Diesel: pump premium or additive?

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Having recently acquired my first diesel car ('82 Mercedes in sig) I intend to run premium diesel as often as practical, especially since its daily routine will be a majority of in-town trips with one or two 20-50 miles runs a week. However, I see several fuel additives that advertise making premium diesel out of no. 2. Is there truth to these claims or is it more hype like octane booster for gasoline?
 
I use this to clean the injectors and to lube the fuel pump. As for actual does it make it premium diesel couldn't prove it by me.
$15.95 at Walmart the cheapest source I've found.

 
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Most of the modern diesel additives (Stanadyne, Diesel Kleen, or Howe's to name a few) usually have a cetane booster built into them. The questions I think you will have difficulty answering are how much they raise cetane and what is the starting cetane of the diesel before adding it. From my point of view, I add one the aforementioned to control water so I am less concerned about cetane than I am about fuel system health.
 
Premium diesel at the pump is regular diesel and the pump adds the additive. I once bought premium diesel but the additive dispenser was empty so got regular diesel but paid for premium diesel.

So i no longer bought premium diesel at the pump and I just started adding diesel kleen / stanadyne peformance formula to my fuel myself so it's consistant.
 
Good info. I used a whole small bottle of Diesel Kleen in the tank on my 450-mile drive home with the car a few weeks ago, haven't put anything through the tank since. From reading about the differences between No. 2 and premium diesel I suspected that it was pretty much the same as adding it before fueling up, just wanted to be more sure. I'm partial to Schaeffer's products (have their full syn 5w40 in the sump right now) and I believe one of their products has a soy component and purports to boost diesel to premium specs so I'll give it a try as well as the Stanadyne stuff.
 
I have used Diesel Kleen for almost 5 years in my VW diesel car. (See signature) The car has run flawlessly over that time. PA also requires the addition of 2% biodiesel into diesel fuel all over the state and that also really helps with lubricity.
 
I think your getting caught up in terminology and marketing hype. "premium" could mean a lot of things with diesels. I think some places just call theirs premium for marketing. My understanding is that diesel in the U.S. is mixed with additives at the local level (jobber or distributor) and then delivered. The standards for anti gel and additives are pretty loose and not really monitored. There was a study I read recently (cant recall where that sampled a bunch of sellers and found many to not be treating their fuel properly in cold weather) I try to buy from reputable places with decent turnover but have still gotten bad fuel a couple of times over the last 12 yrs, the last one was at a national chain thats name starts with an S and rhymes with peedway, that resulted in a tow bill since it was below zero when it froze up.
I run Power service white bottle or Howes in my truck year round.
 
I have yet to see premium diesel. Does your vehicle have a mechanical injector pump. If so consider 1oz of TC-W3 oil per gallon of diesel. In did that in my Cummins diesel.
 
Yes, it's an inline, mechanical Bosch pump. I'm assuming TCW-3 is cheaper to add than a fuel treatment like Power Service, etc.? So, maybe, run TCW-3 in warmer weather and something like Power Service when temps will be much below freezing, with a shot of a more aggressive cleaner (Diesel Kleen?) every 3-5,000 miles?
 
I have seen posts in various diesel forums about adding TCW-3 oil to a tank of fuel to increase lubricity and the claims about how much it helps. I have also seen posts claiming just the opposite and how it can harm the DPF over the long term. Though situated in South Africa, this 2-Stroke Oil In Diesel – A Technical Study seems to be very straightforward and analytical in its approach and gives some good insight into the lubricity of two-stroke oil in diesel fuel.
 
Yes, right after my last post I did some more reading on TCW3 and I think I'll feel better about just landing on one additive to use all the time without the potential drawbacks. Schaeffer's SoyShield looks like a good option - everybody says a bio component in diesel is a good thing, and if bought by the gallon and used at the recommended concentration it ups my fuel cost approx. $.07/gal.
 
I always run the premium/gold diesel product from Kwik Trip. It's 5 cents per gallon more, but I see less smoke in my modified LBZ Duramax. It's about the same in my other two diesels. All three vehicles still get a light treatment of Alliant Power Ultraguard in every tank.
 
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