Question abut atf in fuel filter clean up?

[fsmyth]

Two stroke oil has some detergents but it's mostly added for lubrication and it's designed to combust without leaving deposits. That's why it's a pretty good lubricity additive for diesel fuel.

As I have said before, ATF DOES NOT have a very robust detergency package (compared to motor oil) because an automatic transmission is a closed environment. An engine is ingesting dirty air (the air filter always lets some dirt thru) and the combustion process adds to the contamination. Also, ATF is not designed to combust, so it will leave deposits when it burns. Finally, it adds very little lubricity to the fuel... even versus pump fuel with the correct amount of additive or especially fuel treated with an supplemental additive.. or even 2-stroke oil. Doesn't do much harm but it doesn't do much good either. Just a waste. The possible saving grace to some modern ATF formulations is that some contain esters which can be good solvents. It all depends on the type and how it works on whatever sort of gunk there may be in an injection pump. Still hoping Mell will chime in on what sorts of gunk he might see inside pumps and how much it interferes with the injection system.

My whole post was in the context of a N/A IDI. It has burned some stuff that simply
amazes me. And seems happy for the most part. It absolutely LOVES hydraulic oil
My waste ATF goes in it's own drum. If I get a good batch of 70/30, I will add it to that.
Otherwise, I use a 85/15 WMO/RUG mix. Still keep the side tank straight #2, just in case.
The WMO and ATF mixes seem to burn almost as clean as #2. Very little additional smoke.
The only other truck I had that would burn all this and be happy was a Mack.
The John Deere is OK with it also, but I alternate straight and mixed tanks.
The Cummins gets #2 and ashless 2-stroke at 200:1. Only.

Not sure if I would trust ATF to clean up a pump. Seems to me that some of the
cleaners in the store would probably be more effective (Sea Foam, etc...)
It would be nice to know if ATF actually DOES clean it up - what and how much.
Not ever having the problem (probably because of the RUG mixes), I personally
have never tried it. Keeping an open mind (what's left of it).

 

[FORDF250HDXLT]

My waste ATF goes in it's own drum. If I get a good batch of 70/30, I will add it to that.
Otherwise, I use a 85/15 WMO/RUG mix. Still keep the side tank straight #2, just in case.
The WMO and ATF mixes seem to burn almost as clean as #2. Very little additional smoke.
The only other truck I had that would burn all this and be happy was a Mack.
The John Deere is OK with it also, but I alternate straight and mixed tanks.
The Cummins gets #2 and ashless 2-stroke at 200:1. Only.

well somethings getting spoiled.

 

[fsmyth]

well somethings getting spoiled.

. Wait until YOU replace your second VP44. At over a grand a pop.

 

[Clb]

Ok play nice!
Yall go to harley forums and look at "oil again"
A hash over syn vs dino!
3gagillion posts,

 

[Clb]

Any chance a stalling condition see's relief from extra or less flow from the cocktail of atf ...ect?!
Talk amongst yerselves!

 

[snicklas]

I see both sides on this one.

I understand where Jim is coming from. I have read many times to use ATF because "It has a lot of detergent and is a great claener", even as recently as the last cuple of days. Jim's point on this is not saying it doesn't work, he is saying, because of his background and the extensive research he has done over the years, that ATF does not have a lot of detergent by design. Which he has stated more than once.

I've not used the ATF trick, but have read many have and have seen a difference. I don't think it is being disputed that is works, but why it works. I hope that Mel can chime in on this, since he may have an idea why it works. Maybe its a viscosity thing, or something else. I would like to know what it does, and why it makes a difference.......

 

[79jasper]

Snicklas, I think you're right.


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

 

[StBernardnot]

I dropped a cylinder (quit firing) in my 250 Cummins, back in the 70's. I was hauling swinging meat, no time to stop at some shop. 4 qts. of atf in each tank & that injector came back to life in about 30 miles. 'Course that was a long time ago, but it worked then.

 

[Black dawg]

atf has almost no cleaning ability....very easy to prove disprove that fact, just find some dirty stuff and try a couple different things on it. Motor oil cleans very well, as does diesel.

One thing that I have wondered about the atf trick ( never tried myself) is that atf has pretty good penetrating abilities, better than diesel though??

 

[riotwarrior]

50/50 blend ATF/Acetone...best penetrating oil out there...tested by consumer reports

 

[pastorjeep]

Just my two cents here, but when I bought my truck it had the classic heat soak symptoms of shut it off and wait 15mins and it wouldn't start for two hours. read about the ATF cleaning and tried it...wallah! The IP was instantly cured and driven another 40,000 until the timing went out on it and it wouldn't advance past 5 degrees no matter how far I turned it.

 

[FORDF250HDXLT]

http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1387590-engine-dies-after-acceleration.html

 

[BDCarrillo]

I wonder if the dispersants and solvent nature of ATF are doing the trick, as opposed to the limited amount of detergents.

 

[ToughOldFord]

Now I can add my personal experience to this discussion. The timing is apropos considering we just had this conversation; our yard truck at work has the 3208 Cat. It started doing the stalling at every, and I mean every, stop. Got to where the guy driving it would have one hand on the shifter, the other on the ignition. Stop, put it in neutral, (auto-tragic), start, put it in gear. Not a good scenario since the starter in the 3208 costs so damn much the IDIs in our trucks are chump change in comparison. But this truck runs hard 7 days a week and freeing it up to fix it can be a challenge.

We had a couple of days of downtime last week so I figured I'd try the trick we were just discussing, filled the filter with ATF, ran it for a minute, shut it down, let it set until next day.

Stalling issue is gone. The ATF trick works folks, verified.

 

[pastorjeep]

I just put a rebuilt (moveras) transmission in a 97 Dodge Cummins for a congregant and noticed the truck had hard starting and stalling issues that he said were there for years. Yep you guessed it...we put a filter housing full of atf and the next day fixed!