Yeah, I was really hoping the lift pump problems had been solved by the time I bought one, but it doesn't sound like it.

They maintain it isn't a design issue because 'some' last 500k or more miles. I don't buy that. They don't mention what the B10 life expectancy is on the lift pump. Rather than whine about dirty fuel, they need to design either a filter to keep dirt out of the pump, or a pump that will pump it without complaint. My old Mercedes had this--a coarse filter (a $3 item) between the tank and injection pump in addition to the regular filter.

 

It is not the neceassirly the production of the fuel oil that concerns me as I think they probably do a good job at that as you state, but the conditions under which it may sit (jellyfish formation) or become contaminated with water (condensation), etc. Gasoline seems to be less problematic as algae doesn't form in long term storage and water isn't as big a problem. There is a reason we have fuel / water seperators (and heaters) on a diesel and not on gassers.

Now if the additive emulsifcation of water causes failure then I've never heard of it. I have heard many cases of frozen lines in diesels, haven't you? There is nothing wrong with the fuel/water seperator, as long as the fuel makes it that far!

 

Well guys, I drive a Freightliner with an 11 Liter Cummins in it. And, of course my Cummins Dodge diesel. When you have weather like we are having right now in New England, you see lots of trucks pulled over on the side of the road.......Gelled fuel. Who knows what you are getting for fuel......our fuel supplier is very reliable,but I have frozen up before in the work truck. Small price to pay for any of the aftermarket additives.....they usually improve the mileage also. It costs 2-3 cents a gallon to put additive in and you get better mileage....What is ther to think about? 18 hour a day diesel dummie

 

Agreed, berak, but that's where I want the water to stop--in the fuel water separator. I can't say that I have seen many (maybe any) instances where fuel lines in diesels froze up due to water. I'm agreeing with you, in that it is entirely possible, but I found that the fuel/water separators did a great job of preventing that. The fuel gets cycled through the f/w separator more than once--there is always fuel being returned to the tank from the injection system, at least on the old junk that we had. I don't know how many times it gets cycled, but the f/w separators were drained daily and in the winter you could always get some water out of them. I supposed one could fill up late in the day and get a frozen fuel line because the fuel hadn't had a change to go through the f/w separator, but it never happened to me. Alcohol would prevent that, but Cat (and I think Cummins, too) specifically say not to put alcohol in the fuel because that would get the water past the f/w separator and into the injection system. Pieces with clearances of 50 millionths of an inch don't like much pitting and that's what water, even emulsified, can do to steel parts.

I only saw bad diesel fuel one time and that was fuel that sat in a standby generator tank for years and years. We had a contract to haul it out and replace it with fresh fuel. The old stuff was almost black, and took days of hauling gasoline before traces of it were no longer visible in the sight tubes.

 

Berak, ipsduc - That was one thing the service manager brought up when I stopped at the Cummins service center was the winter gel(jell/jelling ?) problems they see this time of year. That's why they run the Fleetguard additive for only the winter months. He stated that fuel suppliers will wait until the last minute to switch to winter blended fuel. Like here in Iowa, it was in the 40's at the end of November and then dropped to single digits overnight. The fuel suppliers wait until then, but if you filled up before they switch and it turned cold, then you run the risk of gelled fuel.

The best advice he gave is to buy fuel from high turnover suppliers i.e. truckstops. You are more likely to get better fuel from a station that sells 1000 gallons an hour than a small station that has a pump off to the side selling 1000 gallons a week. I will go with the Fleetguard additive in mine since the service manager gave me the wink/nod that is the one to use (unofficially).

This is the stuff Fleet-tech Winter Conditioner

-Muzzy

 

Howdy, I fueled one time coming out of Tahoe in the winter and got some bad diesel. As I got down lower on the tank I notice she did not want to throttle forward, every time I pushed the peddle nothing happened I imediatly stoped and dumped some additive in the tank, you know in just a couple miles I could see it going away and completely gone and back to normal shortly there after. That stuff got me down the road at midnight in the winter as I was going over a mountain pass. Fuel just get contaminated.
Nimrod