Some interesting reading from a college textbook on light-duty diesel engines:

"Diesel fuel systems are damaged as often as they are helped by products known as diesel fuel conditioners. While these products are not exactly snake oil, they seldom do much good and may create performance problems. Diesel fuels meeting either the ASTM D975 (diesel) or the ASTM D7467 (biodiesel) industry specifications should be used: such fuels do not require additional additives unless they have been allowed to break down. Outside of North America, use fuels meeting EN590. Most diesel engine manufacturers stipulate that they are not responsible for any repairs required to correct the effects of using diesel fuel conditioner. The only exception is much older hydromechanical systems, designed for an era of diesel fuels with much higher lubricity than currently approved fuels. Alcohol-based conditioners should be especially avoided and only used in an absolute emergency to address water freeze-up problems in the tank."

(Modern Diesel Technology: Light Duty Diesels by Sean Bennett)

My policy is PM22A only, or nothing.

 

PowerServcice has been asked a few times whether DK is an emulsifier or demulsifier and usually get different answers including "neither." Emulsifiers blend water into the diesel to make it burn better. Demulsifiers separate water to make it easier to filter out. Since water blended into diesel is corrosive, emulsifiers are not good. But I would be concerned not knowing.

 

I have an email from PS saying they try to get the fuel to absorb the water and have the engine "burn" it.

Excerpt from an email I received from PS.

"Thank you for taking the time to contact Power Service. Our products are neither an emulsifier or demulsifier. They make water soluble in diesel fuel, or in other words it dissolves water and makes it part of the diesel fuel."

What does it mean to "make water soluble"? Soluble means - capable of being dissolved or liquefied. What does "makes it part of diesel fuel" mean?

Water and oil (petroleum products) do not mix. You can emulsify them and get a cloudy mixture such as an oil and vinegar salad dressing. Once the salad dressing is allowed to settle, the oil and vinegar will separate again.

I would be wary of any product that claims to make water part of diesel fuel and tries to pass the water separator so it can be "burned" in the combustion chamber.

JMHO and 2 cents

 

That sounds like emulsifier to me. I will stick with Opti-Lube.

 

Don't use any product that tried to burn the water along with the fuel. Water doesn't burn (lowers CN) and provides no lubrication to the Bosch CP4.2 pump. I see no benefit to this whatsoever.

 

Thanks new to diesel also this helps a lot. Love the information you can get on this website.

 

So what's a good way to make sure water isn't in your system?

 

Buy diesel from a reputable station with lots of diesel traffic. Drain some fuel out of the frame rail filter (water separator) monthly to check and remove any water that might have been caught. If you are really paranoid, install a second in-line water separator. Possibly add the PM22, which does nothing for water, but adds a tiny bit of lubricity for the pump and increases CN.

 

Sounds good, I had a little water scare few weeks ago won't go into detail cause this site is monitored but opened my eyes to water problems. Dealer took really really good care of me when they or ford didn't have to at all!!

 

I find the recommendations to use this magic potion or that one quite amusing.

The fuel you purchase already has demulsifers in it that was added at the fuel dc, and sometimes on the tanker.

I've used PS white bottle for years as an antigel and it works great. I could care less about if it separates water or not cause there's not supposed to be water in it to begin with.

That's the only time I use it period. During the other months I use absolutely nothing.

I have yet to even see the slightest drop of water ever! Notta! Regardless of what time of year.

There are exceptions as other members have found out. For those no amount of additive would have done jack squat for their situation period.

Buy fuel at high volume stations and keep your reciepts.... It's really that simple!

Use pm22 if you desire but all this hoopla about additives is much ado about marginal snake oil at best and is just a drain on the wallet Especially at today's fuel prices!

The idea that ford or Bosch hasn't the slightest clue on the fuel quality in the US is paranoia at minimum.

 

I've used ford pm23a as well. Which is the winter version. Unless I got the numbers backwards. I read the bottle at the dealership.

 

Today's fuel prices? Lowest they've been in a decade or more. I can afford a $9.50 bottle of PM22 every 625 gallons.

Don't think that Ford or Bosch have your best interests at heart. Remember, Bosch knowingly built PCMs for VW which it knew had emissions-cheating code built in. Sometimes bad designs make it to production and companies don't want to pay to change them when they find out later they aren't that great - e.g. GM ignition switches. Ford is not really any better.

As it is, the CP4 pump was updated for the 2015 6.7L and it including a coating on the pump pistons for "better lubrication" which tells me the earlier versions were failing somewhat prematurely. With the PM22, you are putting a small amount of light oil into the diesel, which when mixed is a very small percentage, but it may help.

I agree with you on the other additives for removing water, but the PM22 is a cheap insurance policy for pump longevity. US-grade diesel is basically at the lowest CN number these modern diesels will allow, so a little boost there won't hurt either.

If all the fuel was good and had no water in it, manufacturers wouldn't even bother installing a water separator. I have personally drained a small amount of water, once, out of my truck. I bought the fuel from a brand-new station. Ford recommends draining out the water separator once a month. Again, if water was never a problem, they wouldn't say to do this. The fact is, all your fuel will have some level of water in it from condensation alone.

 

Again you guys are falling into the scare tactic marketing used by fuel additive marketers. It's the same song and dance used by oil marketers.

All fuel has to meet ASTM standards. the fuel pumps are designed and tested to meet certain criteria using those fuels. We don't know the mtbf that it is used, but it's easy to say that it's well in excess of 300,000 miles on average other wise we would be hearing how the pumps on 11's have been dropping like flies.

Most of us will not keep our trucks that long so why worry about using an additive that only provides anecdotal evidence of improvement based on opinion? There's no guarantee that they work and there's not any laboratory data that states you will see xy% improvement in pump life. We assume that an additive must improve pump life but in fact it could be harming it.

The only for sure fact is the lightening of the wallet.

I get a kick out of the " I get 2 mpg better if I dump 1/2 a bottle of $9 stanadyne in my 25 gallon tank" followed by the justification of a person shouldn't be concerned about the cost of the additive, because it's absolutely necessary and is part of the ownership of having a diesel truck.

 

Well, diesels actually are a little different than gas engines - mainly they use a very expensive high pressure pump which requires the fuel to lubricate the pumping pistons. If the pump fails, it probably will destroy the very expensive fuel system.

Someone might run a new 6.7L 300k miles with zero additives, never check the water separator, and have zero problems.

Conversely, someone might get some bad fuel, even from a reputable station. At best, the fuel will have a lower than 40CN number, making the engine harder to start and run less smoothly. At worst, the fuel will have water in it, which may get past the separator / filters and into the engine...causing wear and corrosion on the pump. In this case, adding PM22 might add just enough lubricity to protect the pump, or raise the CN number to a better level. It DOES happen - maybe not commonly, maybe not to you, but it can and does.

In a gas engine, bad fuel? No big deal. At worst, engine runs poorly. Dump in dry gas, octane booster, or whatever. No engine components are harmed.

 

The US standard for CN is the lowest Ford says is acceptable. California and some of Texas have a much higher standard as does all of Europe. I wonder why that is?
Boosting centane has been shown to improve combustion and reduce soot so why would I not want to do that? The US standard for wear scar is 520 or below, but the Engine Manufacturers Association specifies a wear scar not to exceed 460, so the standard for ULSD is less desirable than the EMA would like. Call it snake oil if you will, but the fact remains that US standards for diesel fuel are not up to the standards set by Europe, California or Texas, and not up to the wear standards set by the Engine Manufacturers Association. I will continue with my additives.