Oil & Fuel Diesel fuel additives are so inexpensive to use.

[Sawyer Rob]

Make the call then and see what the price difference is.You seem more concerned about it than I do.Laffin.....

Actually, I'm not concerned at all, and no need to call either. Last NO-E fuel I bought was 90 octane and it was 40% more than the cheapest gas they had available.

Not only do I not need any additives, I no longer am having any E fuel related problems with all of the small gas engines I have around here...

BTW, they also had NO-E 110 octane fuel racing fuel.

SR

 

[4570Man]

And pay twice the price per gallon when you can find it.Where are the savings $$.I use marine grade stabil or starbrite in all of my equipment and 50hp boat motor.

It's not twice the price here. More like 20-40 cents more. Even if it was how much difference that amount to with the amount of fuel burned in the small engines?

 

[coobie]

It's not twice the price here. More like 20-40 cents more. Even if it was how much difference that amount to with the amount of fuel burned in the small engines?

Good for you then if the price is lower in your area.Around here its more like $1.80 more per gal.When I fill up my 300 gal. farm tank with 91 octane fuel I use Marine grade Stabil additive and achieve the same results.

 

[dirt ditch]

It isn't a problem ... until it's a problem.

I work for my state DOT and have been plowing winter snow for almost 15 years. Our main highway is the most used 2 lane route for freight traffic form the southwest US to St. Louis and vice versa. Every snow storm when the temperature drops into the teens or below there will be 2 or more semis stopped on the shoulder of the road because they are not using winter diesel. If it is a bad storm with 40-60 mph winds the wind chill can drop well below zero. Our shop gets it's diesel from a local suppler who always calls to see if we need to top off our storage tank before a storm. He always makes sure we get winter fuel on time so we don't worry about it. That has not been the case across the state so every October all shops start adding 1-2 gallons of BG DFC Plus to every 1000 gallons of delivered diesel. More than once I have had to work on equipment at 2:00 in the morning, 50 mph winds, sub zero temperatures and snow up to my ***. I have never had to mess with fuel issues and I don't want to start. For my tractor I add Howes Diesel Treat to my diesel every fall. In my view the price of fuel additives are immaterial as it is better to be safe than sorry.

 

[holeycow]

I used Howes for a bunch of years. It can gell in the bottle at really cold temps. I use something else now.

Jftr

 

[CalG]

It would be interesting to hear what large fleet operators have discovered regarding the cost benefit return on the use of diesel fuel additives. No "paid advertising", just facts and figures.

There is no doubt that a fuel conditioner can save the bacon when cold weather comes before the fuel is refreshed with winter treated. But kerosene can do the same. no magic in the over the counter products.

I feel that the general use of fuel additives is one of "feel good", and not much more. If one needs to use the treatments all the time to not get caught and forget when cold weather comes. so be it. I did find it interesting that a bit of two stroke oil mixed in gave a mileage boost on someones "Texas Caddy". I suppose we could all re-purpose our drain oil at change time. ;-)

 

[IslandTractor]

People can like to use adfitives in oil and gas equipment or not . . perfectly fine. But I always wonder at some of the reasons they use. Lets take an example. You have a two gallon container of gasoline. That gas is being used in a walk behind lawnmower that worked just fine 4 days ago. You start the mower and after a few minutes it starts having its rpm miving up and down and has little power and doesn't run steady. You pull out a bottle of gas treatment/dryer and pour a tiny amount of it in the gas tank . . Maybe a teaspoon amount. Suddenly the engine starts and is running just fine. Then you put some in the 2 gallon gas can . . and you don't have the problem again for the rest of that 2 gallons. A person may not like adfitives . . but how can they say adfitives don't work? And certainly that 2 gallon gas can needed very little quantity of additive to produce good results. So how can a person claim its imaginary because there wasn't enough quantity to be significant. Or how about the idea you use good fuel (oil or gas) . . when many locations get their fuel fuel from the very same truck or source ? Or the idea you can treat 250 gallons of your fuel for $8.00 as being expensive ? My point is . . fuels are much more sensitive to change in modern engine needs than people realize. Small variances can make noticeable changes in modern engine performance. 40 years ago gas could sit for 6 months and work just fine every time. But today it still can work . . but maybe not every time. I still like "dino" oil . . But today I use synthetic in certain applications. My point is . . I desire a few select additives above and beyond the fuel suppliers mix. I use premium diesel and non- ethanol gas for my truck and all my engines. I do it for reasons that make sense and are inexpensive. And now it seems the economy is effecting the costs of additives even lower.

Lots of reasons to disbelieve the marketing hype about diesel additives.
1) No data provided by the industry except their own closely held marketing poop. Where are the independent studies supporting or comparing additives.
2) No independent engineering theories to support additives
3) If additives work so well why don't big oil companies add the stuff themselves and advertise their advantage over other big oil suppliers
4) If additives are so good, why doesn't the US Military have them specified in a MilSpec document and use them in all Diesel engines.
5) Placebo effect explains all the testimonials from guys who claim quieter engine or "slightly" better MPG.

I do think that additives designed to keep diesel from gelling in subzero weather work but that can be pretty easily demonstrated.

 

[DieselBound]

Most manufacturers don't recommend additives. When talking about diesels the most important thing (other than now sulfur content) is cetane. There are a lot of "cetane boost" products and I don't know why people buy these! Unless you buy some really crappy diesel you're not going to get cetane levels below that specified by the manufacturer: and I'd have to wonder whether anyone can get away with selling sub-standard cetane level fuel.

For gelling, or perhaps for lubricity (and here I'd still question why manufacturers aren't concerned), additives have value, albeit how much value they have is certainly questionable (especially if your fuel supplier is johnny-on-the-spot about switching to/between #1 and #2).

Gasoline is a bit of a different matter. I don't have a lot of demand for gasoline, and the equipment that I do use that run on it don't ever have a problem (suppose I'm lucky- mostly I try to use only fresh gasoline, storing very little of it- I do, however, store diesel fuel).

 

[DieselBound]

Most manufacturers don't recommend additives. When talking about diesels the most important thing (other than now sulfur content) is cetane. There are a lot of "cetane boost" products and I don't know why people buy these! Unless you buy some really crappy diesel you're not going to get cetane levels below that specified by the manufacturer: and I'd have to wonder whether anyone can get away with selling sub-standard cetane level fuel.

For gelling, or perhaps for lubricity (and here I'd still question why manufacturers aren't concerned), additives have value, albeit how much value they have is certainly questionable (especially if your fuel supplier is johnny-on-the-spot about switching to/between #1 and #2).

Gasoline is a bit of a different matter. I don't have a lot of demand for gasoline, and the equipment that I do use that run on it don't ever have a problem (suppose I'm lucky- mostly I try to use only fresh gasoline, storing very little of it- I do, however, store diesel fuel).

 

[vsteel]

The No E fuel here is about 50 cents more a gallon than normal premium, though running E10 through my small engines has never been an issue. 17 years on the lawn mower and still starts 1st or 2nd pull, 15 years on the chainsaw and riding lawn mower. I store them wet and have never had an issue, never have rebuilt the carbs and no additives.

I had always understood that the lubrication aspect of the diesel additives were for when running old equipment that was never designed for low sulfur. For example your 1960 Oliver 770 Diesel might need a little help.