Thread: Diesel additive needed or not

Recently got a '97 diesel Nissan Terrano and wanted to know if this low sulphur diesel is actually a problem for older vehicles. I hear that the major suppliers, BP etc, have their own proprietary additives to compensate for the low sulphur. Is this true? Is there anything to be concerned about with pump seals deteriorating, etc? Don't want to spend money on additives if it's not necessary. Cheers.

Originally Posted by Pepo1

Recently got a '97 diesel Nissan Terrano and wanted to know if this low sulphur diesel is actually a problem for older vehicles. I hear that the major suppliers, BP etc, have their own proprietary additives to compensate for the low sulphur. Is this true? Is there anything to be concerned about with pump seals deteriorating, etc? Don't want to spend money on additives if it's not necessary. Cheers.

I cant add anything to the quality of the diesel itself, but more the storage of it in massive tanks that rarely get cleaned or maintained (live rural)
so for my older diesels i use lucas fuel additive, reason being is users out of the usa who do massive km's swear by it over the years and have
experience to show that it works in their case. Like anything some guys will go/say ahh nah mate its snake oil yada yada ya but in my case i think
its made a difference. Use to have a 4jx1 98 isuzu wizard which was leaking diesel into the engine oil from the HP oil pump seals so was thinning
down its own oil with diesel so would do engine oil changes every 2500km as i couldn't repair the oil pump seal as no one sells them and its a big
complicated job, motor finally blew up after 3 years but the fact it lasted 3 years and 35,000km is testament in my mind to engine oil additives and
diesel additive.

Now i brought its replacement a 2000 2.8T 4m40 Mitsi Challenger which had a blown head / gasket, managed to get a replacement head kit for 700$
and replaced the head and its running like a top so for this one i have 10L of leftover new engine oil so im putting a 200ml bottle of engine oil into the diesel
tank which is 74L so im 2 stroking it as soon as i did it, did notice the engine noise immediately go down also use small amount of lucal fuel additive for
the sake of it so time will tell but how it work out but watched afew video's of guys doing it to even new diesels but as mine had egr removed and no dpf
filter less to worry about vs a newer diesel

Also keep a small bottle of fuel doctor incase of water crossing / refueling with contaminated diesel it can take care of a full tank of watered fuel and
get you back home instead of broken down in the river bed

Note: Thread down afew posts goes into diesel a wee bit
https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....x-prado-98920/

The old TDs are fairly bombproof and not too fussy on fuel. If you were worried, an inexpensive option is 2stroke oil added to your tank. Yes I'm pretty sure all the servos have their own additives to replace sulfur, techron, synergy, ultimate active etc so it's not really neccessary.
FWIW I have a small fleet of older, larger TD engines, and a couple of vintage stationary engines, with combined millions of miles/hours on them and have not felt the need for additives.
Maintenance rebuilds on injectors and pumps hasn't shown anything untoward.

I use Morey's diesel smoke killer in my modern diesel, more so to help keep the injectors clean, and hopefully keep diesel bug at bay. Had to replace my Injectors and Injector pump last year. It is not a cheap job. The shop that did it told me they see new trucks in all the time due to shit quality diesel we get at the pump.

The main issue with the fuel co. additives (apart from the fact they are all farken toxic corrosive shite and usually supplied by BASF) is that none of them contain a biocide. As noted by Carbine, the big storage tanks aren't cleaned that often and the supply filtration is pretty much chunkage only. If you are unlucky enough to fill up after a tanker has dropped or the tank contents are stirred up you might pick up a spore which is enough to infect your tank. If you aren't running big mileage and turning the tank over frequently (to flush everything through the filters in the vehicle) the tank can 'grow'.

Happened to me off Gull fills only, vehicle sat for about 5 months due to being on ACC and not using the ute (used the car instead as automatic lazy driver vs manual) was enough to let the tank grow. The fact that I wasn't using the thing is what saved it ironically. Lucky...

I'm dosing with Wynns EDT now as that's what I had on hand - seems to be doing the job and on vehicles with common rails with blocked injectors it's cleaned them out and got everything working again. Mechanic in a bottle...

Originally Posted by Beavis

I use Morey's diesel smoke killer in my modern diesel, more so to help keep the injectors clean, and hopefully keep diesel bug at bay. Had to replace my Injectors and Injector pump last year. It is not a cheap job. The shop that did it told me they see new trucks in all the time due to shit quality diesel we get at the pump.

Yes, and even when the diesel isn't shit the storage tanks are often filthy. The thing that irks me is the bloody factory filters are often 20micron rated, should be 2micron thereabouts to trap water etc. If you add a prefilter that works into the system the manufacturer threatens to void ya warranty. Dick move...

Yup. To be honest I've thought about selling up and just getting a little Suzuki petrol 4x4. Diesel's are cool until something goes wrong.

I used to use Wynns EDT in my old diesels.
Can say it worked as they say. Would recommend it.

there is a green fluid..fuel stop think its called...works great.

We biocide our tanks and also have floating suctions fitted in the diesel tanks. Diesel is always drawn from top of tank.
Dewatering of tanks is carried out weekly or less if receiving a cargo. Lucky to 5 - 10 litres in 5 million litre tank. Tank floors are cone down so collects in a centre well, we pump out the well, let the water separate out then pump diesel back into tank. Water goes to drain and separator.
Microbe counts are carried out regularly by independent laboratory.
Can’t speak for retail tanks once it leaves the terminal.
Caltex diesel is additized, Z isn’t currently, but watch this space. Both will be additized with same product in near future. Both Z and Caltex petrol dosed with same additive at same rates.

Waitomo, Allied, NPD, Farmlands, Fern, Mini tankers don’t additise diesel.

I believe Gull didn't dose their diesel as well - but to be fair at the trace rates it was getting injected it probably wasn't doing a huaing amount anyway. Wynns EDT (at the dose rate of 100ml per 200L diesel) is a much much higher amount - probably why it works!

Originally Posted by No.3

I believe Gull didn't dose their diesel as well - but to be fair at the trace rates it was getting injected it probably wasn't doing a huaing amount anyway. Wynns EDT (at the dose rate of 100ml per 200L diesel) is a much much higher amount - probably why it works!

Correct, and Gull. Missed that one. Plenty other providers around the country but they’re the ones I’ve dealt with through our terminal.