Diesel Fuel Additives?

Soundguy · Jun 8, 2007

I tend to use the heavier treatment, since it says it won't hurt anything... fl sometimes gets bad weather / humidity.. and depending on where you get your fuel.. you sometimes don't know the quality.

And yeah.. i guess that little beast is darn right fuel efficient... I can burn 5g in as little as 2 hrs... 1 bottle usually lasts me a couple months at max, during the summer.

Soundguy

Youare said:
The mix ratio on the Power Service container says it will treat 100 gallons of fuel. I purchased my Kubota in the spring of 2002. I have used almost 2 containers of Power Service. I add Power Service to almost every tank of fuel. Looking at it that way I've burned maybe 250 gallons of fuel and have about 450 hours on the meter which equals 1.8 gallons per hour.

I guess the L3000DT is pretty fuel efficient. On a busy day I have used 3 gallons of fuel. On those days I make a 9 mile one way road trip to a field where I am cutting the trees back from the edges of the field.

Randy

doug57 · Jun 8, 2007

I was told to add automatic transmission fluid to the diesel fuel to lubricate the injectors.

VABlue · Jun 8, 2007

Not being a chemist, I just don't know if I would feel right pouring paint thinner into my fuel tank...

DieselPower · Jun 8, 2007

john_bud said:
Most of the diesel additives contain Stoddard Solvent as the main ingredient. One of the more popular ones (and one that is approved by GM for use with the Duramax diesel) is Stanadyne power formula. According to the MSDS it contains 95-98.5% Stoddard solvent and the remainder is 1,2,4 Trimethylbenzene.

If an extreemely cheap person wanted to, they could use the internet to determine if other products that cost 1/4 as much contain the same ingredients. Were I such a cheap person (actually, I'm cheaper), I may have find out that "Parks Mineral Spirits Paint Thinner" is 3.5% 1,2,4 Trimethylbenzene and 96.5% Stoddard Solvent. It is under 10 bucks a gallon, on sale down to 7.95. Diesel additives are about that much for a qt.

There have also been a lot of posts around about adding 2 cyle oil to diesel. A rate of about 100:1 to 150:1 is what many are running. There is "supposed" to be enough lubricity, but there may not be. Read various diesel sites for rates of failure of diesel pumps, injectors and such.

jb

Not sure about the others but I know the TRC fuel additives are not Stoddard Solvent or Naptha based. The base stock in TRC's fuel additives is Group II ISO 32 oil.

QRTRHRS · Jun 8, 2007

IMHO, Power Service is a reasonably priced fuel additive. I use it in my Dodge Ram. But, when it comes to my tractors, I am a bit fussy about additives.

For those, I use FPPF Total Power. At around 12-13 bucks a quart, it is not cheap in price but neither are injection system repairs.

Also IMHO, stay away from adding ATF to your fuel. Your late model tractor is not your father's B model Mack.

LBrown59 · Jun 8, 2007

jsborn said:
I use the Red off road fuel that is still HS so are these additives for lubricity needed or should I be using somthing else???

The only difference here between the red and the non red is one is red and the other one ain't.

cp1969 · Jun 8, 2007

VABlue said:
Not being a chemist, I just don't know if I would feel right pouring paint thinner into my fuel tank...

Well, you better get right with it because that's what you're doing. You can also supplement it with some lighter fluid if that helps.

Typical diesel fuel additive ingredients:

"Petroleum distillates" = kerosene

"xylene" = paint thinner/stripper

"Naptha" = lighter fluid

As someone else said, you can brew up your own for probably 1/4th the cost of buying it pre-mixed.

john_bud · Jun 9, 2007

cp1969 said:
Well, you better get right with it because that's what you're doing. You can also supplement it with some lighter fluid if that helps.

Typical diesel fuel additive ingredients:

"Petroleum distillates" = kerosene

"xylene" = paint thinner/stripper

"Naptha" = lighter fluid

As someone else said, you can brew up your own for probably 1/4th the cost of buying it pre-mixed.

Actually, if you double back on the CAS numbers you can find that some companies use Stoddard Solvent (Mineral spirits or paint thinner) and Petroleum Distillates (Kero) interchangibly.

A decent summer homebrew that is competitive with the store boughts (not the one DieselPower sells - that actually has some better stuff in it) would be

50% odorless mineral spirits (found on sale 1 gal for $4.95)
25% two cycle oil (found at wally world for $7.95 a gal)
12.5% Naptha (found on sale for $7.95 a gal)
12.5% Xylene (Found on sale for $9.95 a gal)

That comes out to $1.68 a qt or $6.70 a gallon. It would also be acceptable for high pressure systems as it has no alcohols and would tend to drop water out of solution so the water trap filter could handle it. It would also provide a big boost in lubricity.

A winter mix would be
80% odorless mineral spirits (found on sale 1 gal for $4.95)
10% two cycle oil (found at wally world for $7.95 a gal)
5% Naptha (found on sale for $7.95 a gal)
5% Xylene (Found on sale for $9.95 a gal)

That's $5.65 a gal and $1.41 a qt.

Do I recommend that everyone (or even anyone) stop buying from the store and start mixing your own? Nope. Just putting this out for discussion. You can (and should) spend time looking up the ingredients listed on the MSDS's and see just what is in the products we so eagerly buy and compare them to the "generic" summer winter mix and the cost of those. Remember,when you buy the chemicals by the tanker car, the price is lower than when you get them 1 gal at a time.

Now tell me, who is making more $$$ "big oil" or "big additive"?

Errrr. Times up - the correct answer is .....irrelevant as they make as much as we are willing to give them.

jb

Oil Doc · Jun 9, 2007

With the main ingredient as Stoddard Solvent, there is no lubrication. I used Stoddard for parts cleaning years ago when I had a shop.. Dryed the heck out of your skin and just blew the parts dry.

Kerosene has more lubricity than Stoddard and it even causes excessive wear when blended with diesel.. I would definitely make sure to run a lube additive.

Something like this, which is made specifically for Heavy Duty Diesels. AMSOIL ADF

Diesel Concentrate Performance Fuel Additive (ADF)
Total system cleaner and lubricity improver for all types of diesel engines. Improves the performance, fuel efficiency and longevity of diesel engines while reducing deposits, black smoke and emissions. Improves fuel economy by cleaning dirty injectors and restores horsepower. Designed for use in heavy-duty diesel engines.
Doc