ok i herd that adding powerservice to the winter blend would conteract the winter blend and not have as good of a low gel point anyone ever heard anything like this?

 

there is nothing wrong with putting in the additive. it can only help lower your gel point. i always add powerservice when its supposed to be real cold out. and have never had any problems its never gelled once on me this winter.

 

Winter blended fuel is #2 diesel blended with either #1 diesel or kerosene.

Adding any addative would not change how or what the blend was, and would only lower the fuels cold filter plug point or pour point to a lower temperature that the blended fuel had.

 

Won't do that...... buttttttt, depending on what if any additives have been run in the truck before, suddenly dumping powerservice in mid winter in an older vehicle can be disasterous. The stuff will very quickly knock all the crud built up on the tank walls off and shove it into your filter, so do have spare filters on hand if you haven't been pre treating before winter.
You should always start treating fuel *before* winter starts to remove water and clean out the tanks and prepare them for winter before it starts . Waiting til now, you risk getting stuck on the side of teh road every 30 miles changine filters or chugging along with your foot on the floor praying that you make it home.

You would be better off with Howes and double dose to start ( and on a pickup you normally tripple dose, so double. that amount ) and drain teh water drain on your fuel filter daily , more often if putting on a lot of miles. and still keep a couple of filters handy

 

got nothing against howes but its basically an overpriced powerservice. does basically the same thing as power service at a higher price. ive run howes when i can get it free (John Deere gets it in bulk sometimes and so does CO-OP) other times i just use the power service and have not had any problems with either. i started treating mine in december with power service and have not had a single issue with my filters and my truck was a farm truck for years before i got it.

ive seen guys pay 20+$ for a small bottle of howes. while i pay 10 for powerservice bottles that can do 250 gallons.

again this is all a matter of personal preference and both are good products and perform well. its a matter of price to me. powerservice is a tried and true brand and has been around awhile. so has howes.

 

I beg to differ like you wouldn't believe. I used to drive a big truck in the great white north and I have gelled up on every fuel additive on the market at one time or another, power service included, All; that is except for one, and that is Howes, and I have used that stuff to keep me alive at colder than 80 below zero ( that's as cold as the equipment would register and it was pegged, it was colder than that a few times)

They dont do the same things, they act in quite different ways. Power service has a strong solvent action, it strips the waxy buildup off the inside of the tank walls along with all the crud imbedded in it and it mixes the water and everything all together and shoves it in the filter, leading to a lot of clogged filters if you have not been running the stuff regularly before winter not to mention it's really hard on rubber fuel system parts . Howes cleans at a slower rate, but it's safer, it doesn't mix water , it causes it to separate out and settle to teh bottom of teh tank. If you are starting pre season you can do a tank drain, but if not, you can do like I mentioned and just drain the filter every day or more often if needed to get the water out as it will get sucked off teh bottom of the tanks on these things

When Howes guarantees that you won't gel up or they'll pay the tow, they mean it, but I've never hear of anyone actually gelling up on that stuff, while I know tons of guys who have gelled up on powerservice. I nearly froze to death because of that stuff.
Power service and FPPF Polar Power are about the two most useless antigel additives out there. For a summer injector cleaner Power service will knock the snot out of the crawly critters hiding in your injectors real quick, it's a good fast cleaner, it just stinks as an antigel.

 

now im seriously thinking about doing my own test with the 2 and the freezer.

 

you wont get your freezer cold enough to test them, guaranteed. If you can you have one hell of a freezer. As for the additives i use, i like to put straight nitromethane/methanol in my tank, every other tank at about 15:1 diesel to mix. Work well and shoots me to the moon lmfao!! take it easy fellas, lol, those who have been to the coldest areas on earth, 80 below HOLY....can definitely speak about that and what they use is what they use. I know for anything above say 15 below, i would use anything else on the shelf with an additional flow additive. If i was in the great white north and driving at 80 below or an ice trucker, id use what everyone else used and swore by. I have heard of gasoline being used at pretty high levels to prevent severe freezing as well. I wouldnt do that but there are those that do. Do what works!! Im joking about the nitromethane hahaha, i know all of you got that but just making sure.....

 

Yup, up to 30% regular gas mixed in there will do wonders as well, you just want it out of your tanks before it warms up or at least thin the mix back down a bit.It can get you putting out some serious heat, but at sub zero temps the extra cold flowing across everything helps to keep those temps under control If you were to own an older European diesel car, you would likely find that in the owners manual.
If you have one that's already gelled, gas is pretty hard to beat for clearing it's throat
I've had to use it as an anti gel many times and there were a few times when after using other useless commercial anti gels, I found myself waking up in teh morning in or near a truck stop gelled up and walking across a lot or across a road carrying cans of gas to pour in the tanks to clear the gel out. Would usually take about 3-5 gal per side to clear the blockage and be able to move again. to get to the pumps

 

any consequences on either injectors or pump/filter with that much gas added?
I've used kero in below zero and windy here in SE Appalachain mountains.
1 gal to 20 ratio - on grading/dozeing/excavating eqpt.

 

No problem at all with mechanical engines.

Some of these newer computer engines, not so sure about them.

Back in the 70's, gasoline was all there was for anti gell that actually worked.
No blended fuel, straight #2.

 

You're absolutely correct on that one. The owners manual of MK1 Volkswagens (original Rabbit, Jetta and Pickup from early 80's) state that up to 50/50 mix of diesel and gas can be used in the winter to prevent gelling.

In the 3 winters that I've had my truck, this was the first time I treated the diesel with an anti-gel. The thing that triggered it was one particularly cold morning I saw the fuel filter light come on while the pedal was down on the highway, it was fine when idling. The truck acted fine, but it worried me a bit. I've put in about 8 ounces of powerservice each fill up since then, and seen the light come on once, maybe twice under the same conditions, but never noticed any real blockage.

Also, my fuel filter is ~18 months old. I've never seen the water in fuel light come on, but was wondering if maybe some water was causing the fuel filter light those few times. The other night I drained half a tin can out, and it was straight diesel, not a drop of water, maybe I've just gotten lucky but I really wonder about all the condensation people keep saying you have to worry about in your tanks.

Thats just my experience so far living in Western Massachusetts. If I was in the frigid artic weather, I'm sure things would probably be different.

 

well i run powerservice all year long so i have no worry about nockin anything loose outta the tank. i do wonder if maybe the person i heard that gelled up had just started using powerservice and it clogged it with what it cleaned out the tank?

 

That's most likely what happened. For average cold( anything above about -20) Power service will usually hold up if the vehicle has been maintained, but it it hasn't and it's a first timer, it wouldn't have to be very cold at all but that stuff would clean however many miles of crud out all at once and would have had the thing bucking and jumping

 

ive been using Powerservice (white bottle) in my 94' 7.3 as well as my new 6.7 all winter here in new jersey and havent had any issues. granted jersey isnt the coldest place in the world but we've had some below 10 days this winter with snow. so i can vouch for Powerservice above 0.