Had a pretty cool conversation with a guy this morning who has worked in petroleum for 25 years. His job for the last 20 has been diesel refinement and quality control for all the major, and some minor, fuel companies. Long story short, he told me that lubrication additives and water emulsifiers are already in the fuel. In fact, some additives, such as PS and OptiLube actually harm the lubricants already added. He told me in no uncertain terms to not waste my money on off-the-shelf additives. He also said he had nothing to gain by telling me that. He said, "I just don't think people need to waste their money to feel better for pouring something in their tank".

I dunno...food for thought. I am beginning to think about doing away with additives and have for awhile. I already quit using OptiLube due to the alcohol content. Two cycle oil may go away next.

 

Hey Byron, I run Amsoil TC3W low ash mixed with PS... I hate to think I'm harming!?
To tell you the truth, I've never noticed a difference in any additive..

 

Interesting. Considering that there have been multiple studies conducted to find the most effective additive. I find it odd that those which studies quantify the lubricating qualities of fuel, and fuel with additives, have indicated that fuel with additive has a higher lubricating quality.


I do know my old girl runs more quietly with the 2-stroke oil.

 

Two cycle oil doesn't harm anything because it's only added to provide lubricity. I'm beginning to think though that we all think our trucks run quieter on X, Y, or Z additive when really we don't even know. I would be more interested to do a decibel test and see if it really does run quieter. I think most of us it provides a placebo effect. Anybody can do what they want and I don't have an opinion one way or the other. For me I'm just going to let it go and start running straight diesel and not worry about it anymore.

I have a tendency to believe someone I talk to you more than what I read. This guy had nothing to gain and was just telling me "hey don't waste your money". It's not like he was trying to sell me his brand of additive. If that were the case I would've had a different response. I mean if anything, these newer diesel trucks need lubricity more than the older diesel trucks. Their fuel systems cost a ton of money and have more moving parts. I am the biggest conspiracy theorist there is, truth be told, but why would they put fuel out there that would do harm or damage to fuel system components? Again, this is NOT to ruffle feathers, but just interesting discussion after talking to somebody who is actually in the industry.

 

Byron, thanks for posting this. I've been using Redline's additive mainly because they seem like a legitimate company and their synthetic oil is one of the few oils marketed as synthetic that really is synthetic. Although they definitely make you pay for the priveledge of using it.

The bottle says something like "Increases lubricity to the same level as pre low sulfur Diesel fuel."

I'm thinking of the case of "semi synthetic" oil where there isn't, or at least wasn't at one time any definition of semi synthetic. A company could add one ounce of synthetic base stock per barrel and sell it as semi synthetic oil.

You probably don't have an opportunity to talk to this guy again, but if you do it would be interesting to see if he says that the additives that the refiners use are bringing the lubricity back to the pre low sulphur Diesel fuel days? They "could" be adding one ounce per tank car and claiming that they are adding a useful additive.

I think the original concern about removing most of the sulfur from Diesel fuel was wear to mechanical injection pumps, which we don't even have on our trucks. We might have to worry about injector wear. I think Jim at Rosewood sees plenty of injectors that haven't seen aftermarket fuel additives and I wonder what he thinks about the need for them.

 

Interesting topic. I have found that my sled runs smoother and quieter with Ps and 2 stroke. Mind you that was on winter fuel. I'm not sure about summer fuel

 

The only time I ever use additive (usually PS) is when it's cold out. I don't trust the local stations to have the winter fuel.

 

So how much 2-stroke do you guys add to a tank?

 

He did say the lubricity is brought to low-sulfur equivalent, even a little better due to sensitive diesel fuel systems on cars and trucks post 2007. That was my main question to him.

I still think here is no way to really know unless a decibel test is done...unless you have bionic ears or an engine stethoscope. We all feel better about putting stuff in our tanks. I have for years, but no more.

He mentioned using an anti-gel Powerservice is ok, but as far as lubricity, there is no improvement over what is already added at the refinery.

Phil, I always did an ounce per gallon per the lubricity study, but I don't know how much difference it made. The injectors in Ruby were done at 220k miles and I had put 60k on her before going to Stage 1s.

 

I'll just get new injectors every 150,000 miles.

 

Jim said that injector should last 250,000 miles without any additives on stock filtration.

 

I've seen the additive debate many times on these forums. Here's my take. Do your own research and use what you want. I've personally heard the fuel treated with 2 stroke oil hit the injectors. In my '02, the difference was that dramatic. My wife even noticed the truck was quieter, and I hadn't told her about the oil.


Ford sells their version of diesel fuel additive at the dealerships. If there was any credible evidence additives were harmful, Ford wouldn't have their own brand.

 

I'm not saying they are harmful. I am saying they might not be necessary. And that last sentence doesn't hold any sense or truth. It's just your opinion.

 

Funny he mentioned Power Service in a conversation about lubricity, given that AFAIK they don't make any products for lubricity.

 

Says it right on the bottle...