Diesel additives?

[Clarke673]

Out of curiosity, what year and engine diesels have you had?

As the newer diesels get better and better and the diesel gets more and more refined.. lubrication goes DOWN. Do you have to run anything? nope... but at 5 bucks a tank, seems like cheap maint on injectors, gelling, etc

i have owned a mercedes diesel, a 93 12 valve, 01 24 valve, 3206 cat engine, 01 LB7 duramaz, 03 lb7, 04 lb7, 06 LBZ, and another 06 LBZ.

Ever couple months i dump a bottle of diesel clean through, but never ona regular bassis. Only problem i have had was on my newest duramax. Bad injector+to much timing+ to much fuel= a **** load of money waisted.

 

[HiWaYman92]

The study says it all. Some additives are so bad they make your fuel worse. Tcw3 sal mart oil is cheap and helps lubricity. Just saying.

 

[Wheel House Motorsports]

run many gallons of supertech 2 stroke, good stuff. makes the 7.3 not so dang noisy as well

 

[throttlejocky316]

I caution everybody reading this thread, people are saying what additive they are using but not everybody is saying what motor they are using it in. Whatever you decide to use in your truck, make sure it is compatible with your fuel system. The old powerstrokes and 12v/24v cummins would pretty much run on anything put in them. I have read about people using anything from used motor oil to trans fluid to pure bio diesel on the older fuel systems. The new systems are much more sophisticated and maybe damaged by these same additives. I would hate to see somebody be stuck with the bill to replace the injectors or entire fuel system on a new truck because of an incompatible additive. I would research what additive the vehicle manufacture says is compatible, just for warranty sake. This is just my thoughts on this subject.

 

[barry1me]

I run.........nothing. 3 diesels in the last 10 yrs. Every once in a while I'll throw a dose of PS in it for injector cleaner, not sure if I need to or not.
Never gelled up, even -20 to -25 for a week straight. As long as the fuel is blended for the area you'll be fine.
DO keep a spare filter and a bottle of PS 911 in the truck, fortuately haven't had to use them.
Only gelling problem I've seen in yrs was last winter, d@mn near every diesel engine in Denver gelled up at about -10F. Thought it strange b/c my truck was sitting on the Western Slope in -15F and fired right up.
FOund out later that week that due to the mild winter the fuel supplier(s) in Dnever area were skimpin on the blend, only blending to +5F! COuldn't buy a bottle of 911 anywhere in town. I drove home that night and brought 2 cases back in the am to the job for all the iron. Bet I could have sold that stuff for $50 a bottle on the streetcorner!

Just drive your truck and put $5 in a jar everytime you fill up for the additive you would have thrown in. By next yr you will have enough money for sled gas all year and your truck will still run!

X2.....I have owned an 02 LB7, 05 LLY, 06 LBZ, an 05/06/06 6.0L powerstroke, and 6.4L powerstroke. Never had any gains in fuel mileage, starting in cold, or quieter with PS, Stanadyne, Amsoil.

IMHO its snake oil, and the minor amount of improvement it makes its not worth the gains. All trucks had 95k-220k miles on them when used.

 

[AZ800]

Out of curiosity, what year and engine diesels have you had?

As the newer diesels get better and better and the diesel gets more and more refined.. lubrication goes DOWN. Do you have to run anything? nope... but at 5 bucks a tank, seems like cheap maint on injectors, gelling, etc

'94 6.5 Chevy, 02 LB7, now an 07 5.9 Cummins.
No, I'm not the ultra high mile driver. The 07 is just coming up on 100k, from 10k mi when I bought it.
I do change the fuel filter at each oil change, but I use Wix gold filters that all the Dodge guys say will ruin your injectors because they don't filter down to 2 microns or something.
Have 2 buddies with 03 Dodge 5.9's. Both around 200kmi. Neither of them use any additives regularly and niether have replaced an injector (well one guy just pulled his sticks and put in some 150hp ones, but not becasue the old ones went bad).

At about 300k mi now between the trucks at 15mpg, I'd have spent over $3k in additives I just figgered. That's enough for a new set of injectors! Or a can of Copenhagen at each fill up, which I enjoy more!

I'm not saying there's zero benefit to additives, but don't see the need to use regularly.

 

[Coldfinger]

Does any diesel pickup owners manual say to use additive?

 

[barry1me]

Does any diesel pickup owners manual say to use additive?

They say certain additives can be used, but no manual says to 'use' them.

 

[X2Freeride]

Ran power service for years, never once let me down even in -40 with 70 plus below wind chills. I've seen howes let a few people down though.