Fuel additives for diesel engines?

[Wongsky]

Bit of context, first - first time poster, long time reader. From the UK - which has relevance to many of the products available.

Previously I've almost exclusively owned and driven petrol (gasoline) engined cars, but have recently changed to a diesel engine car.

It's a small hatchback (not sold in the US) and has a non-turbo-charged, mechanical diesel injector engine (not direct injection, although one injector per cylinder (4 pot) with swirl chambers for each cylinder). Diesel injector pump is made by Lucas.

So it's a fairly simplistic engine, no common-rail, turbo or much at all in the way of electronic control.

I've used some PEA based fuel additives, in the past, in the petrol (/ gasoline) engine cars I've owned - either Redline SI-1, or a UK petrol additive (produced by a company called Comma, and called D-TOX, which from reading the MSDS has a reasonable concentration of PEA in).

I've still got several bottles of these additives, and was wondering whether they can be used (perhaps at quite low-ish dosages) in diesel engines - or would that be spectacularly bad?

Currently I've used Miller's Diesel Ecomax additive, which seems to get reasonable reviews in the UK, but given the limited amount of fill-ups I've done so far, I'm luke-warm on whether it has any benefits or not.

I guess what I was wondering is whether the bottles of petrol PEA based fuel additives could be used at all, or whether that would be a bad thing, given the type of diesel engine in my car.

Any advice appreciated, and apologies if in my newby-ish-ness I've asked a spectacularly stupid question!

 

[rufushusky]

Gas fuel additive could cause havoc in the injection pump on an older diesel...IMHO the risk is not worth the pay off. What is the sulfur content of diesel fuel in the UK? 15ppm like here in the States?

 

[Wongsky]

Originally Posted By: rufushusky
Gas fuel additive could cause havoc in the injection pump on an older diesel...IMHO the risk is not worth the pay off. What is the sulfur content of diesel fuel in the UK? 15ppm like here in the States?

Most forecourts seem to be selling ULSD - which I think has to be 10ppm or below.

Most of the places I fill up also mention that there's some biodiesel in the diesel (I often read max 7% biodiesel content).

As to the PEA fuel additives - would low dosages be likely to cause problems - and for that matter, would they do any good?

I wasn't thinking of adding the same amounts I would to petrol, just wondered whether small amounts (like maintenance doses) may have any benefit?

 

[rufushusky]

Older diesels (think 12V Cummins or IDI 6.9 and 7.3s) polly won't even notice small dosages of almost anything in their fuel. That being said I don't think they will do anything to help you either.

The biggest problem with ULSD is how well it lubricates the fuel system but if you are getting biodiesel then you got that more than covered.

If it were my car I would not run them.

 

[JMJNet]

General rule is not to run Gas additive in a diesel unless it specifically said it can be run in both.

One of the best additive for diesel is the 2cycle or 2stroke oil used in 2 cycle engines. It can actually used in both types of engine. 2cycle oil adds good lubricity to the diesel and it is ashless. You can add it at the rate of 1:200 or so.

There are other diesel additive out there which I am not sure what is the brand in England.

 

[azsynthetic]

Not all 2T oil is ashless, only the TCWx are. I run 2T in both my diesel and gas vehicles and I do get better mileage.

 

[Wongsky]

Originally Posted By: JMJNet
General rule is not to run Gas additive in a diesel unless it specifically said it can be run in both.

One of the best additive for diesel is the 2cycle or 2stroke oil used in 2 cycle engines. It can actually used in both types of engine. 2cycle oil adds good lubricity to the diesel and it is ashless. You can add it at the rate of 1:200 or so.

There are other diesel additive out there which I am not sure what is the brand in England.

Feel free to mention any from the US - I'll do some reading looking into them.

Do any use PEA like petrol / gasoline additives, or is that not widely used for diesel engines?

I recognise that diesel additives are forumlated differently, and I guess some due to the fuel characteristics, some due to how it's injected / the type of injection system / pump.

I guess where I was really coming from was recognising that PEA is an effective fuel treatment for petrol / gasoline engines, was there any carry-over to diesel engines, and at low dosages, based on a fairly basic, NA, IDI (albeit one injector per pot), is it likely to do much harm - and the flipside of that, do any real good?

The context being the car I recently bought is fairly low mileage for it's age (a late 1998 car, with only 55k miles) and just wondered about the potential for some additive to be helpful in a diesel that's probably had very little use over it's years, until now, when it gets motorway / highway usage most days.

I guess my interest is that fuel economy has been slightly disappointing in it, really, not such that I'd worry of a problem (I'm currently averaging around 46mpg - bearing in mind UK / imperial gallons), just perhaps not quite as good as I'd hoped (for a 1.9l NA diesel in a small hatchback car).

 

[ChiTDI]

Isn't Stanadyne marketed in the UK?
VW and BMW dealerships promote it.

 

[JMJNet]

For what it is worth:

http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=177728

It was done a few years back when ULSD was just implemented.

46mpg is good. I don't drive small diesel car.

The 2cycle oil has helped a lot of us, I am not sure if it helps in mpg or not.