Howe's Diesel Defender

[Paystar]

Here's my take. I don't think any of them are necessary if you have good fuel at the pumps in your area.
But I do occasionally use them.
In my C13 and C15 Cat's I had, I found Cat's additive gave enough cetane increase you could actually feel it in throttle response, but it was not cheap.
In my Powerstrokes I was running Power Service. Then one time on the highway in Indiana my check engine light came on and engine started running very rough. I pulled in a Ford dealer and they diagnosed two dead injectors. They couldn't get me in so they said you can drive it home, but it will run like crap.
So I stopped for fuel and all they had was Howes. So I dumped some in and literally in 10 minutes of driving on freeway, CEL went out and truck ran perfect.

Fluke? I don't know, but the injectors unstuck themselves. So I've only run Howes after that.

 

[WilliamBos]

I run Howes and Amsoil. Had fuel gel up in the Massey with an off brand. No more of that.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

If I get fuel delivered in the winter, they add Howes. So I add it as needed to fuel delivered in the warm months, and in the tanks of vehicles that get fueled up at regular gas stations.

We do occasionally see -20 here, so some sort of anti-gel is needed.

 

[big bubba]

`diesel fuel additives will always be a subject, like engine oil
1st rule: get the diesel from a high volume reputable source, goes w/o saying, i just said.

the reasons for an additive are 4x fold. 1) moisture removal 2) anti gel in cold temps
3) lubricuity given low sulfur fuels 4) anti algae/fungus growth in fuels.

a lot depends on your location & climate. for me, Howes covers most but not all the above issues & never had a problem in my climate. but i don't live in Florida or Minnesota with those extreme conditions. regards

 

[Too many Kubotas]

1) moisture removal 4) anti algae/fungus growth in fuels.

If there's no water there won't be any bacteria.

 

[big bubba]

`maybe so. think a lot of those organism problems occur in larger volume storage. my operation is small & requires only 5gal containers therefore good circulation.

. however if i lived in a warm, humid climate with bulk starage, i would i would include an algaecide. in addition, fungus can grow as well as bacteria, but i'm not a biologist. i'm only relying on theory since it has not been a problem with me. regards,

 

[Too many Kubotas]

It doesn't seem to have anything to do with the size of the tank, and why would it?

I've only had one case of bacteria (it is not algae, by the way) and that was in a 20 gallon tank on a vehicle that had sat in Texas for a long time, without a cap. There was water up to the edge of the filler neck. The lower four inches or so of the tank looked like it had been sprayed with LineX.

Learned a lot about the subject in the weeks following getting that vehicle. Including that there must be water in the tank for the bacteria to grow, and that BioBor did a good job in this case.

 

[big bubba]

you indeed were fortunate. bet for every fortunate experience like yours, there are many others that did not turn out so well with bulk storage given your cond. do note that in today's larger def Tier4 injection systems, even a remote amount of moisture can cause extensive damage to system.

fortunately, i do not fall into that category w/my model. but i sure wouldn't chance it making a decision just based on your experience given modern fuel injection systems, best regards

 

[big bubba]

It doesn't seem to have anything to do with the size of the tank, and why would it?
TMK
volume circulation. leave things sit, things will happen. the reason i always look for a high volume diesel supplier

 

[Too many Kubotas]

It doesn't seem to have anything to do with the size of the tank, and why would it?
TMK
volume circulation. leave things sit, things will happen. the reason i always look for a high volume diesel supplier

Are you saying that the three still full 325 gallon totes I have, which were filled about three years ago, maybe more, now contain unusable fuel?

I hope that's not what you meant. But thankfully the engines running on that fuel doesn't seem to know that they shouldn't be. And I don't know why they shouldn't.

Also, a couple of vehicles have fuel in their tanks that are approaching six years. And the generator's tank gets filled from a 135 gallon tank with fuel from about '10 or '11.

Regardless of tank sizes, the fuel is treated and I have yet to see any indications of water in any of them, except what came in the vehicle from Texas, and without water there are no problems with bacteria.

That I've never seen any condensation could be because it's very dry here. Plus, here I have control over what's in my tanks, unlike when filling up at a station where I have no idea what goes into the tanks of the road going vehicles. So far that's been good, too, but I've read about people that weren't as lucky.