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So what are you using for a Lubricity Additive on your diesel Unimogs?

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peakbagger

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Since the OM352 (and 366s) hit the street, diesel fuel has changed, it previously had sulfur that acted as a lubricant in the injection pumps. In order to clean up the air, recent diesel is ultra low sulfur meaning injection pumps are having a rough time. Some folks are adding a bit of two stroke oil to the fuel but from what I have read it really doesn't do the trick. One of the diesel forums did an independent test and it looks like Optilube seems to be rated well. There is also a claim of cetane boost and possibly it cleans the injectors. I bit the bullet and bought a jug of it and plan to be running it in my mogs. Anyone else using Diesel treatments?
 
The FLU farm

The FLU farm

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Aside from what I have to put in there to prevent gelling, Howes, Power Service, and Lucas.
Can't say that one helps more than the other, or does anything at all, but at least adding them makes me feel like I tried. In reality, there's probably a mix of all three in some tanks as I usually don't remember what I put in what tank, can, or vehicle.

A while back I bought an additive specifically for cleaning out injectors, but haven't got to that FLU yet.

One thing I know adds lubricity, and improves performance a bit due to higher energy content, is engine oil. Used, and filtered, of course.
It's highly likely that some or most of my leftover 10W from the hydraulics will end up in the FLUs' tanks.
 
Speedwoble

Speedwoble

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This, being something the average person can't test, and can't tell a difference from, is ripe for snake oil. Generally the ones claiming a need for lubricity are people selling said lubricity additive. Meanwhile, the ASTM specifications for diesel have a lubricity level that must be in the fuel when it is sold.

I saw saw this well explained study on another forum: http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/76.../177728-lubricity-additive-study-results.html that rated conventional and unconventional additives. I think it is telling that the best performance was 2% biodiesel and used motor oil did nothing at 200:1 ratio.
Through my own prior employment in alternative fuel (ethanol production) I made many friends that have made me respect biodiesel as a lubricity additive. I do not use lubricity additives day to day, but given the chance, I will fill up with biodiesel. Note, the processing to create biodiesel makes it chemically different from straight vegetable oil. They are not the same, as is mistakenly stated elsewhere on Steel Soldiers.
 
The FLU farm

The FLU farm

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Speedwoble;2028352...and used motor oil did nothing at 200:1 ratio.[/QUOTE said:
I need to read that dieselplace study, but for now I should point out that when playing around with used motor oil I did learn a few things.
One was that up to 7% is deemed perfectly safe and commonly used in generators in remote Alaska, for example. Saved themDSC02772.jpg fuel, and solved the used oil disposal problem.
Another was that to be legal, the oil must come from the same engine it's being burned in.

Not surprisingly, there's a practical upper limit for how much oil can be dumped into the diesel fuel. I'd have to look in the ol' M1009's log book, but as I recall it was at around 40% that starting got hard (in a mild SoCal climate) and it began smoking pretty badly.
Going on memory again, around 10 to 15% was the sweet spot. The engine sounded so much mellower, and did run better. The mileage went up by more than what I could explain by better lubricity, and that's when I learned that there's more energy in motor oil than in diesel.

But I think, and as you mention, that the majority of diesels on and off the road are happily purring along without any additives whatsoever. In my case it was part being rebellious and part CA fuel prices that got me to investigate running on used oil when everybody else was looking into bio diesel.

The pictured apparatus was a commercially available Oil-Cat which I played with for a while. Far more convenient than the home made filtration system I'd built, but quite costly.
Click to expand...
 
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peakbagger

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I do plan at some point plan on getting access to biodiesel for blending. Unfortunately its not easy to get in my area.

I expect newer diesels have been built for low sulfur fuels so they most likely can purr along nicely with no additives. Mechanical injection pumps are now pretty old (but reliable tech) but I think Mercedes even wetn away from them on later Unimogs.
 
The FLU farm

The FLU farm

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peakbagger said:
Unfortunately its not easy to get in my area.
Click to expand...
That could be a blessing in disguise. At least for people who don't plan for gelling. I don't think even the 15% mix is available around here.

Yeah, low sulfur diesel, no lead in the gas, hardly any octane in the gas...modern vehicles need electronics just to keep running well. No wonder the additive industry is doing well.
 
The FLU farm

The FLU farm

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For cleansing purposes, I wouldn't mind having a few 5-gallon cans of bio diesel.
Wouldn't mind changing filters a few times, either, if that's what it takes to clean out the injectors. At least I hope it's dirty injectors that makes it sound like valve clatter and smoke like crazy.
 
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peakbagger

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The FLU farm said:
For cleansing purposes, I wouldn't mind having a few 5-gallon cans of bio diesel.
Wouldn't mind changing filters a few times, either, if that's what it takes to clean out the injectors. At least I hope it's dirty injectors that makes it sound like valve clatter and smoke like crazy.[/QUOTE

Smoking and clattering is generally a prime symptom of partially plugged injectors. Given how long SEEs sat in storage I have no doubt that the injections may not be 100%. Unfortunately anything that may break gunk in the injectors free will probably cause crap to break lose elsewhere. Ideally it would be direct injected into the fuel pump .
Click to expand...
 
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