Brrr, gelled bio.
 

Its about 0 degrees here, and maybe a little colder at night. Yesterday I had to change out my fuel filters on my 06. This morning my truck started fine, and I let it warm up for about 10 minutes. Took off for a drive and about 1 mile away I could tell I was headed for problems. Filter gelled up again and my truck quit all togeather. I let it sit, got it started and limped it home. I figure I only have a few gallons of my homebrew bio in the tank, and I filled up the tank with petro before the cold spell hit. I am also running Powerservice (white bottle). Any way, I changed the filter thats on the rail under the drivers seat, and that seems to have solved the problem. My question is this, is that new filter that I put in yesterday trashed now, or may I reuse it for another time after it thaws out. The old filter I changed out yesterday, and the new one I put in yesterday and took out today were both clogged up (gelled). Has anyone ever re-used a clean filter that had gelled?

Not a good idea. Because of contamination while removing it. Especially the frame filter.

Then let me ask you this, if I don't change the filter and just let it sit for a warmer day, will it be ok?

This is what a lot of shops do. Just put it inside and let it thaw out and put diesel 911 in tank.

LOL! I'm sorry, but that strikes me as funny.

If you cleaned the connections well before pulling them apart (which you SHOULD to keep dirt out of the new one you're putting on) and you were careful about taking it off to avoid getting any dirt into it, how would it be "contaminated"?!? No more "contamination" than you get putting a brand new one on - IF you were careful to keep dirt out of it when you took it off......

And yeah, a gelled filter should otherwise be just fine when it warms up and un-gells. Just like the bio will be fine when it warms up and un-gells....

Gelled BIO
 

Am I understanding this correct , You are having problems with a little Bio in your fuel system at cold temps?? WOW,,, you mean that you can't run your $40.000+ truck on a little bit of bio mixed in ,, WOW, I'm Glad someone keeps saying and others agree "Not in My Truck!!!!!!!!!!!"

I'm trying to understand, Are you actualy saying that a little $.58 fuel causes a little problem in your truck WOW....

I Actualy like to think I have an open mind to all alternate Fuels.

:-D over 20k on WVO even at your temps. :-X06 :-X21

Flyboy, I'm saying Its freaking cold here and if you go over to the 6.0 forum, you will see that so are a lot of other non-bio users. I really don't think I have much bio in my tank, if any now. I ran it down to almost empty because I knew this cold spell was going to be down in the sub-zero range. I filled up with petro before the cold got here, then have topped off the tank twice since then. My question has to do with fuel filters. I really think the quality of petro diesel here in my city may be subpar. I use power service in the white bottle at full strength and have still gelled up twice. Seems that the guys over in the 6.0 forum are really bashing the PS in the white bottle, and now I think that may be my problem.

Now a question for you. If you don't have anything constructive to say that someone can use, and you just feel the need to be a smart a$$, why are you replying here?

Phish555, I use a B5 commercial biodiesel and have had no gell problems to -10F. Been using it for over 7 years in all my semi's, straight trucks and farm equipment.

Do use the best fuel you can get from a major supplier - shell, BP etc. I would shy away from unbranded fuel stations as they purchase fuel where they can get a "good price" this could be fuel which might barely meet specs. Unless the station knows for a fact who the base fuel is made by.

also does the power service bottle say it has "anti gell + cetane boost" on it? If not get one with the anti gell property.

phish555,

My post wasn't meant to smart a$$ you. It may have been more proper to have posted it on the previose thread. "Crude in WVO" I think was it's title. There was a couple of Posts there that " don't have anything constructive " , but had large red letters. And didn't speak of gelled fuel.

They reason I replied here was you gave me the opertunity, Gelled Fuel.

By purpose, was for all to be open minded, to all types of Alternate fuels.

is it possable that your store bought full has a high percentage of Bio?


Now, IMHO, I believe that your Gelled filters, if they were kept clean of dirt and you can devise a way to let the fuel warm and drain away from them. you should be able to reuse them. I would try takeing the top of a large coffee can and cutting w/ a knife to look like a spooked wheel leaving all the spooks joined in the center, but with openings to the outer ring, Then putting it back on the can. you may be able to set a gelled filter on it and it will thaw and drain with minamal mixing at the filter in a warm enviroment.

Does the 6.0 PS have a second filter on the motor? if so that would catch any slight contamanants, your driving may have only just filled it w/ gell.

PowerServer , I am a fan of PowerServer. I use the white lable in my Dino tanks. 3.2 oz. to 10 Gallons. At my Brother's farm we run 7 Diesel tractors and a 99 PS on off road summer diesel all winter long with the White label Power Server product. He has a 1000 Gallon tank and it was last filled in Aug. of 06. It is thick red fuel in this cold. The powerserver keeps it flowing in our eguipment and his farm truck. ( I might add that we harvested the corn last year using 600 gallons of mineral oil as a supplamental fuel w/ dino fuel and Veg. )
In my personal ride, My OEM filter is now used in suction instead of pressure. ( it's now before the lift pump instead of after) In this cold weather, my fuel filter light will come on but I am showing 4lbs of fuel pressure at the IP. So I now have added 5 gallons of Kero to my low tank and doubled power server before I pumped diesel in. That has kept the light on the dash happy, I only use dino fuel to Start and warm up the truck and then to purge before shutdown. I have in my fuel line just before the IP both a temp sender and a pressure sender to gauges on my dash.

I did intend to have this with my origonal post but a 2 handed headache kept me from finishing earlier.

If you dino tank on your truck is of steel construction , you can use one of Kats Magnetic heater to warm it and get the fuel to flow again, In my local TSC the have both the 100 and 300 watt heaters . the 300 watt runs around $46 bucks here.

My ranting is over, Ken Hall

The 6.0 has 2 filters - one on the frame on the left side and one on the top of the engine . Both are 5 micron filters.
The fuel tank has a steel outer layer and a plastic inside. There are reports of the plastic separating with high bio % use. I've read this on FTE site in the 6.0 forum.

gelled biodiesel/petro mix
 

Phish,
To understand what is going on in your fuel tank do the following experiment (which I did last Nov.). Take your BD and mix in approximately the same proportion with the petro diesel you have in your tank. Even add the fuel treatment or better get a sample of the mix in your tank. Put it in a clean glass jar warm the sample until it is clear and set it where it will experience the same temperature conditions as your truck fuel tank.
What you will see if it goes like my sample is that at about 32 F (0 C) a fine cloudness of gelled BD will begin to form even at low ratios of BD/petro. The longer the temperature remains low the more cloudness will form. In addition if the temperature decreases further more and more BD components will gell and precipate. The reason is that BD consists of several different methyl esters, oleic, palmitic and sterate etc. each of which will gell at different temperatures. This is why BD made from Canola is better than soy oil and much better that beef tallow.
In any event as the temperature goes back up the cloudness will disappear, the gell is reversible.

I think its fixed! As I said I changed out the filter on the frame again yesterday. Today i found some PowerService 911 and added it. Let it warm up then drove it around and it seems to be fine. I believe its colder here today than it was yesterday and the wind is blowing about 20mph making it seem even colder. Put about 30 miles on it today, no problems. I will look for a better anti-gel additive to use and stay away from the Power service white bottle.

Thanks to all!

FWIW, I have read that Howes diesel additive has good anti-gel properties. It can be found at any Flying-J truckstop.

This is totally false information. The only steel tanks are used on the E series vans . All F series have the plastic tanks and have not had a single problem with delamation . Somebody started that in the 6.0 forum (beachbumcook) and he didn't know what he was talking about.

sounds like it may have just been a gelled problem and nothing to do with the bio. And yes I wouldn't throw away the filters you just put in. I would use them again at next filter change as long as they are not wrinkled.