Anyone here ever use ATF in their fuel tank on your 1st gen, when filling up with a full tank of diesel? I was looking through an old issue of Diesel Power, and the editor mentioned that ATF in the older Cummins and Power Strokes - helps to loosen up the engine for better lubrication? If this is true, will any type of ATF suffice? Should this be done once a year?

 

some use atf in every tank, especially with the new lower sulfer diesel. I have used it to fill my fuel filters whenn changing, but not in the main tank. 2 cycle engine oil is another popular additive for us po' people. i use SVO, and live in MN(2%bio at every pump)so i am not too worried about the new diesel.

 

iknow a mechanic that fills the fuel filter with it when he changes filters. he says it cleans the injectors. i was wondering same thing as u. i wondered if it would hurt to run it thru every tank when lower sulfur fuel hits morket for the pump lube properties.

 

How much ATF per 30 gal tank?

 

ZERO. But that's just my opinion. Many have used it with no problems, many have used it with problems. It is not meant to burn. It will actually coke the injection pump and injectors. You'll get just as much pro as you will con on ATF. I suggest diesel fuel only or a proper (on the market) conditioner if you want any additional lubrication.

 

ATF was never designed to burn. If you do a search you will find some threads on here about why you shouldn't use it. Why take the risk? Just use a diesel additive like Power Service, or many others.

 

I us it every time i do a fuel filter change but, if i'm going on a long trip i us stanadyne(Im shore i burchered the the spelling ) and i us a bottle of i every now and then!

bgilbert, i can see the coking afect if coninued us but the hi deturgent of the atf is a plus, IMHO, to help keep the system clean.

 

Adding ATF to diesel is leftover from the days when ATF was just oil and diesel fuel additives weren't widely available.
Modern ATF is around 30% additives, not designed to burn and contains friction modifiers that modern tight tolerance injection pumps don't like.
Most times ATF as an additive is advocated by old timers who should know better.

I just can't understand why folks don't want to use one of the many designed for diesel additives and opt for other concoctions. It's not any cheaper when you consider diesel additives perform many functions whereas the concoctions usually perform just one and usually not as well.

 

Thanks all for the input on my ATF in fuel post! Sounds like good advice to stay with a diesel additive. I agree that with modern atf, it most likely contains a bunch of additives, as opposed to the older atf. Just thought I would ask here, before using the atf in my 'new'/used 93 W250

 

If your looking for an additive for this ULSD that were forced to run, use 2-stroke oil, TCW-3, no ash, non-synthetic. I've been running it for about 4 months now and my truck has never been happier. You'll notice instantly the engine smooth out, less clatter, and most of us running it, have noticed an increase in fuel mileage. ATF wasn't designed to run with fuel, 2-stroke was designed to mix with fuel.

Tye

 

Tye, why not just use a diesel fuel additive?
Have you compared the price difference between additive and 2 stroke oil?

It's been a while but the last time I checked it was costing me less than 5¢ to treat one gallon of diesel.

 

I got a deal on this 2-stroke, $6.00 a case, which works out to be roughly $.027 cents a gallon. I bought the last 3 cases they had, and I still got a case and 1/2 left. I add a bottle of Stanadyne every couple tanks to clean things out.

 

how much 2 stroke oil needed per gallon?

 

This is from another site and Im posting it because it contains some relevant info. The author is a transmission guy and he knows his stuff:

" Depending on the type of trans fluid being used, it has as little as 17% to as much as 25% chemical make up that makes it trans fluid. Most all of those chemicals will be bad for rubber fuel lines, the rubber seals in your pumps and bad for the metal contact high pressure components in the VP44 and CP3. Used engine oil is one thing as the add packages wear out leaving just oil. But many of the components of trans fluid doesnt leave the fluid and instead will get rather corrosive as they break down. Used trans fluid also will have way more wear particles blended into the fluid, both metals and frictions that engine oil wont have. Aluminum, brass, iron, steel, bronze, copper, plastics, teflon and metalized friction papers and ceramics in there. This stuff is so fine that it cant be really filtered out but instead will need to be re-refined. But its not fine enough that it wont cause damage to the pump, but instead will cause some severe scuffing. It will also bore out the injector nozzels with it being pushed thru them at such high pressure. Even on the P pump engines.

Just say no to trans fluid, ESPECIALLY used fluid!"

And

" There are also other problems associated with used ATF besides the contaminates, and that is these 'trans fix it' in the can additives that people looking for a magic fix pour into their transmissions. A lot of aromatic chemicals and seal swell chemicals are in them along with other additives that cause the chemicals to particpate sludge forming deposits. That stuff will cause sludge deposits in the tank.

Also the contaminates that do pass thru filtration, besides the abrasive effect, is most of that stuff doesnt burn. Instead it will bond to the pistons and rings, cylinder wall and combustion chamber and injector nozzels. When the engine is torn down for a rebuild, the tech is likley to say, "Oooh, look at all the pretty colors!" All of the trans clutch and band components use a bonding agent that uses high pressure and heat for the bonding agent to work. Perfect conditions for those in a combustion chamber. Nice way to permenatly bond the rings to the pistons and injector components together. Also the thrust washers and bushings are made with bi-metals and tri-metals that are bonded together using similar processes.

Transmission fluid also has a high concentration of detergents that cause ash deposits when burned. Modern day transmission fluids are either full syns using poly material (plastics, Herb knows the tech terms) or semi syns that combine polys and hydro carbon or a cracked hydro carbon base oil. These oils arent designed to be burned and dont burn very well. When they do burn, they produce a lot of soot that will blacken the engine oil quicker than diesel. An engine oil evaluation test will produce some very interesting results.

Burning trans fluid 25 years or so ago wasnt really a bad idea, before all of these new propriatory chemicals have gone into play, because the base oil was whale oil and didnt need most of the chemicals now that has to be used. It used to burn fairly clean. We used to heat our shops by burning used trans fluid in special heaters. Now when you try to burn the fluid, it clogs the injector and ruins the high pressure pumps in the heater. Deposits are a big problem in those heaters and EPA came down hard on their use because of the chemicals being emmited. Its hard to even find those heaters now, much less the use and building codes that prohibit using them. The heaters that you can find now will have a sticker on them that says, Use waste engine oil as a fuel. The use of transmission fluid will void the warranty. "