Low Sulfer = More Gelling?

[Ox]

Was talking to my FIL yesterday. He said that him and my boy were talking the other day about our gelling issues in Col last week.

My FIL said that he has seen a lot more trucks along side the road this winter than normal, and I would NOT say that we have had it very cold here - and in his normal trucking routes. This so far and last winter - the jet stream has gone WAY south of us and I have seen where GA and FLA have been as cold or colder than us at times.

Anyhow - some guys are thinking that the LS fuel is gelling quicker. Trucks are gelling in temps that they never would have before. (Mine being one) Also - his truck is leased/serviced through Ryder, and they are saying that the fuel "out there" is terrible. They are replacing fuel filters @ 6000 miles many times as they are full of black soot. While at the same time - they have a company that leases from them that only fuels up at Ryder depots, and their filters need changed every 50K miles!


What are the rest of you seeing?

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[TIM]

I have a couple of big delivery trucks. well 25, 950 gvw. 2006 and a 2007. they are always plugged in in the winter and no issues at all. I have seen diesel pick up trucks not run, but they weren't plugged in all the time. I do believe keeping the diesels plugged in, stops the problem.

just my .02

 

[Ox]

A warm block does not have enything to doo with gelling.


Just saw the other thread about gelling. (a little differenet, but...) I Shirley wasn't looking on THAT board for gelling threads.


Saw a post on that one in ref to bio....
I wonder if that may have something to doo with the gunk in the filters? Also - maybe a lower (higher really) gel rate?

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[Tec]

Was talking to my FIL yesterday. He said that him and my boy were talking the other day about our gelling issues in Col last week.

My FIL said that he has seen a lot more trucks along side the road this winter than normal, and I would NOT say that we have had it very cold here - and in his normal trucking routes. This so far and last winter - the jet stream has gone WAY south of us and I have seen where GA and FLA have been as cold or colder than us at times.

Anyhow - some guys are thinking that the LS fuel is gelling quicker. Trucks are gelling in temps that they never would have before. (Mine being one) Also - his truck is leased/serviced through Ryder, and they are saying that the fuel "out there" is terrible. They are replacing fuel filters @ 6000 miles many times as they are full of black soot. While at the same time - they have a company that leases from them that only fuels up at Ryder depots, and their filters need changed every 50K miles!


What are the rest of you seeing?

.

Funny you mention a lot of trucks gelled up one the side of the road in Colorado. I've been hearing rumors lately that the fuel suppliers are blending our #2 diesel into B20 with out telling anyone! seems like the overstock of Bio has to be used! My truck jelled for the first time in 5 years, I have always run additives and anti gelling additives in my winter fuel.

Last week when it was -30 I saw 7 truck in my town down and out!

 

[tree climber]

its the bio.... its terrible and it will take out filters in no time at all it seems. yay were saving the world with bio-fuel though. worthless

 

[mountaincat68papa]

I have seen articles that state the low sulfer fuel does gel at higher temps. I run additives year round, stanadyne never had a problem. Fuel quality is worse but the price of deisel keeps going up arrrg!!!

 

[miko]

On my fleet of trucks I have been watching this issue very closely. Here is what I've seen so far in So. Dak.

I blend our fuel in an under ground tank with additive and #1 and have still had trouble a couple times. When I removed the filter I found a dark gray color solid wax stuck to the filter material. I then put it on the work bench in a drain pan. I tried multiple anti-gel additives to get the "gel" to reliquify but nothing seemed to work other than gas or high temps.

I sent the filter in to a lab and found what they call "solid ends" as an additive. It is something that refineries are using to make a barrell of crude go farther when the fuel supplies start to get low.

The best way for me to keep my trucks running was to use a product called AP75 made by a company called Innospec and run our trucks long enough to get warm return fuel to the tanks.

I hope this helped.

 

[LM.]

I put on about 65,000 a year combined with my PSD and Diesel Pusher Motorhome. About equal mileage between both rigs. I am running in UT, ID & CO. So far I have not had any problems with gelling. I do run Power Service in almost every tank. Last night I was driving home from Denver in the MH and around Rock Springs & Evanston i noticed a bit of hesitation like the Cummins was starving for fuel. It was around 0-6 above. Other then that I have not had any problems. I have been changing out my filters more often then in the past and they seem to have a lot more junk in them.

When the low sulfur fuel came out I noticed a loss of fuel mileage. Once I started to use Power Service it picked back up to normal.