Best Diesel Fuel Treatment?

[More Power]

https://www.thedieselpage.com/images/Winter-Fuel-Treatment-Test-Youtube.jpg

I found this video a while back, but was reminded last week just how important fuel treatment and an anti-gel can be. We had temperatures just last week of a -42F windchill here in Montana. This is the best test I've seen, even though it doesn't include every diesel fuel treatment available. The results are surprising... Let us know what your experience has been with diesel fuel treatments...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8gDN_6esfs

[arveetek]

I have only ever used Howes and Power Service due to easy local availability. Seems like Power Service does a better job at preventing gelling than Howes does. I had no issues during our cold snap last week with wind chills close to 30 below; I did double up on the amount of Power Service I normally would have used. I know of at least one pickup and one tractor that gelled up using their "normal" amount of additive.

I would like to give the Stanadyne treatment a try.

Casey

[More Power]

I think it's worth mentioning that the GM diesel fuel systems used in their pickup trucks have incorporated heaters into their fuel/filter systems at least since the 1982 model years. These fuel heaters are thermostatically/automatically controlled to activate at +20F, which not coincidentally is the gel temperature for non-winterized #2 diesel fuel - the point at which wax crystals begin to form in the fuel. In an unheated fuel supply system, these wax crystals will accumulate on the fuel filter element, to a point where fuel flow stops - along with the engine. To combat waxing, fuel dealers are "supposed to" mix #1 and #2 diesel fuel in a ratio that will not gel down to the lowest expected temperature for a given region.

Some diesel truck owners have reported a problem with gelling fuel when they fuel up in a warmer region of the country, then drive to a colder region. Good advice would be to fuel up once you arrive at your destination, to help ensure you're getting properly winterized diesel fuel.

Personally, I don't worry too much about gelling fuel. I've been driving a GM diesel pickup every winter since 1986. I've never once experienced gelled fuel. That said, the above diesel fuel treatment test video is also valuable for the other tests the video includes. Diesel fuel lubricity, cetane (combustibility), and corrosion resistance are just as important.

[JohnC]

I've never once experienced gelled fuel.
You know what you've gone and done now, right? ;)

[spongebob]

It would be helpful if someone would do a test of these cleaners, but then they might show they don’t work..
I would like to see before and after pictures..

[More Power]

You know what you've gone and done now, right? ;)

I know, right... :(

[arveetek]

Personally, I don't worry too much about gelling fuel. I've been driving a GM diesel pickup every winter since 1986. I've never once experienced gelled fuel.


I've been driving GM diesels since 1995. I've gelled up 3 times, all from not using enough fuel treatment during extreme winter cold snaps. I suspect that here in SW MO, we don't have properly winterized fuel since we typically don't have that much extreme cold.

I have an aftermarket fuel filter on my Tahoe, but built my own fuel heater using a 12V heating pad originally meant for RV sewer pipes.

Casey

[Yukon6.2]

I make sure my diesel tank is kept low during the switch to winter fuel.
It's a 18000 liter tank,so in the Fall it's a bit of juggling to make sure that i don't sell fuel that will gel.

[More Power]

I've been driving GM diesels since 1995. I've gelled up 3 times, all from not using enough fuel treatment during extreme winter cold snaps. I suspect that here in SW MO, we don't have properly winterized fuel since we typically don't have that much extreme cold.

I have an aftermarket fuel filter on my Tahoe, but built my own fuel heater using a 12V heating pad originally meant for RV sewer pipes.

Casey

The factory GM fuel filter assy for the 6.5 includes a heating element that projects upwards into the very center of the fuel filter element. It is effective in keeping the fuel from gelling, assuming the heater portion of the filter assy works as advertised. I'd imagine it could keep even summer #2 from gelling, but there is no fuel heater in the fuel tank. This means that badly gelled fuel could plug the fuel strainer on the pick-up.