Cold Weather Diesel Fuel Additive
Ok it's going to be 10 degrees tomorrow -8 Sunday night and a high of 3 degrees on Monday. I know that the fuel I've been buying is "winterized" but does anyone add anything to their fuel during these...
Forum Discussion
The most important thing is to make sure that the fuel coming out of the pump has truly been winterized for the expected temps. I always bought my winter fuel from a source that sold lots of fuel to truckers. I didn't even care if I had to drive from town out to a station located on the interstate.
This is what I learned several years ago and I think it's still true. There are 2 ways that are used to winterize bulk #2 diesel.
1. Blend it with #1 diesel. The blend is adjusted as the weather gets colder. But #1 does not have as much lubricity as #2 so I always ran a higher dose of lubricity improvers. This is the much preferred method. I believe it is also more costly.
2. Treat it with chemicals. I really don't know how well this works, but I never trusted it. I believe I had problems due to running this type of 'treated' fuel.
In my experience, the people at the 'city' stations didn't know what I was talking about when I asked them if the diesel had been treated.
It's important to realize that you can plug in your vehicle overnight and it may start just fine in the morning. But in really cold weather inadequately treated fuel can gell up after you get out on the highway and run down the road with a -20 degree, 60 mph breeze blowing through the engine compartment, and over the fuel lines that run under the truck. This is what happened to me. The gelled fuel clogged the fuel filter after I had driven several miles. Stopped me dead in my tracks. Once this happens to you, you will do anything to make sure it doesn't happen again.
The other thing to be careful of is filling up at a station and then driving north into much colder weather. Especially if you also fill an auxiliary tank. That fuel might not be treated for the temps you're driving into.
Tim
This is what I learned several years ago and I think it's still true. There are 2 ways that are used to winterize bulk #2 diesel.
1. Blend it with #1 diesel. The blend is adjusted as the weather gets colder. But #1 does not have as much lubricity as #2 so I always ran a higher dose of lubricity improvers. This is the much preferred method. I believe it is also more costly.
2. Treat it with chemicals. I really don't know how well this works, but I never trusted it. I believe I had problems due to running this type of 'treated' fuel.
In my experience, the people at the 'city' stations didn't know what I was talking about when I asked them if the diesel had been treated.
It's important to realize that you can plug in your vehicle overnight and it may start just fine in the morning. But in really cold weather inadequately treated fuel can gell up after you get out on the highway and run down the road with a -20 degree, 60 mph breeze blowing through the engine compartment, and over the fuel lines that run under the truck. This is what happened to me. The gelled fuel clogged the fuel filter after I had driven several miles. Stopped me dead in my tracks. Once this happens to you, you will do anything to make sure it doesn't happen again.
The other thing to be careful of is filling up at a station and then driving north into much colder weather. Especially if you also fill an auxiliary tank. That fuel might not be treated for the temps you're driving into.
Tim
