Diesel Kleen for WMO smoke

[leswhitt]

On this last batch, my truck was smoking so much that I thought I was going to get pulled over. At idle was terrible and if I sat a light for too long, I would leave a cloud behind when the light changed, no matter how slowly I accelerated away from it.

Having used the grey Diesel Kleen (DK) before with success, I figured I'd either try that or add some diesel to the tank. Since it was cheaper than adding diesel (we're at $4.29 right now), I gave it a shot and surprisingly it cleaned it right up. After about 30 miles my huge blue clouds turned to small grey clouds, and 100 miles later the smoke is MINIMAL and barely noticeable. It's no longer in the "pull me over" territory and completely livable. PLUS, my engine is running much smoother without as much "lope" as before.

I bought the 80 oz bottle at Walmart (I think $16.88) and used 40 oz for ~18-20 gallons of fuel. That's quite a bit more than what's recommended for normal diesel (16 oz would've been the diesel equivalent) and a smaller concentration might've worked just as well but that's what I went with. I'm tempted to add the remaining 40 oz to my last 10 gallons and see if it kills the smoke completely but I think I'm going to save the 40oz for when I fill up again instead.

As for the science of why it worked, my reasoning is that this batch of WMO cetane was low and the DK boosted it enough to allow for a more complete burn. By that reasoning any cetane booster should do the trick but as for price and availability, I think DK is the cheapest and most main-stream out there.

I still have about 100 gallons of clean but low powered oil (the truck won't even idle on it), I wonder if I mixed some good WMO with the low powered oil, and added 160oz of DK, would that boost it enough to make it usable?

Has anyone else used DK to reduce smoke or boost poor burning WMO?

 

[Josh Carmack]

What about boosting it with gasoline, or 50 cut DSL? I add the green top bottle of PowerService to all my WMO, not sure the mechanism of action, but it is advertised to remove water. PS also boost cetane levels, and seems to me makes starting on oil easier.

 

[leswhitt]

What about boosting it with gasoline, or 50 cut DSL? I add the green top bottle of PowerService to all my WMO, not sure the mechanism of action, but it is advertised to remove water. PS also boost cetane levels, and seems to me makes starting on oil easier.

Adding gas will lower the cetane...once your viscosity is good to go then adding more gas won't help the fuel. As for cutting 50/50 with diesel, it's running $4.19 up here so it'd be a lot more expensive to mix with diesel than add DK. With my 40 gallon tank I could run a whole bottle of DK for the equivalent of adding only 4 gallons of diesel.

I need to fill up my tank again, I'll see if running without the added DK will bring the smoke back. If it does,, I'll see if the DK will cure it again.

 

[Brad S.]

If DK works for sure, can you cut back the mix rate, just to see how low you could go and still have the anti smoke ability & cost.

 

[Josh Carmack]

I just realized we are talking about different variants of the same formulas, I use both the white bottle, and the the green top bottle. I mix them both in about 2 times as much as needed. I am now running a 5% RUG/WMO mix in one tank, and 50% DSl mixed with my 5% mix in the other tank. Get some greyish black smoke at high RPMS, otherwise none to speak of. But I am running on the same batch of oil from the same guy since I started this oil stuff. That may change with my next pickup, which will be in the next week or so.

 

[leswhitt]

If DK works for sure, can you cut back the mix rate, just to see how low you could go and still have the anti smoke ability & cost.

I filled my tank up the other day and the smoke is back, I've got just under 40 gallons in there and plan to add 40 oz of DK (gray bottle) to the mix tonight and see if that clears it up. If not, I'll continue adding in 20 oz increments and try to figure out how little I can get away with using.

 

[leswhitt]

I ended up adding 32 oz's and it wasn't enough, I plan to add another 40 tonight and see if that'll put the smoke back in check.

The smoke is getting obnoxious, I think I must have a air/boost leak somewhere that's contributing to it so I'll be doing a turbo R&R and boost replacement in the near future. Might be finally time for injector R&R too, we'll see how it goes.

 

[Brad S.]

Is the DK the only product that works for you in reducing smoke???
Why I ask, I like to use Howes for normal fuel conditioner and just wondering if in a higher does Howes might help reduce smoke???

 

[leswhitt]

Does Howes have a cetane boost in it? How much does it cost? I don't use DK because of loyalty, only because it's the cheapest cetane booster I've found. If Howes is a better value, I'll gladly test it out.

 

[Brad S.]

Not sure on the cetane boost of Howes, I'll have to check a bottle.(would assume so, as its a conditioner.)
The cost is about $12-$13 per 64 oz bottle, normally where I get it.
I haven't been driving my pickup for a while, heads are off, but going back on soon.

 

[leswhitt]

Not sure on the cetane boost of Howes, I'll have to check a bottle.(would assume so, as its a conditioner.)
The cost is about $12-$13 per 64 oz bottle, normally where I get it.
I haven't been driving my pickup for a while, heads are off, but going back on soon.

I checked out the Howes online and it doesn't look like it has a cetane boost, it seems to focus more on lowering the gelling point and making sure the fuel doesn't clog. My increased smoke might've been a symptom of worn injector o-rings, I ordered a set last night and plan to R&R my injectors when they come in.

 

[leswhitt]

The increased smoke was because of the o-rings and a suspect injector but I still have to give DK credit for being good enough to mask the issue. After I replaced those components, as well as put new donuts on my downpipes, my smoke has been virtually non-existent with about 20oz of DK every 3rd or 4th tank.

As soon as I drop the tank and get out the trash that I accidentally pumped in a few weeks ago, everything'll be back to normal and I'll keep on trucking!