Diesel owners, whats your thought on fuel additives

[longhauler]

I was at the local NAPA store today and I got into a fuel additive conversation with the NAPA guy about diesel fuel additive. He said there most popular product was K100. I have a buddy that swears by Lucas. Does anyone have any experience using an additive and recommend one, what kind of results did you see? and are they really worth it?

[johnboytoo]

on my 5th, 6th or 7th deezle and have never put an additive in...

I just make sure to go to high volume stations and save my receipts for a couple of weeks just in case !

(one of those receipts turned into about a $5000 savings when I got bad diesel about 4 years ago! )

[drcook]

I have been running Stanadyne Performance Formula and Standadyne Lubricicity (spelling ?) in my 04.5 Duramax. Stanadyne is the only additive that GM approve(s / ed) of. I also run a little Diesel Kleen and a little bit of some high performance, synthetic 2 cycle oil. Not a lot, just a little so I don't get wear in fuel system. After all, these new trucks are running at over 20,000 psi at the injectors.

Additives are becoming more and more important with the ULSD and parts failing. In the Duramax world the later model trucks that had the CP3 fuel pump replaced with the CP4 pump are starting to see failures, with the entire fuel system from the CP4, to the rails to the injectors being filled with metal chips and needing replacement.

Older diesels, like my 1994 Ford 1520 tractor were designed with the lubrication properties of sulfur being present. Newer diesels are supposed to be able to handle ULSD and the fuel companies themselves are supposed to put extra additives in for lubrication.

Depending on whose brand of truck you run, it would really behoove you to search out and read some of the diesel specific forums and ask what the gear heads are running in their trucks. A lot depends on the design of the components as to what is really beneficial.

For the pennies per gallon cost of an additive, why risk a very expensive motor ?

[Chateau Duke To Go]

I got curios about additives some time ago and read a few articles on line some time ago, it seems that Diesel Kleen and Stanadyne are the most preferred. What I learned was just about the same things DRCOOK stated above. For you guys that live way up north, these products also have additives to prevent gelling of the fuel in cold weather.

I periodically use Diesel Kleen in my Power stroke 6.4l. I have seen recently that Royal Purple is making a Diesel additive. Anybody know anything about it?

[DavisK]

I often add Diesel Kleen in mine.

[anaro]

I used diesel kleen on my old ford because I had to use a cetane product and it came highly recommended. Not using anything on my chevy.

[Bert]

I use Lucas. We took a trip a few hours north and my old 6.0 gas Silverado drove terrible and I had to refuel. I added Lucas and the engine was smoother and made it home on one tank. I add it to my diesel every few months or so.

[RADMiller]

I agree with those that advise research. Take into account your weather, driving conditions and load on the engine. I have found that for the most part, diesel fuel has come a long way in the last years and I have not found the need to add anything. I will, however, add an anti=gel when the temp is consistently below 30. In the old days, a trucker would put about 5 gals of kerosene to 100 gals of fuel to keep it from gelling. With todays additives already there, I have not had an issue with gelling and put in an additive only under the most extreme weather.

[campingcpl]

I've used several types of additives in my truck and haven't really seen any major benefits from one brand to another. The one thing that I do use is a small bottle of 2 cycle oil in a full tank. It seems to run quieter and reduces the wear on the fuel system because of the lower sulfer fuels. I do use Diesel Kleen in the winter just to help prevent gelling and water building up in the tank, because the truck sits most of the winter unless we get lots of snow.

[drcook]

Some of the folks here "extreme weather" is different than other's extreme weather. for me, extreme weather is 10 below zero, for my buddy who lives in Alberta Canada and works in the oil fields, 45 to 50 below is extreme weather.

I have not had an issue with gelling for 3 reasons, I have always run an additive with anti-gelling properties, I have an extra fuel filter with built in heater and most important, the last 4 or 5 years, I simply quit driving the truck in the winter so the salt in Ohio doesn't eat it up.

Last winter we had days of 10 to 15 below zero here. The dogs could only stay out a minute or so, I had to carry the little ones in and simply made the big ones (130 lbs) get to the house.

My truck has started in below zero temps before, even without being plugged in, but it was slow.

Here is some reading on the CP4 failures. Whether it is just a design flaw or a lack lubrication has not been defined, but been speculated on.

https://www.google.com/search?q=dura..._sm=0&ie=UTF-8

I do everything I can to make sure my track will last another 10 years at the minimum. So far, so good.

[campingcpl]

Originally Posted by drcook

Some of the folks here "extreme weather" is different than other's extreme weather. for me, extreme weather is 10 below zero, for my buddy who lives in Alberta Canada and works in the oil fields, 45 to 50 below is extreme weather.

I have not had an issue with gelling for 3 reasons, I have always run an additive with anti-gelling properties, I have an extra fuel filter with built in heater and most important, the last 4 or 5 years, I simply quit driving the truck in the winter so the salt in Ohio doesn't eat it up.

Last winter we had days of 10 to 15 below zero here. The dogs could only stay out a minute or so, I had to carry the little ones in and simply made the big ones (130 lbs) get to the house.

My truck has started in below zero temps before, even without being plugged in, but it was slow.

Here is some reading on the CP4 failures. Whether it is just a design flaw or a lack lubrication has not been defined, but been speculated on.

https://www.google.com/search?q=dura..._sm=0&ie=UTF-8

I do everything I can to make sure my track will last another 10 years at the minimum. So far, so good.

You and I have the same truck and like you I have not had any issue with gelling even over this last winter even though I did have the truck pluged in most of last winter. I normally don't plug it in but with temps in the -20's for a week at a time I figured it couldn't hurt. And I too haven't had an issue starting it with it not being pluged in. I haven't had any issues with the cp failing but have had some issues with a couple of injectors (#1 and #7) that seems to be common on the LLY motors and a fuel pressure regulator. GM made a good change when they went to the new injectors in the LLY from the LB7. Why they thought that plastic parts in an injector that has 20,000 psi coming out of it was a good thing baffles me. The one thing they did fail on in the LLY is the turbo intake. That thing is super restrictive and litterly chocks the motor. I changed my intake to the LBZ intake and it made a world of difference in drivability. In the pictures below, the top intake is the LLY and the bottom is the LBZ. You can see how much of a difference there is. I also got rid of the small accordion air inlet hose and replaced with two 4" silicon elbows and a piece of 4" exhaust pipe.

[johnboytoo]

Hmmm,
haven't heard of any failures on the ford truck enthusiast forums...
in fact, just did a search in the 6.7 engine forum and the one hpfp or injector issue indicated bad fuel or water (i.e. poor maintenance )


So I guess whether or not you use additives is up to the mfg you drive ?

good luck to us all... a broke truck is as bad as a broke rv, can't have fun in either !

[drcook]

I too have that turbo mouthpiece, actually I have the entire 2006 air intake, GM did that as the bandaid fix for the overheating LLY trucks. In order to cure the OH issue, I have installed an auxialliary radiator behind the bumper, a larger trans cooler and a different intercooler, along with both pipes.

We have 67,000 babied miles and have lost 4 injectors that GM replaced under warranty

In order to protect my engine, I have run a 10 micron filter with water separator inline with the primary filter. I have the parts to install a lift pump and another filter, so I will be running a 10 micron, a 2 micron, the lift pump and then on to the primary filter.

Who knows why the injectors failed. Maybe there was only 2 that failed and the tech who was supposed to have replaced them may have falsified what he was doing. We were told he was fired for fraud/dishonesty concerning work.

All I know is that the dealership billed GM and told me they replaced 2 and when my scanner still showed 2 having bad balance rates, they replaced 2 more at over 400.00 each plus labor.

I have also done the Nbr 2 and 7 injector harness repair, and insulated the wires at the alternator bracket

I am building the truck for Fancy Gap. We got a tad warm with the old lighter trailer, the first round of changes all but cured it with the newer trailer weighing close to 9500/10K loaded. The old one was 5500 or so (yes I had one of the hot runners). I have a couple more baffles to install that will channel the air, a fan behind the aux radiator and the air dam that was put on the 1500 trucks (will fit ours).

We will be able to pull Fancy Gap in 95+ deg temps, running full AC and never slow down lower than 55/60 pulling our 30QBX up the mountains.

I have a actual oil temp gauge and monitor all the other temps via gauges/electronic interface because the GM gauges tell fibs.

http://www.crosscountryroads.com/Pic.../va_i77nb.html

http://www.roadstothefuture.com/I77_...ap_Photos.html

[longhauler]

Thanks to all who have responded, very good info here

[longhauler]

Well...I went ahead and bought some fuel additive made by Lucas that my buddy said he has had good results with. I have to say I was pretty impressed by the results so far. Not sure if it was a fluke or what, but after I filled up and added the additive I only had to drive about 10 miles on interstate and my truck computer stated the fuel mileage was 19 to 21. It has always read 16 to 18 before. So this stuff might just work, but we will see after running it more, but just wanted to let you guys know the results so far.

[Lloyd]

When I had the Duramax, I used Stanadyne. I used it because the injectors were starting to get noisy. It seem to quiet things down some, but It never really got rid of all the clatter that had started.
Can't say that I seen any improvement with the mileage.

Also tried mixing Bio-diesel for the same reason.

[4kids2dogs&RV]

Originally Posted by longhauler

Well...I went ahead and bought some fuel additive made by Lucas that my buddy said he has had good results with. I have to say I was pretty impressed by the results so far.....

Longhauler, What Lucas product was it you used?
BTW... Like your truck, looks familiar.

I'm changing the oil and fuel filter this weekend. Thought about trying Seafoam. Anyone ever used it?

[fhenn]

I use it in my oil according to what I have read on it, and it seems true that it helps clean out the oil passages to the turbo and helps with the carbon on the vanes. I will run lucas additive in spring summer and early fall, than when the winter fuel arrives I switch to Diesel Kleen.

[anaro]

Originally Posted by 4kids2dogs&RV

Longhauler, What Lucas product was it you used?
BTW... Like your truck, looks familiar.

I'm changing the oil and fuel filter this weekend. Thought about trying Seafoam. Anyone ever used it?

I used seafoam once of my f250. I was having issues with it losing power. It didn't help or hurt. I do remember someone later telling me not to use that stuff anymore on the diesel but I can't remember why.

[DavisK]

Originally Posted by anaro

I used seafoam once of my f250. I was having issues with it losing power. It didn't help or hurt. I do remember someone later telling me not to use that stuff anymore on the diesel but I can't remember why.

It is not highly regarded on the Duramax Forum.