diesel fuel Additives

[shutterdial]

I was wondering what you guys use as an additive in your diesel fuel? my friend uses Power service diesel fuel treatment with every tank, but I'm looking for something that i can use in every tank and is an antimicrobial to keep algae from forming plus take water out because sometimes the tractor will sit for sometime. I'm new to the whole diesel fuel thing so any help would be appreciated. THANKS

 

[mikim]

I use a 50/50 mix of power service and Stabil ---- stabil takes care of long storage time. I put the mix in the 5 gallon cans I use.

 

[murphy1244]

I use Power Service White Bottle and Sea Foam.

 

[arrow]

I can understand additives in the older compact diesels. I don't think they were tolerating new diesel blends as well as the newer crop of compacts. Don't know if the cleaner burning diesel fuels one gets from the pump now a-days is as susceptible to what used to happen to the older stuff when sitting for a while.

 

[Soundguy]

I was wondering what you guys use as an additive in your diesel fuel? my friend uses Power service diesel fuel treatment with every tank, but I'm looking for something that i can use in every tank and is an antimicrobial to keep algae from forming plus take water out because sometimes the tractor will sit for sometime. I'm new to the whole diesel fuel thing so any help would be appreciated. THANKS

power service makes a 'diesel clear' to control water, and a biocide to control algea. add a lil white or silver lable depending on your climate.. or some howes or stanadyne and go.

 

[Ken45101]

I only put additives in the older equipment that was not designed for the current ultra low sulfur diesel. I have a filter (water and particulate) on my bulk tank. I've never had to change it. My mini excavator has a clear bulb that you are supposed to drain when it gets half full of water. With 260 hours on the ex over five years (it sits a lot too), there is zero water in the bulb. Bottom line, I don't believe there is a need for additives. YMMV.

 

[3930dave]

I was wondering what you guys use as an additive in your diesel fuel? my friend uses Power service diesel fuel treatment with every tank, but I'm looking for something that i can use in every tank and is an antimicrobial to keep algae from forming plus take water out because sometimes the tractor will sit for sometime. I'm new to the whole diesel fuel thing so any help would be appreciated. THANKS

If you are treating your fuel proactively, you shouldn't have much of a water issue. I use Stanadyne myself. I also have a can (likely a lifetime supply) of biocide, that I think has a Case label on it. Only used it once so far, when I first got my used tractor. I didn't necessarily have algae, but I had something floating on top of the half full fuel tank when I picked it up. I think it was just dust getting in from a badly fitting fuel tank cap (replaced right away) - so I just gave it a shot of biocide to be safe.

Long way of me saying.... you shouldn't normally need a biocide. It also helps to buy your diesel from a really high volume station, to make sure the fuel is fresh. I make a point to drive a little further to get my diesel at a very busy truck stop.

Treat your fuel with a reputable additive, use fuel cans that seal well, and make sure to fill up your tractor tank before you park it to cut down on condensation in the tank.

Aside from the additives already listed, Opti-Lube XPD is another well rated one. It is a multifunction additive, but if you look around for the independent Lube Test that was done, it scored very well in terms of lubrication (Wear Scar test). ULSD effectively dropped the lubricity of pump diesel - refineries add things to compensate, but less so in the USA than in Canada.

Rgds, D.

 

[Ken45101]

Long way of me saying.... you shouldn't normally need a biocide. It also helps to buy your diesel from a really high volume station, to make sure the fuel is fresh. I make a point to drive a little further to get my diesel at a very busy truck stop.

I suspect that ^^^^ is the biggest key. Of course, finding a source of high volume off road diesel may be difficult since most high volume users have it delivered.

As for additives for lubricity, especially for older equipment, this thread has some very good information and rankings from independent studies:
Lubricity Additive Study Results - Diesel Place : Chevrolet and GMC Diesel Truck Forums

 

[Gary Fowler]

I don't use anything in my 100 gallon fuel tank. It takes me about a year to burn it all and I've never had any fuel issues. I don't have fuel gelling issues in winter as it doesn't get cold enough for that. I keep my tank indoors and in a total of 4 years I haven't drained off the sediment. I keep intending to put on a valve to do that but always forget when I get it empty. I keep my pump suction a couple inches off the bottom. Maybe today I will put my tank on an incline and siphon out some fuel just to check on the contents. I have a 10 micron filter on the pump and off course the machine fuel filters. I haven't changed the fuel filters on anything yet and the oldest is a 2009 RTV and 2009 Kubota B26. Filters are still clear of debris, engine cranks an runs normally so why change it. Both have about the same amount of hours (280) on them.
Other than gelling issue with cold temperatures where one would need to put in some anti-gel compound to assure that your fuel is winter blended, if you buy clean fuel, keep it clean and dry, you shouldn't need any additives. I ran my old 1984 Yanmar for 3 years on the same fuel with no issues on fuel system on "lubricity". My retired brother in law works as a maintenance man for a large farming operation that runs $100K per month in fuel cost during spring planting season and they don't use any additives and have never had any fuel issues. They put more hours on their large AG tractors in a year than most of the TBN crowd would in a lifetime and no additives and no problems. I think most of these lubricity issues is just snake oil salesman selling the additives some of which have been shown in test to not be as good as straight diesel fuel.

All my equipment is designed to run on ULSD so I cant see a need to chuck in a bunch of snake oil in the fuel tank.
If putting another $.50 per gallon in your tank gives you a warm fuzzy, then go for it, its your money, spend it the way you want.

 

[3930dave]

I suspect that ^^^^ is the biggest key. Of course, finding a source of high volume off road diesel may be difficult since most high volume users have it delivered.

As for additives for lubricity, especially for older equipment, this thread has some very good information and rankings from independent studies:
Lubricity Additive Study Results - Diesel Place : Chevrolet and GMC Diesel Truck Forums

I buy on-road diesel. I don't go through enough fuel in my tractor to worry about the cost difference - though even with higher tractor use, I'd still buy the same fuel at that station. They are turning over enough on-road diesel that some days they need 2 deliveries.

I also have an on-road diesel truck. With my relationship with Murphy, the day I ran out of fuel in the truck and grabbed the can of off-road fuel to get moving, that's the day I'd get swabbed.

Rgds, D.