[tek4tex]

I know what my manual says about not using additives. What are the real world experiences of these kind of engines using the low sulphur diesel? I have used Howe's in cold weather conditions below 10F. Is there an additive to use that will provide better lubrication to the fuel pump?

[OILPowered]

The TDI forum is a great resource for the additive discussion. In fact, it's been more than beaten to death.

I use OptiLube XPD (about 4 ounces per fill up) with every tank. If you do a search on "Spicer Report" it may shed some light on the subject. Though I wouldn't take the report as pure truth, it does show that some products are better than others. Biodiesel as an additive has the best lubricity, but some of the additives like the Opti add demulsifiers (help with water issues), cetane booster and anti gelling compounds.

[NRG]

I've tried running a few, like Amsoil, PowerService, Lucas etc mixing it with Shell V-Power diesel and found no improvement in MPG at all. A little more torque in a gear, less likely to downshift that's most evident difference which I didn't like, considering the tranny/diff is already too lazy for my taste. Now I just use the V-Power, I find it the best of everything. Works fine in Canadian winter as well, since it's already premixed with antigel additives.

[TotalPower]

said it once, i'll say it again: petroleum based fuel additives are 95% all the same. Doesn't matter which one you use, the ingredients are mostly identical and will all yield little to no results.

If you are looking for a good product use a synthetic oxygenating fuel additive with some detergency.

[Puerto Rican 335d]

I use Amsoil Cetane Booster and Diesel Cleaner, car seems to be running better with the booster, the SHELL stations where I live have the large Noozle so I cant use them Ive been using Gulf Diesel

[OILPowered]

Originally Posted by TotalPower

said it once, i'll say it again: petroleum based fuel additives are 95% all the same. Doesn't matter which one you use, the ingredients are mostly identical and will all yield little to no results.

If you are looking for a good product use a synthetic oxygenating fuel additive with some detergency.

I'd have to disagree with this statement- additive packages for diesel fuel do vary quite a bit. Your statement is more in line with gasoline additives- detergents generally are part of a gasoline package to remove carbon build up from spark ignition. Detergents also by nature (a base) remove lubricity, which is bad for a Diesel engine that uses fuel to lubricate its pumps.

[acerboo]

i thought bmw recommend not to use additives?

[DieselDiner]

Acerboo, already mentioned in the op:

Originally Posted by tek4tex

I know what my manual says about not using additives.

[TotalPower]

Originally Posted by OILPowered

I'd have to disagree with this statement- additive packages for diesel fuel do vary quite a bit. Your statement is more in line with gasoline additives- detergents generally are part of a gasoline package to remove carbon build up from spark ignition. Detergents also by nature (a base) remove lubricity, which is bad for a Diesel engine that uses fuel to lubricate its pumps.

If you know that gasoline requires detergency, why wouldn't diesel? It is a less refined fuel...

Detergents are capable of removing lubricity-think dish soap- or capable of adding lubricity- think hand soap.

I agree that additives vary quite a bit more for diesel than gasoline since diesel is used in a larger variety of situations and comes in a variety of qualities. Cetane, lubricity, water content, cold flow, stability-all reasons to get a single synthetic diesel fuel additive, instead of 5 different additives (formulated similarly).

[Deezl]

PowerService, silver bottle... ...I've *ahem* heard... ...saw it on a T.V. show once. Would never use an additive myself, though, as it says not to right on the filler cap.

[Puerto Rican 335d]

This is what i just put on, NO NOT the beer, LOL

[F32Fleet]

Lubricity worries are overrated as our fuels systems a ULSD compliant. In fact the wear scar requirment has remained the same for years (lower is better and did not go up with move to ULSD).

All additives which contain a cetane booster contain 2EHN or Xylene, Napthalene, Ethylbenzene, etc.

Diesel combustion is already over 99 percent although quality varies with fuel characteristics and engine type. Additives may change the quality of the combustion but won't yield significant increases in power.

Diesel fuel is not the same from every supplier. Each batch responds differently to a booster. When I say respond I mean increase in cetane level. Fuel X may go up 6 proints while fuel Y may go only 3. Fuel X may start at 40 whereas fuel Y is at 45 but you don't know because federal law says 40 is min and pumps always state min.

Higher cetane works its magic at cold start for emissions reasons and it smooths out the engine (wont knock when cold). I suspect a cold start is where fuel is saved. At operating temps cetane does little other than at very high engine speeds (higher than what we normally drive at).

[acerboo]

Originally Posted by DieselDiner

Acerboo, already mentioned in the op:

sorry missed that

[F32Fleet]

http://www.infineum.com/Pages/2012Wi...uelSurvey.aspx

[TDIwyse]

You can also see the Infineum 2011 fuel survey if you go to this nhtsa site and look at Chrysler's submission (it's name is the .pdf file below)

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs...03&docType=INV

INRD-EA11003-50066P.pdf

The 2012 US results were significantly better than 2011 (although quite a few out of spec HFRR results in 2012 too).

The 2011 results showed 26.8% of the samples were out of spec for HFRR. One of the samples had an HFRR of 784um! That's worse than the raw, untreated ULSD from the Spicer lubricity additive study. Actually 4.9% of the samples had HFRR results above the raw ULSD used in the Spicer study... It's always a bit of a gamble filling up.

[TDIwyse]

This is a university study of four commercial additives (Power Service, Howe's, FPPF, Amsoil) on D2 and several % of biodiesel blends. It verifies significant improvements to the cold filter plug point (CFPP) using these additives. Which can be the difference between your car operating or not in cold climates. We had a forum member recently have an issue with cold weather (http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?p=15084078)


http://www.glmri.org/downloads/2009Reports/pope.pdf

[Quasimodem]

I used a diesel additive (I think it was Amsoil, but I will edit this later when I have a chance to check my garage for which one I was using) for a few months in the proportion specified on the bottle.

I started noticing a slight "thump" when I started my car. Sounded sort of like a mild backfire.

I got lazy, and stopped using the additive. Starting thump/backfire went away.

Edit: It was Power Service Diesel Kleen with Cetane Boost. And it took a while after stopping using it for the initial backfire to go away. This tells me that it might be okay to use it once in a while to clean out the engine, but I wouldn't use it on every tank of diesel.

[Pierre Louis]

Originally Posted by Quasimodem

I used a diesel additive (I think it was Amsoil, but I will edit this later when I have a chance to check my garage for which one I was using) for a few months in the proportion specified on the bottle.

I started noticing a slight "thump" when I started my car. Sounded sort of like a mild backfire.

I got lazy, and stopped using the additive. Starting thump/backfire went away.

I've used additives twice. Both times the engine had serious problems afterwards and I stopped immediately. The PS gray bottle didn't help a slight hesitation and I later found fuel line leaks which had nothing to do with the hesitation. The second time I used a fuel stabilizer and had the CEL come on, needing to replace NOx sensors and catalytic converters. Scared me away for sure, but the problems are likely not related to either additive. I find much more success just sticking with a particular brand and a busy station.

In popular culture, most vitamins are still touted for their original theoretical advantages by many, even long after the original benefits were disproven in scientific studies and in some cases, detrimental side effects were revealed. Vitamin E is a great example, as it has been touted to do different things over the decades and is known to cause cardiac arrhythmias. Vitamin C has had multiple studies showing no effect on colds, at least 23 of them. When one study showed a "possible" benefit, the true believers felt redeemed. Zinc for colds is basically worthless but its marketed on the basis of another very sketchy study that has had few if any repeat verifications. The thought process of evidence based medicine (EBM) exists because its the end points that count, not the mechanism or test that matters, having found examples of treatments that don't show any statistical advantage in results even though they somehow fix a parameter such as a test result.

[dixy2k]

I thought it was just my imagination while driving that there is some hesitation occasionally. My immediate thought was that the road imperfections shook the car from time to time.
It is the first time I am using additives and I burned through 1/2 a tank already. The previous post makes me think twice about using the fluid I got. It comes in a gray bottle too.

[Puerto Rican 335d]

Quasimodem what you might of experienced was soot been removed from the system I didnt use AMSOIL products for a month and when I came to it I got a limp mode just before the half mile race we clocked twice at 150 mph (at the end of the 3/4 mile) and the car even ran smoother after that, my girlfriend even noticed that the car was more loose than before. This has been the ONLY time I have gone ACTUAL LIMP mode in 3 yrs of ownership and with the RENNtech flash

[doc5339]

I also use Opti-Lube XPD, 4oz every other fill-up. I do not notice huge performance gains, but do think the lubricity additive and Cetane boost are important.

[Pierre Louis]

Reputable companies test for immediate effects on ASTM parameters of their additives. I know of one that does: PS. Most people on enthusiast message boards, however, use additive to improve performance, longevity and reliability, which are much less clear compared to the sales pitches. There are some small studies on dynos by companies selling additive comparing power with and without it but not for long term effects.