Howe's Diesel Defender

[CloverKnollFarms]

I figure Power Service is cheap at my use rate. It eliminates a lot of potential issues, and causes no harm. My station has a lot of turnover, large industrial equipment fueled there all day long. However my use rate is slow, and I like to baby my equipment.

 

[Shady oak]

I owned semi trucks for 28 years. I now own two diesel mowers and a diesel tractor. With the exception of adding #1 for winter blend in the snow blower "mower" I have never to the best of my knowledge blended #1 in anything else. I live in MN and while I did have a gell up and added 911 to a tank (due to a faulty fuel heater) I have never used an additive. BTW the 911 was a complete waste of money.

There are thousands of of big trucks on the road and they buy millions of truck stop diesel, none of which has an additive. As for Bio, the higher the bio percentage the lower the power and mileage, and the lower the gell temp. That said it’s a good marketing ploy for the farmers!

One of my customers spent a summer buying and running 99.9 bio in their trucks. We would load 6993 of bean oil and then pump 7 gallons of #2 out of a gas boy barrel pump into the trailer. While it was at the time $.30 a gallon cheaper than straight 2 the mileage and power drop was significant. The shop foreman put a quart of it in the fridge and said it started to cloud at 37 degrees.

 

[Flogger]

I see a lot of ads for this product on line, Howe's Diesel Defender. As a general rule, are there any products we need to add to the diesel fuel we get from the pump. In winter, I add an anti gelling product, but I'm wondering if I should be using something like this year round? The ad claims it cleans injectors and keeps deposits from forming there.

I use ATF in all my diesel engines. Realizing modern fuel is engineered to tight specifications although also realizing those engineers have two goals. Make Uncle Sam smile and make your engine run well enough to make you buy more. I choose the lubricant and the solvent effects of atf. 20 years later I have worked on one fuel system and that was due to a fastener coming loose. My 70 year old tractors seem to really appreciate it when farming all day.

 

[Flogger]

I owned semi trucks for 28 years. I now own two diesel mowers and a diesel tractor. With the exception of adding #1 for winter blend in the snow blower "mower" I have never to the best of my knowledge blended #1 in anything else. I live in MN and while I did have a gell up and added 911 to a tank (due to a faulty fuel heater) I have never used an additive. BTW the 911 was a complete waste of money.

There are thousands of of big trucks on the road and they buy millions of truck stop diesel, none of which has an additive. As for Bio, the higher the bio percentage the lower the power and mileage, and the lower the gell temp. That said it’s a good marketing ploy for the farmers!

One of my customers spent a summer buying and running 99.9 bio in their trucks. We would load 6993 of bean oil and then pump 7 gallons of #2 out of a gas boy barrel pump into the trailer. While it was at the time $.30 a gallon cheaper than straight 2 the mileage and power drop was significant. The shop foreman put a quart of it in the fridge and said it started to cloud at 37 degrees.

Had to haul 7 pieces of equipment into the shop in Fargo one winter just to get that stuff out of the tank somebody from Texas saw the price and filled up everything he had on rent. My mechanic up there said “I don’t know what that sh## is made of but it turns back into it at -30*.” It nearly needed chipped out!

 

[Too many Kubotas]

He’s simply rubbing a roller bearing against a rotating surface. All the additives have the exact same test conditions, so the results should be valid on the basis of relative results, under the same conditions. I don’t see how that is “designed” for gear oil. He’s simply measuring the power needed to overcome friction, and the resulting wear from the friction.
How do you figure he’s getting false results?

The comparison between those two isn't even close.

One tests things pretty much the way I would, the other is an actual tribologist who mixes up his own oils for use in racing.

Both may be geniuses in their own way, but when it comes to knowing lubricants there's a night and day difference.

 

[Shady oak]

I use ATF in all my diesel engines. Realizing modern fuel is engineered to tight specifications although also realizing those engineers have two goals. Make Uncle Sam smile and make your engine run well enough to make you buy more. I choose the lubricant and the solvent effects of atf. 20 years later I have worked on one fuel system and that was due to a fastener coming loose. My 70 year old tractors seem to really appreciate it when farming all day.

Never heard of using ATF. What ratio?

 

[DarkBlack]

I posted a link to a small study on this site last year. I think it was from the state of Texas. If I remember correctly, ATF actually scored worse than nothing at all on a wear test
I wouldn’t add it, personally.

 

[Alan W.]

I have used two stroke oil before to aid my older diesels. I chose this over atf because it is ashless and designed to be used in a combustion chamber all the things atf isnt.

 

[rbrown225]

I have been using Power Plus and Artic Extreme from PFS (Fuel Guys) since the 90's. knock on wood have not had to touch the pump or injectors on any of the equipment or trucks. Buddy lost his pump on a 02 Dodge, when they reformulated. He switched and has not had a problem since. I have fired off and ran my 05 Dodge at -40 on #2

 

[dodge man]

If in doubt don’t add anything. People say they use xxxxx and never had a problem. That doesn’t mean a thing, they might not have had any problems if they didn’t. If I say I added 3 shots of Jack Daniel’s to every tank of fuel plus a little bitters and never had a problem I would hope no one would do it.

 

[Paystar]

Here's my take. I don't think any of them are necessary if you have good fuel at the pumps in your area.
But I do occasionally use them.
In my C13 and C15 Cat's I had, I found Cat's additive gave enough cetane increase you could actually feel it in throttle response, but it was not cheap.
In my Powerstrokes I was running Power Service. Then one time on the highway in Indiana my check engine light came on and engine started running very rough. I pulled in a Ford dealer and they diagnosed two dead injectors. They couldn't get me in so they said you can drive it home, but it will run like crap.
So I stopped for fuel and all they had was Howes. So I dumped some in and literally in 10 minutes of driving on freeway, CEL went out and truck ran perfect.

Fluke? I don't know, but the injectors unstuck themselves. So I've only run Howes after that.

 

[WilliamBos]

I run Howes and Amsoil. Had fuel gel up in the Massey with an off brand. No more of that.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

If I get fuel delivered in the winter, they add Howes. So I add it as needed to fuel delivered in the warm months, and in the tanks of vehicles that get fueled up at regular gas stations.

We do occasionally see -20 here, so some sort of anti-gel is needed.

 

[big bubba]

`diesel fuel additives will always be a subject, like engine oil
1st rule: get the diesel from a high volume reputable source, goes w/o saying, i just said.

the reasons for an additive are 4x fold. 1) moisture removal 2) anti gel in cold temps
3) lubricuity given low sulfur fuels 4) anti algae/fungus growth in fuels.

a lot depends on your location & climate. for me, Howes covers most but not all the above issues & never had a problem in my climate. but i don't live in Florida or Minnesota with those extreme conditions. regards

 

[Too many Kubotas]

1) moisture removal 4) anti algae/fungus growth in fuels.

If there's no water there won't be any bacteria.

 

[big bubba]

`maybe so. think a lot of those organism problems occur in larger volume storage. my operation is small & requires only 5gal containers therefore good circulation.

. however if i lived in a warm, humid climate with bulk starage, i would i would include an algaecide. in addition, fungus can grow as well as bacteria, but i'm not a biologist. i'm only relying on theory since it has not been a problem with me. regards,

 

[Too many Kubotas]

It doesn't seem to have anything to do with the size of the tank, and why would it?

I've only had one case of bacteria (it is not algae, by the way) and that was in a 20 gallon tank on a vehicle that had sat in Texas for a long time, without a cap. There was water up to the edge of the filler neck. The lower four inches or so of the tank looked like it had been sprayed with LineX.

Learned a lot about the subject in the weeks following getting that vehicle. Including that there must be water in the tank for the bacteria to grow, and that BioBor did a good job in this case.

 

[big bubba]

you indeed were fortunate. bet for every fortunate experience like yours, there are many others that did not turn out so well with bulk storage given your cond. do note that in today's larger def Tier4 injection systems, even a remote amount of moisture can cause extensive damage to system.

fortunately, i do not fall into that category w/my model. but i sure wouldn't chance it making a decision just based on your experience given modern fuel injection systems, best regards

 

[big bubba]

It doesn't seem to have anything to do with the size of the tank, and why would it?
TMK
volume circulation. leave things sit, things will happen. the reason i always look for a high volume diesel supplier

 

[Too many Kubotas]

It doesn't seem to have anything to do with the size of the tank, and why would it?
TMK
volume circulation. leave things sit, things will happen. the reason i always look for a high volume diesel supplier

Are you saying that the three still full 325 gallon totes I have, which were filled about three years ago, maybe more, now contain unusable fuel?

I hope that's not what you meant. But thankfully the engines running on that fuel doesn't seem to know that they shouldn't be. And I don't know why they shouldn't.

Also, a couple of vehicles have fuel in their tanks that are approaching six years. And the generator's tank gets filled from a 135 gallon tank with fuel from about '10 or '11.

Regardless of tank sizes, the fuel is treated and I have yet to see any indications of water in any of them, except what came in the vehicle from Texas, and without water there are no problems with bacteria.

That I've never seen any condensation could be because it's very dry here. Plus, here I have control over what's in my tanks, unlike when filling up at a station where I have no idea what goes into the tanks of the road going vehicles. So far that's been good, too, but I've read about people that weren't as lucky.