel (dirty and loaded with water) from even reputable suppliers.

I like the Stanadyne stuff but use PS, Howes and in extreme cold (like this January) a little kerosene. Some published tests have proven that the additives do add some protection, but not a lot.

I'm nursing my powerstroke with heavy doses of additive to see if I can clear up some sticky injector issues. So far it hasn't gotten worse.