Fuel treatment and gelling

click23 · **Joined:** Thu May 11, 2006 9:22 am **Posts:** 309

I have used Power Service ever since we bout the jeep, white bottle in the winter and grey the rest of the year. I have decided to change to Opti-Lube, not XDP formula though. I live in east Tennessee, and it does not get real cold that often. Here is some temperature history for where I live. On average., our low temperature in the winter is 26-29. Is this cold enough to start using an anti gel? Should I be using anti gel regularly in the winter? If not what is the point that I should start?

dgeist · **Posted:** Thu Oct 08, 2009 11:27 am

I live in Atlanta, so not quite as cold as you. I've used B20 year round with no adverse effects, but I also garage my vehicle and/or have it parked in the sun in the winter for that reason. I did accidentally run B100 when it dropped below freezing a couple years back, but after getting things broken up with power service and a hair dryer, filling up the tank with ULSD and diluting the bio it was fine.

Ultimately, it all depends on the cloud/gell point of your oil stock. If you don't know, then identify a chart with all of them and assume the worst. I don't know that you would really have any adverse effects from having a fuel treatment in there all winter except for the price. I personally try to be careful any time the temp is below 40 F.

Dan

flman · **Posted:** Thu Oct 08, 2009 5:06 pm

I wont even be thinking about that until / if the temps get into the teens.

95BadBoy · **Posted:** Thu Oct 08, 2009 6:13 pm

I would think with your temps - you should be fine. If you do start dropping to the teens, good idea to go 50/50 blend #2 and #1 fuel. Think about anti-gel if things start hedging to below the donut. :wink:

mikey1273 · **Posted:** Thu Oct 08, 2009 6:45 pm

I wondered about this too. this is my first diesel so I don't know what to expect. I know what others have said diesels are like but they only know about more traditional diesel engines not the more modern comman rail type thats in ours. I started putting some powerservice (silver bottle) in every few tanks, since I don't know what kind of diet the first owner fed it to help clean it some and keep it clean. I would scale back to doing it every month or two as I did with putting ingector cleaner in the subarus I used to drive. I don't think thats going to hurt anything even if its maybe a little overkill at least I should not have dirty ingectors.

since I never had a diesel b4 I don't know if I need to plug it in (don't think i have an engine heater) and I get asked that by people when I say its a diesel. I just say "no I don't think so" to that.

It can get pretty cold here and I have seen the other year a few days where it was as cold as 10 and even zereo over night. so when should I start thinking about anti-gell and plugging if I even have an enginge heater?

95BadBoy · **Posted:** Fri Oct 09, 2009 2:29 am

Mikey

I believe all US CRD's have a block heater, cord should be tied up near the oil dipstick. When it starts getting cold over in your area, use a timer to turn on your block heater a few hours B4 you need to leave. Much better for your rig, and should give way easier starts.

It is already going down to mid 20's at night over here.

Way too early for this.

Cowpie1 · **Posted:** Fri Oct 09, 2009 11:00 am

click23 wrote:

I have used Power Service ever since we bout the jeep, white bottle in the winter and grey the rest of the year. I have decided to change to Opti-Lube, not XDP formula though. I live in east Tennessee, and it does not get real cold that often. Here is some temperature history for where I live. On average., our low temperature in the winter is 26-29. Is this cold enough to start using an anti gel? Should I be using anti gel regularly in the winter? If not what is the point that I should start?

Like was stated earlier... wouldn't worry till temps get below 20F. If you check with where you get your fuel, most retailers winterize the fuel to give you a buffer. The farther north, the earlier and better they winterize the fuel. Below 20F, then you can start considering additive. What ever makes you feel comfortable. Even high levels of biodiesel will not have a problem till 20F. I have used Howe's Lubricator additive for nearly 3 decades (including almost 10 in the interior of Alaska) with good results. Whatever you decide for additive, check online for good prices unless Wally World is carrying what you want locally. I have gotten good pricing for a case or two at www.fueladditiveonline.com A google search may give you better pricing. Retail tends to be a little on the high side.... especially at truck stops. An additive such as Howe's also helps keep water in fuel from being a problem. It isn't just gelling that's a problem. Much as we don't like it, there always seems to be traces of water in fuel even at the best retailers. If those molecules of water get together, they like to cause problems.

I would recommend you change out your fuel filter at least every fall before winter. If you are going to have a fuel related problem, it will usually show up in the filter first. When it happens, you will wish you had changed the filter before cold weather sat in.

mikey1273 · **Posted:** Fri Oct 09, 2009 4:18 pm

95BadBoy wrote:

Mikey

I believe all US CRD's have a block heater, cord should be tied up near the oil dipstick. When it starts getting cold over in your area, use a timer to turn on your block heater a few hours B4 you need to leave. Much better for your rig, and should give way easier starts.

It is already going down to mid 20's at night over here.

Way too early for this.

I did not know that I will have to look for it the next time I am under the hood. is a lamp timer good enough?

95BadBoy · **Posted:** Fri Oct 09, 2009 4:38 pm

I do not know the wattage of the block heaters in our tractors - to be safe you would want a timer that could easily handle 1500 watts or so.

Crap - Had a small bit of snow already today. Really don't need this stuff yet. :lol:

CATCRD · **Posted:** Fri Oct 09, 2009 8:34 pm

It's only 400 watts, so just about any 3 prong lamp timer is safe.

mikey1273 · **Posted:** Sat Oct 10, 2009 12:34 am

cool good to know its low wattage, it won't run up my power bill. I did find the heater. I looked there by the dipstick and found what looked like a power cord but it was not coiled up. I had to trace it out. it kind of ran next to a boost hose and then down to the bumper area. funny thing is I had seen that cable there b4 when I changed the oil, oil filter and fuel filter but couldn't guess what a cable like that was for cus I didn't bother trace it to the end. I kind of feel like a dipstick for not knowing what it was all along.

Fuel treatment and gelling

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