PwrSmoke
Full Access Member
I generally don't add anything. Don't feel called to do much in that direction either. In 26 years of in the same truck, I had the pump done once... and that was as much tweakage to get the most out of the turbo as anything.
From the material I've seen, PROPERLY TREATED AND ADDITIVIZED modern diesel fuel, ULSD or whatever, is not harmful to our injection pumps. In many cases, however, the additives come at the distributor level and the conscientiousness and honesty of those smaller outfits is variable. One tank of low rent fuel (meaning low on additives) won't hurt much, but low-rent-repetition will. People who travel or whose fuel supply is suspect have more justification for regularly using a lubricity additive than people who know what they are getting is good. For myself, I know my local supplier and have seen how and what they do and trust them... so I don't bother at the pumps of the local stations they supply fuel to. I sometimes add 2-stroke oil to my farm tank (they supply my fuel there too) and diesel StaBil. The 2-stoke oil is probably unnecessary but that Spicer report showed that it's a decent lubricity additive and super cheap. Might also increase the viscosity of the fuel a little, which mechanical pumps like. New to the StaBil diesel product but I spent a fair bit of time on the phone and e-mailing with their chemist/tribologist and he convinced me it was a good thing for fuel that may sit around for a year, as mine might.
Overall, I tend to think the furor over lubricity is at least partially a "manufactured" problem with more than a little "Chicken Little" in it. After all it does help sell a lot of additives and line the pockets of those selling them. There is definitely a core of truth to the problem but it's probably a lot less prevalent than the hype would indicate... the deluge of anecdotal, uneducated and unsubstantiated reports notwithstanding. The best justification for additives is probably that there is no easy way to know whether you are getting good fuel or not. That's why I like that lubricity study so much because it gave you some idea of the effectiveness of the various additives (and ATF was just about useless) so you could pic one that suited your idea of "value." The synthetic 2-stroke oil was by far the most effective of the low-cost options (even beating some of the prepared formulas) so , cheapass that I am, I naturally gravitated that way.
From the material I've seen, PROPERLY TREATED AND ADDITIVIZED modern diesel fuel, ULSD or whatever, is not harmful to our injection pumps. In many cases, however, the additives come at the distributor level and the conscientiousness and honesty of those smaller outfits is variable. One tank of low rent fuel (meaning low on additives) won't hurt much, but low-rent-repetition will. People who travel or whose fuel supply is suspect have more justification for regularly using a lubricity additive than people who know what they are getting is good. For myself, I know my local supplier and have seen how and what they do and trust them... so I don't bother at the pumps of the local stations they supply fuel to. I sometimes add 2-stroke oil to my farm tank (they supply my fuel there too) and diesel StaBil. The 2-stoke oil is probably unnecessary but that Spicer report showed that it's a decent lubricity additive and super cheap. Might also increase the viscosity of the fuel a little, which mechanical pumps like. New to the StaBil diesel product but I spent a fair bit of time on the phone and e-mailing with their chemist/tribologist and he convinced me it was a good thing for fuel that may sit around for a year, as mine might.
Overall, I tend to think the furor over lubricity is at least partially a "manufactured" problem with more than a little "Chicken Little" in it. After all it does help sell a lot of additives and line the pockets of those selling them. There is definitely a core of truth to the problem but it's probably a lot less prevalent than the hype would indicate... the deluge of anecdotal, uneducated and unsubstantiated reports notwithstanding. The best justification for additives is probably that there is no easy way to know whether you are getting good fuel or not. That's why I like that lubricity study so much because it gave you some idea of the effectiveness of the various additives (and ATF was just about useless) so you could pic one that suited your idea of "value." The synthetic 2-stroke oil was by far the most effective of the low-cost options (even beating some of the prepared formulas) so , cheapass that I am, I naturally gravitated that way.
