More Power, Clevite Kid, Rustyk need some chemistry help

[7.4 VORTEC]

Good Day,

More Power had an interesting fact stated in the Lubrication section regarding the lubricity additive that's added to our diesel fuel to compensate for the ULSD. Because of its chemistry, it's attracted to metal (steel, aluminum, etc). After talking to the truck driver that just filled my local stations diesel tanks, I asked him where the additive is actually added. He claimed that everything is added in at the refinery or storage tanks before it goes into his all aluminum fuel tank for delivery. He also felt that diesel owners are screwed and was not happy with his delivery trucks performance on the new ULSD. He felt that it was going to be a nightmare in the next couple years due to the new particulate filters and new diesel formulation.

Can someone go into more detail regarding how much the additive is attracted to storage tanks, tranfer pipes and delivery truck tanks?? Is this something we should be concerned about? I bet the inside of the delivery trucks fuel tanks have to be slicker than snail snot on teflon.

Any technical & scientific input that can be added to this would be much appreciated.

I know we can add over the counter additives (and I do), but I really would like to let the masses here know that although lubricity additive is added by the fuel makers, it may not be making it into your tank.

Thanks,
George

[More Power]

One polar group of lubricity additive only needs to be in a concentration of 10 parts per million to bring the lube factor up to where it needs to be. This works out to be something on the order of .04 ounce per a 34 gallon tank of fuel. Some of this tiny amount of additive, I'm sure, would not make it into your fuel tank if added at the refinery level.

However, ASTM D-6079 mandates that fuel meets the required lube specs at the retail pump. The fuel injection industry has a stake in the game, cuz it'll cost them big time in warranty repairs if the fuel doesn't meet spec. Owners of out of warranty trucks will need to pay close attention. If there's a problem with fuel not meeting the lubricity spec it'll show itself this summer. Higher the temperature - thinner the fuel. Gotta be optimistic... I'd bet all this will be sorted out eventually, and we won't need to be concerned about treating fuel. Till then, I recommend using a commercial fuel additive that advertises additional fuel lubricity - at least till the dust settles and we know more about the short & longterm effects of ULSD fuel. :)

Jim

[Kennedy]

I'll stick with my FPPF Total Power for my stuff, but one thing that could be done is 5% biodiesel is supposed to suffice to bring lubricity up to snuff without risk of loss in the plumbing.

I won't trust any specification mandate as the enforcement and testing just is not there...