Diesel Advice

Jane you were promised a lot of opinion and I'll help deliver on that promise.

I took the time to examine the load report my fuel truck delivery guy gets from the tank farm when he loads. The USDL is delivered into his truck as stated to have lubricity additives and a cetane additive to a minimum of 40. The cetane of 40 is the general minimum required by engine makers. The lubricity additive is subject to discussion.

I buy Power Service Diesel Kleen as well. I get it at target or Walmart and its about 10 bucks for a 96 oz jug, which treats 300 gals to boost cetane by about 6 points. This product also adds lubricity to the ULSD. I don't try to be precise. When I know I need more than 100 Gal in each tank I drop half a jug into each tank and ad fuel. I'm boosting somewhere between 4 and 6 points in most cases and that has given me a fine improvement in a low smoke start up, but as for lubricity, talk to me in another 6,000 gallons of fuel.

I operate in Ft Lauderdale which is a warm and virulent environment for microbial growth. I do not treat my tanks for flora/fauna growth routinely, but I monitor my Racors closely and treat on signs of distress.

Hope this helps.

Oh I did the math a while back and PS Diesel Kleen ads about 0.06 cents per gal. boosting a full 6 numbers. And boosting over a cetane of 50 can actually increase smoking at all RPM's.
 
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I buy Power Service Diesel Kleen with Cetane Improver and Stanadne Lubricity additive by the case in bulk and I use both in my boat, truck, car and in all the other stuff I own that is diesel powered as well.

Frank, I took your advice and purchased PS Diesel Kleen +Cetane Boost (http://www.powerservice.com/dk/), that contains "Slickdiesel for Maximum Fuel Lubrication." Would you also add the Stanadne Lubricity additive, or does the "Slickdiesel" provide the lubrication lost to ULSD? Thanks!

- Scott
 
I cannot find anything published about the extent to which Power Service SlickDiesel improves lubricity. I use it for the other benefits....i.e. moisture dispersant, cetane improver, etc. I also use Stanadyne Lubricity improver because I have first hand knowledge from a diesel service company that it solves lubricity problems with Cummins and Caterpillar engines......and part of that is the fact that they are a Cummins dealer and have access to Cummins lubricity testing data.

The other point worth making is that the Stanadyne produce is very cheap....about 1/3 to 1/2 that of conventional multipurpose additives and as long as the products you use are ULSD compliant it does not hurt to use both.
 
Where do you guys purchase the Standyne Lubricity improver...Walmart, Autozone, NAPA,?????
 
I just spoke with the local distributor (very large here in NJ) and although they can and are willing to order the Standyne, they said that they now only stock FPPF Lubricity additive. The tech on the line said that it was "preferred" by the engine manufacturer that they deal mostly with.

Anyway, the FPPF in 32oz jugs is $8.91 if you buy a case of 12 ($11.14 for individual jugs). Each 32oz jug treats 250 gallons of diesel.
 
The lubricity lost by the removal of sulfur from diesel fuel to reach the 15ppm threshold of ULSD may be replaced by using a biodiesel blend; as little as 1% biodiesel will restore the lubricity. Almost all diesel engine manufacturers now approve the use of B5 (5% biodiesel-95% petro diesel) in their engines without affecting their warranties.
 
The lubricity lost by the removal of sulfur from diesel fuel to reach the 15ppm threshold of ULSD may be replaced by using a biodiesel blend...


The report that I earlier linked to showed Biodiesel as the highest "performing" additive.

At 1% that would be about 2 gallons per my average fillup. Now an obvious question - where can one find biodiesel?
 
Even inland, biodiesel is hard to find. Until it is popular enough to become widely available at truck stops etc, there just isn't enough volume for bio-blends to be available on the water. In the meantime, you should plan on handling your lubricity solution by using commercial additives.

The other issue you have is that you probably cannot buy B100 or 100% biodiesel. Most distributors only sell blends of B5 (5%) or B10 (10%) so you are going to be looking for significantly more biodiesel than 2 gallons at a time. But this varies depending upon what part of the country you are in. Except for what we make ouselves, the nearest place I can get biodiesel in Tennessee is an agricultural outlet that only sells B20.
 
Amazing what a telephone call can achieve. I called our local Co-Op; Sunrise in Norwalk, Ohio. They sell 99.9 Biodiesel...with the caveat that they prefer to sell in 100 gallon quantities. Current price: $5.85 per gallon.

The guy I talked to was very knowledgeable and completely familiar with the ULSD issues. He confirmed that 2% is the suggested blend and that will get past any lubricity issues that are out there. Of course you could burn 100% biodiesel if you'd like! Uh, not quite just yet...but we're getting there.

Problem is...at 8 gallons per full tank fill up - I'd need to fill completely 12.5 times to use up that much. And, do the math - it would cost $46.85 per tank which I believe is above what commercial additives are.

Good idea - but doesn't seem workable at least at this point.
 
Frank W (and the rest)

I took your advice and purchased the Power Service Diesel Kleen + Cetane Boost ULSD Formula. On the jug, it says it contains SlickDiesel for "Maximum Fuel Lubrication". On the back of the jug it repeats this and goes on to say "protects pumps and injectors against wear from ULSD."

Can you elaborate as to why you also add the Stanadyne product? Am I missing or misunderstanding.

POST EDIT

I reread the thread and are you saying you add the Stanadyne simply because you don't know how much the SlickDiesel adds to lubricity. ie you are just being cautious. If so, I get it. Thanks
 
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Randy,

I could not find any specifics about how Power Service quantifies the effects of their "Slickdiesel" on ULSD fuel. With the better part of $100K worth on engines at stake, I'm not going to take the word of a company who has as vested interest in selling me their product unless I can verify it in some manner. I tried to find something from Power Service on this, but I admit, "I didn't go to the mat" with them on it. This is primarily because I've used their other products with great success for years and know PS to be a good company run by an honerable family.

The rest of the story for me is that I have a good friend who is a Cummins mid-range dealer who does have access to some Cummins info provided to dealers who are struggling to solve injector and pump problems that have cropped up since 10/06 when the mandated change to ULSD occurred. They do have data on the Stanadyne lubricity product and it is adequate to protect the engines. The rub is that you must use other Stanadyne products to handle the same issues you handle with PS Diesel-Kleen....i.e moisture dispursing, cetane improvement, etc. I've always used Diesel-Kleen and know it is a good product and it is cheaper than the Stanadyne Performance Formula additive which is the Diesel-Kleen comparable.

There......completely confused yet?........but your last sentence is pretty much where I am on this.

I might also add that I think sooner or later the ULSD fuel we get will have some uniform type of lubricity and cetane improver put in the fuel as it is processed before it is distributed......guess that'll be another $.50/ gal at the pump.
 
I've attached a file that deals with addititives and lubricity. It is saved as text which makes it hard to read. There was no way I could paste the PDF due to size, sorry about that.

The usual disclaimers about it being only one study on a topic that has many perspectives. That said, I think the methodology is decent and it does assign some reference against a ULSD benchmark. Net, net, some of the additives improve lubricity a lot and ULSD needs the help.

The paper would support Frank's point that a seperate additive is favored for lubricity.

FWIW.
 
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Thanks Frank,

I always value your posts (just wanted to make sure I "got it")

A shopping I will go...A shopping I will go...
 

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