Cold Weather And Diesel

[SGT DAVE]

I know it's depressing to think about cold weather however, do any of you recommend an additive for the fuel during winter?
If you do what type or brand do you use?

SGT DAVE

[perryg114]

Powerservice. You can get it at Walmart.

Perry

[Protagonist]

If you live in an area where you can get it, you may also want to switch to #1 ultra-low sulfur highway diesel. #1 is winter blend, and gels at a lower temperature than the more common #2 diesel. Ask around at your favorite truck stops.

[RoadJager]

Originally Posted by perryg114

Powerservice. You can get it at Walmart.

Perry

Power service diesel products are the best choice for diesel fuel conditioning. Talked with them at great length a while ago. They are a Texas based company. It is the only product we recommend in our shop for Mercedes and BMW diesel fuel conditioning. Check their website out. They have the contract for all of Wal Marts truck fleet fuel quality, storage and delivery. Good product.
Road Jager

[daveswenson]

Originally Posted by RoadJager

Power service diesel products are the best choice for diesel fuel conditioning. Talked with them at great length a while ago. They are a Texas based company. It is the only product we recommend in our shop for Mercedes and BMW diesel fuel conditioning. Check their website out. They have the contract for all of Wal Marts truck fleet fuel quality, storage and delivery. Good product.
Road Jager

Sean likes it too.

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[perryg114]

I used it in my old Ford IDI diesel mainly for the extra lube it gave the pump since they took the sulfur out of the fuel and the lubricity of the fuel went down. The old mechanical pumps need the lubrication to keep from wearing out. It was kinda like when they took lead out of gasoline. I put the Powerservice in my Kubota tractor for the same reason. The old Ford Diesel is gone now, thank God. If it had a manual transmission, I would have kept it. It would have been the ultimate dooms day truck since everything would have been mechanical. No electronics to fail from EMP ect. I will let the next guy prepare for doomsday. I have a life.


Perry

[cwf]

Originally Posted by perryg114

I used it in my old Ford IDI diesel mainly for the extra lube it gave the pump since they took the sulfur out of the fuel and the lubricity of the fuel went down. The old mechanical pumps need the lubrication to keep from wearing out. It was kinda like when they took lead out of gasoline. I put the Powerservice in my Kubota tractor for the same reason. The old Ford Diesel is gone now, thank God. If it had a manual transmission, I would have kept it. It would have been the ultimate dooms day truck since everything would have been mechanical. No electronics to fail from EMP ect. I will let the next guy prepare for doomsday. I have a life.

Perry

"We are all gonna die!"... Well, yup.

Love the POWER stuff.

[RickDavis]

I never used any additives in my 99 Dodge Cummins except a couple times during extended cold spells below zero. I I never experienced fuel gelling problems. My original injection pump lasted 458K and the injectors are still original at 572K. I personally believe that additives are for the most part a waste of money.
The fuel in your area will be blended for the climate and time of year. You can dilute with #1 (kerosene)in really cold weather to lower the gell point.
I have not seen #1 available at the diesel pumps except in really cold climate states like the Dakotas.

The only time I have ever experienced gelling was with an old Chev diesel and it was -22 at the time. I think the wax crystals were clogging the sock in the fuel tank. Fortunately I had 2 tanks and was able to get home by frequently switching tanks.
The next day I talked to my Mobil distributor and he recomended adding a few gallons of Kerosene. I did and the rest of the cold snap was not a problem

[joemikeb]

Our Volkswagen diesel has gone through a couple of winters in North Texas and a couple of trips into sub-zero weather in the mountains of Colorado and never missed a beat. The only thing I noticed in the really cold weather was a 10 or 15 second delay while the glow plugs heated up. My expectation is our Interstate will do just as well as our VW.

[Drathaar]

We use Stanadyne in our 7.3L Powerstroke.

[graysailor]

Don't recall the name but all truck stops carry additives for cold weather. I have used them and they do work. Prevents jelling of diesel fuel.

[Moflash]

The diesel fuel suppliers automatically switch to winter blend fuel in Oct.So unless you are in a subzero area of the USA a additional additive is not needed.
You can usually tell when they are switching blends as they spike the price of diesel fuel and that is also the excuse the oil companies use for the price increase.That is also why your fuel economy drops in the winter months.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by Moflash

The diesel fuel suppliers automatically switch to winter blend fuel in Oct.So unless you are in a subzero area of the USA a additional additive is not needed.

That rather depends on WHEN you winterize. If you're going to lay it up all winter and you've already got a full tank of summer blend, an additive would not be amiss.

[Crusty]

Power Service is the common knowledge product in the trucking industry and I used it exclusively until I ran into Denver when it hit -18º one night and I had 275 gallons of green jello to deal with. Got a frost burn on my knee trying to get it running the next day and it was three days before it warmed up enough to get my truck rolling again.

The guys who run the Montana outback through the winter mix a combination of #1 and #2 diesel in their tanks (both are available at cold country truckstops) and each driver has his preferred ratio for mixing. Typically those trucks are also equipped with diesel tank heaters as well as insulating blankets around the fuel tanks.

[Skatiero]

Wow, here in Georgia we don't have to do much to our diesels... We have two vans with 7.3l diesel engines, and they start right up all winter long. . I just read the last post about frost burn on the knee and had to google it to see if that was a real thing!