Just came across a pretty thorough video about diesel additives. Thought I would share.

 

Further context: They send samples in and test wear scar improvement as well as cetane improvements. It seems done well enough, though it's only across five products on a single fuel. Spoiler: They tested oil additives in the past and thought they were snake oil, but for diesel additives it appears that there's a bit of benefit. The disappointing things include the tests that were omitted such as emulsion effectiveness or whether the "performance doses" offer a linear benefit. It was essentially waved away by virtue of gasoline comparisons, though they admit they don't have evidence for that conclusion. The last thing was the Archoil iron findings. I wonder if that should have been confirmed with Archoil considering the cost in testing additional samples.

Anyway, I found it interesting and I feel better about using an additive after this. It looks like there's actual, measurable improvements to be found. It does make me wonder where my current baseline is with the fuel around me. Where does Kwik Trip stack up? Hope you guys find it interesting as well.

 

Pretty cool. I wish they would have tested 2-stroke oil as well, as that is a very common comparison that gets brought up a lot.

Here's a less scientific video that I found interesting, and led me to buy a bottle of Hot Shots for my diesel machines, though I think I'm just going to switch back to 2-stroke oil since I already keep it on hand for my 2-stroke engines.

 

Makes me feel better on the case of Opti-lube XPD I ordered.

 

We have a few million miles across our fleet since 2011 when the 6.7 came out, A couple of them have had gasoline additives added to them .......

Anyways, besides anti gel, That is the only thing that goes into fuel.

Recently we did have our 2nd CP4 failure ever. That was done by really bad fuel contamination. Self-Inflicted from a cracked transfer tank full of water and mud from the hurricanes in NC.

 

Just emailed Redline/P66 to see where 85plus stacks up. I'll let y'all know what they say or send me regarding wear scar reduction.

 

Well, what are the chances of that? He put out another video today.

 

That's a perfect follow-up video!

 

Question for the group - how are you guys measuring additives like the XPD when filling up only a partial tank? I rarely if ever fill up on E. I never ran additives in my previous gen 4 RAM with the CP3, but want to add it for my new CP4 Powerstroke. I do at least have easy access to Costco Top Tier diesel which has an additional additive package over standard fare. I always just refuel at my regularly scheduled Costco trips, so my tank level could be just about anything. I would think best practice is to pour in an additive first so the fueling process mixes it in the tank better vs pumping first to get a gallon count for the math?

 

I use the HotShots Secret EDT (every day treatment) and it has a dosing reservoir. I usually fill up with 1/4 tank left, or thereabouts. I use the 1-oz dose when I do that (normal) for 25 gallons. If I know I'm running a hard trip, towing, 6 hours with no stops, I'll double dose it (per their directions) for a "performance" dose. I havent' noticed a difference in dosing, but it makes me feel better about the lubricity. I earn and spend fuel points so I try to get 30 gallons in a tank whenever I can, and every day fill-ups just get the 1-oz dose. And you can buy this stuff just about anywhere, O'Reily, Walmart, Amazon, etc.

 

Great pair of videos! I'll keep using Archoil. I still plan on replacing that CP4 with a DCR pump when I can.

 

What I want to know is apples to apples, who has the most additives per dose. This then comes down to who really has the best cost per gallon. Example is EDT uses 1 ounce for 25 gallons. Archoil 1 ounce for 10 gallons, xpd 2.5 ounces per 10 gallons. How are wear results on each of these when dosed at 1 ounce per 25 gallons? How are wear marks with EDT at 2.5 ounces per 10 gallons? All these tests are based on manufacturers dosages.

IOW how much filler are we paying for?

As for dosing my truck, I tend to fill when there is 100 miles to empty or so since I drive the same distance every day and fill once a week. With EDT I am a little ahead on dosing as I put in 2 ounces each fill. With Archoil, I put in 4 ounces per tank, unless its down to less than 100 miles, then 5 ounces. It averages out to just slightly, very slightly ahead on dose. Since my truck regens every 496 miles like clockwork, I see zero benefit from the extra iron in Archoil for the DPF. It rarely goes over 37% prior to a regen. I see no improvement in MPG either. The extra cost of Archoil in my use case is not worth it. Using EDT I did see a slight improvement over the first tank, then ran two with no additive then switched to archoil. Once this first bottle is consumed I will switch back to EDT for the rest of winter, then do another no additive baseline run for two tanks, run archoil, which I have a second bottle of, and after that is used up, run two tanks no additive and compare EDT to it.

Both boost Cetane, both have decent lubricity, EDT does state it demulsifies water, and after 20+ years running diesel I have never had diesel gel from the stations I use, that is not something I concern myself with. I only use anti gel in the storage tank out in the barn for the tractors. I used to use Power Service, but thats half a quart a tank, buying additive every other week gets old.

 

Based on the real test performed at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio and not some Youtuber, the Hot Shots is a hard sell with essentially little to no benefits other than a feel good was my take away.

I still have flashbacks with Hot Shots owner that used to come to the 6.0PSD forum to pawn his stiction eliminator product that supposedly Navistar paid him to develop, but all of a sudden they pulled out of the deal. Today we now know the injector stiction can be mitigated by not a cleaning product, but a friction modifier using boron that really was effective and not Hot Shots product

 

yet real world testing shows otherwise. You can lab schiznit up day after day and get the same results, thats what a lab test does, but put it out in the real world, thats where the real results happen.

For that lab test, did they actually fill a 25 gallon tank and add an ounce, or did they do math and add only a fraction to a quart to simulate dosage? I have to watch the PF video to see how he dosed the fuel.

If Archoil is so good that it gains MPG, why has mine not gone up, but did running EDT? As with anything, some person one day said YMMV.

 

I've ran EDT various times and concluded there was no noticeable improvements in terms of quantifiable and non quantifiable results excluding lubricity performance. Having said that, if the scar performance would have been on par with the other brands, then there's a case for its value, but being it performed slightly better than straight diesel fuel and there's better choices, it's a hard sell.