Contaminated Fuel!!

[Drifty1]

HamRad, The Engine is fine. The problem is all the emission control garbage that hangs on the engine! As for dropping the emission parts, if I wanted to trade I would have to reinstall all these parts as no dealer around here would touch it on a trade with meeting emission requirements. I do understand comments about removing the parts and bypassing them but that is not for me. I only drove about a mile maybe two after I noticed the truck acting up. Also there was no warning. We are going to Pt. Townsend on Thursday for 4 days so we will be testing out the truck very soon. It is not that far from here but is a winding road running up 101 through Hoodsport. Wish me luck as I could use a little right about now!

[Drifty1]

One other point I would like to mention is Imperium Renewables which is the BioDiesel refinery in Aberdeen has a 2008 6.7L Cab and Chassis 3500 that had been in the shop many times for DPF filter and EGR valve problems. I do not think they had 5000 miles on it and they were told by Dodge in Aberdeen that Dodge would not cover these items under warranty as they are running 20% BioDiesel. Imperium did pull the filter off and bypass it and will most likely keep this truck until it is about dead and then they will sell it to an employee that will put it on the farm running hay out to the cows. I am sure all NW stations will be having at least 5% within the next couple of years and more people are going to have problems with emissions.

[HamRad]

Larry,
Thanks for info. And we do wish you the best of luck! Full speed ahead. By the way we love the Port Townsend area. There is an Escapee's park very near. Thanks for keeping the members involved with this issue. Dennis

[richfaa]

Alge in the fuel is a big problem for farmers around this area.It got worse when we went to Ultra low sulfer fuel and Bio diesel.Had a educational conversation with a local farm group this week.We will start to do alge maint on our fuel .Sta-Bill makes a Diesel alge treatment that works fine.
Don't see it as a huge issuee for us but it can happen as we see and is very expensive if it does.

[mlh]

If algae is the problem, what do we do about it and how how do we prevent it?
Lynwood

[jwedell]

I usually only let my diesel pickup go to 1/2 a tank then fill it up. I wonder if letting the fuel lay in the tank like that is good practice or if I should let it run out to almost empty then fill up. Or do what i'm doing and add a fuel additive. Any thoughts.

[Drifty1]

I try to run down to 1/4 tank before I fill. It seems that I am always put in between $100 and $125 in the tank. As for a algae additive I talked to a local trucking supply store about 2 miles from the house today. I asked him about an additive and he recommended I use Lucas Bio Medic.
Lucas Bio Medic
I use Lucas fuel additive now so I bought a quart of this which will treat 250 gals. I am going to pick up a few small sample bottles to put some smaller amouts of my additive in and put in a baggy under my back seat. He also said a lot of people figure the black particles they see in their filters is algae but if fact it is a additive they put in ULSD. It is good the filter stops this but you can never can tell your filter is starting to plug. So I guess I might as well change the fuel filter every time I change the oil. It is a lot cheaper.

[bighornram]

http://www.rvtechlibrary.com/engine/fuel.htm

[bighornram]

I've posted photos to my Mopar Severe Duty Fuel Filtration System Installation HERE. This provides additional filtration, water elimination, and fuel heater right out of the fuel tank and is a Mopar product so will not adversely affect the warranty.

[exav8tr]

This was a problem in general aviation aricraft because they sit so long without being flown, the solution was to keep the tanks fully filled so the algae did not have room to grow. Just saying!

[Drifty1]

Well I got my truck back today! I missed the old girl as it has been 3 weeks in the shop. The total cost $9,093.00!! These are the items that were worked on for this amount.
Replace front brakes.
Pull tank and clean.
Clean fuel lines and fuel rail.
Replace particulate filter and all sensors with this.
Replace ERG valve and throttle valve, cooler tube.
Replace and install updated ERG Cooler and tubing.
Replace air filter.
Service rear differential.
Flush brake lines.
Transmission service.
Replace shift shaft seal.
I guess yesterday a guy came in with a new Dodge Ram with 6,000 miles have problems with fuel. They pulled a sample of his fuel and found it to be jelled worst then mine. It was thick enough to cause the fuel filter to collapse. I did not find out what his cost was going to run but I do know it is at least $1,200 to flush the tank and clean the fuel rail. He had said he has been get his fuel from a mom and pop station with gets it fuel delivered for the cheapest price they can.
When talking to the mechanic this morning I found out when he was flushing the tank there was globs of a gelled fuel coming out of the tank. So I am leaning toward a algae build up problem with dodge. We took it for a little road test tonight after filling up at Pilot south of Tumwater and found out it ran like a new truck. We ran it about 40 miles and at least got 21.5 MPG with good power.

[simonsrf]

quote:Originally posted by exav8tr

This was a problem in general aviation aricraft because they sit so long without being flown, the solution was to keep the tanks fully filled so the algae did not have room to grow. Just saying!

Sounds very sensible.
So Phil, what you are saying is.... they didn't need any bio medic algae eating chemicals, warning lights, or fancy filtration systems.... they just used plain old common sense?

[richfaa]

Hummm. We always keep our diesel tanks full. First thing we do when returning from a trip is to fill the tank. A trucker had told me that a long time ago but I had forgotten why..

[bigmurf]

I can tell when my filter starts restricting flow. The fuel pressure drops from about 16 psi.

[mlh]

The fuel pressure on my truck like all the new trucks runs from 5200 pounds to over 25500 PSI. Thats why these fuel systems are so expensive and are so fragile.
Lynwood

[Ken Ralston]

I had a mechanic here tell me the truckers around here are putting half to a quart of ATF in their tanks when they fuel. He told me I should do that but that was with my 2005 Dodge Cummins now that I bought this 2011 New truck i have been afraid to do that. Although this may keep the injectors clean I don't know about what it would do to the rest of the truck.

[HamRad]

Ken,
I'd be really careful about adding anything to my diesel fuel. If we needed to add something I'd think the manufacturer would be letting us know. Perhaps a visit to one of the Diesel Truck Forums might throw some light on this subject. Good luck. Dennis

[Drifty1]

I am with Ken on this subject. Even if I am out of warranty I am going to watch what I put in my Dodge. With all this emissions garbage hanging on these newer trucks you never can tell what is going to throw it into a meltdown.

[Ken Ralston]

The Mechanic was saying the fuel nowdays is so much dryer than it use to be. No I would never do that to a new truck but I did to my old one and it ran fine. It maybe like Larry says the Newer ones will choke on something different. I have had to use an additive in the winter before the #1 comes out but that was it for the new truck.

[CORattler]

My Dodge mechanic told me to use an additive with Cetane in it after he did a cleaning of the turbo at 29K. My truck has never run so strong with so much power and torque.
Now I have never been a proponent or advocate of additives, but I am convinced there is a difference. YMMV.
Could it have been the result of turbo cleaning? Maybe.... But I now use additive at EVERY fillup.