What additives do you use in your fuel and engines?

[czechsonofagun]

Heet in winter for my Kubota. 2 stroke oil in gas for my old - 4 stroke - motorcycles.

 

[Quickster2]

Power Service white and Optilube XPD in the diesel. 50:50 mix of Startron & Marine StaBil in all gas implements and toys. Mainly non-ethanol in all gas implements both 2 cycle and 4 cycle. Boat loves the non-ethanol for the Johnson's.

 

[5030]

btw, with all the signs against solar farms going up around here our diesels may be around or longer than we think vs going electric

Issue with solar (at least here in Southern Michigan is... They (solar panel installers) always want to put solar farms on ground that is better suited for crop production. I'd rather have food myself. Put the solar farms (which is a misnomer anyway, it's not a farm, it's an industrial installation) on non productive ground or on roof tops or in parking lots in urban areas, not on crop ground.

 

[shooterdon]

I am not too impressed by what worked decades ago. Fuels have changed and IMO not for the better. And these new engines are not simple to work on or trouble shoot like what we had 30 years ago. That is one reason why I use additives to try to address potential problems. I also store fuel for up to 8 months and some machines have not been operated in over 18 months.

I do not use additives in the PU trucks as they are used every day and get fresh fuel regularly.

I have been struggling with buying ethanol free fuel for the SxS, snowmobiles, mower, saws, etc. it is quite a bit more expensive and I would likely still add Stabil as I store fuel for a few months. There is a lawn equipment supplier I trust (Amish) that advised against using normal gas and switch to E-free. He says most of his repairs on fuel issues are due to ethanol fuels.

 

[5030]

Hard to find down here and very expensive too. Been using Marine Stabil (blue) with e-gas and so far no gummed up fuel systems.

 

[Diggin It]

A little SF. A little MM. Some Bio goo, some PS White.

I never have more than about 40 gallons of red go juice at a time, so I'm not too worried about it. And I cut back to only keeping about 10 gallons of gas.

 

[cwbyeng1300]

Marvel Mystery Oil in my diesel storage tank & Seafoam regularly in diesel truck & gas cans.

 

[herm0016]

MMO because it sure helped the fuel mileage in our diesel and our gas trucks in a somewhat scientific study we did years ago on one 7.3L in a 20 ft box truck, one 366 gas GMC box truck and one newer Cummins 5.9 in a 24 ft box truck. It helped all, but helped the 7.3 the most. these trucks were our delivery trucks for door/window/trim packages to new homes.

these trucks nearly always filled up at the same commercial fueling station and the old pacific pride kept good track of milage. ran for a couple months on the same routes with very similar loads on and off the MMO. the 7.3 ran about 7 mpg without the mmo and 10 with. so it does do something. and that was with a quart to a 50 gal tank. it increased our range significantly saving money on time stopped for fuel, and saved us a lot of fuel.

so i do a shot of MMO and a shot of appropriate for temperature power service in the can when I fill them up. i use maybe 40 or 50 gal a year in the tractor.

if it made those engines run that much more efficiently, it was making them run better, with less friction. no way a quart to 50 gal made the fuel that much more energetic. in my old allis, i worry about the new fuels lower lubricity.

 

[5030]

I use nothing in my gas, and nothing in my diesel.

Trust me from experience, you get an algae issue, you'll wish you used at least a biocide in your diesel fuel. It's a bugger (and expensive) to remedy.

 

[MossRoad]

None. 87 octane E10 in everything I own, with the exception of the generator. It gets some Stabil because some of you have made me paranoid. Never had a fuel related problem. Probably because I follow the manufacturers recommendations on fuel and long term storage.

 

[Smokeydog]

Diesel
Stanadyne performance in truck and tractors. Buy 5 gallon cans (9). Use about 160 gallons in tractors in a year. In the truck the additive gives a solid 1 mpg increase paying for the additive and makes the mechanical fuel injection pump a little quieter. Buy stanadyne in 5 gallon can and transfer to pint bottles to dispense. Shell T6 oil in all.

Gas
Pir-G. Keeps fuel fresher better and longer than sta-bil I find. Refreshes stale fuel. Tell a difference in small engines, two stroke, four wheeler, generator and Miller Bobcat gas welder.

 

[crashz]

Stabil marine in the gas equipment that sits a lot, Lucas fuel stabilizer in my daily driver on occasion. Amsoil All-in-One in the diesels regularly. The Cetane points seem to really have a set of the pants different in my dump truck. I also have PS and some kerosene handy in the winter because I've had summer blend fuel carry over and gel up on me.

And clean, religiously replaced fuel filters in everything that has one!

 

[Jchonline]

I put the white bottle PS in the diesel I put into the generator's 60 gallon tank. Lately, I've been taking fuel from it for the tractor.

Otherwise, never used any additive for 39 years in the diesel cars.

I do the same.

 

[WranglerX]

None...

 

[blee03]

None, but none of my stuff sits for more than 6 months at a time nor do I buy fuel in bulk.

The generator is drained and run out of fuel when not in use since that isn’t always used seasonally.

In the past, I’ve used a splash of anti-gelling stuff in the tank if the temps are extremely low and I’m heading to the UP for a week of snowmobiling, just in case, since the truck sits almost all week.

 

[Number15]

Biocide with B-2. Bio is a great lubricity additive. No other additive needed for lubricity if you use it. Some stabil in my gas if it's going to sit around

 

[hdmyers]

Seafoam for all fuels, Lucas for diesels...especially older ones.

 

[PILOON]

Trust me if you gell even once you'll do as I as now all my fuel gets anti gelling added.
I was lucky the second time as I was very close to home but the first time I had to walk a fair distance to get some heat source to liquify those waxy blobs.

Scariest picture is that blob of waxy material in your fuel bowl.

When I heated with oil I would also gell when it was very cold but that I fixed by adding a heat tracing cable on the outside oil line. The oil supplier suggested that I use kerosene rather than heating oil, yeah, sure at a premium price.
That suggests that many additives might just be kerosene.

Best trouble free fuel was when I could get jet fuel for free as when they service an aircraft fuel system they never return drained fuel back to the aircraft. Naturally I'd filter B4 using it.

 

[BobInSD]

What do you guys use for biocide? What do you recommend that I can get localy at a Walmart or Runnings? I have a can or two of #1 that I'd like to save for next winter rather than burn up in the heat and might ought to treat it. I'd also be glad to hear that it won't hurt to burn the #1 in the heat--I'm pretty new to the whole diesel experience.

Thanks,

Bob

 

[manzer7]

Lots of snake oil additives out there to be purchased. Everything under the sun.

Myself, I use Biocide in my diesel storage tank (Powerservice Bio-Kleen) and Powerservice winter and summer additives as well. I also use Archoil additives in my engines, especially the AR Nano-Borate oil additive. Not cheap but keeps the engines clean inside. I switched from Rotella straight 30 weight to 5-40 Rotella T6 some years back as well.

Typically, I have around 500 gallons of diesel on hand constantly and I'm always concerned about algae growing in my bulk tank. Been down the algae highway before and it's not a cheap fix, even if you do the work yourself. My last go around with it cist me almost a grand in new parts and a lot of time and labor. I'd rather use an ounce or two of prevention than have to del with the slime.

What are your favorite elixirs and why?

I use TRC DZL-PEP with AAT year-round in my JD 1025R - about .125 ounce ( 5/8 ounce per 5 gallon). It keeps the engine clean - keeps the diesel clean and makes it start OK down to 20 below zero. TRC also has a special formula to thaw out the diesel (which I don't need so far). I use their greases, oils, etc. They've been in business since 1922 in Ft. Worth, TX ( Started off as PANTHER OIL).