• Welcome to The Truck Stop! We see you haven't REGISTERED yet.

    Your truck knowledge is missing!
    • Registration is FREE , all we need is your birthday and email. (We don't share ANY data with ANYONE)
    • We have tons of knowledge here for your diesel truck!
    • Post your own topics and reply to existing threads to help others out!
    • NO ADS! The site is fully functional and ad free!
    CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!

    Problems registering? Click here to contact us!

    Already registered, but need a PASSWORD RESET? CLICK HERE TO RESET YOUR PASSWORD!

Diesel gelling and cloud points by region

B

bshull

Member
Messages
59
Reaction score
1
Location
Buhler, KS
A month ago I was in Minnesota when they had a cold snap. My diesel gelled up. The daily temps were in the low single digits and the nightly temps dropped to negative numbers, Fahrenheit. Oh well a tow, bottle of 911 and a night in a heated garage and I was on my way.

I figured it was a fluke and if I were to better manage my fuel fill ups and add some powerservice I would avoid this in the future. The burb has a 42 gallon tank and in the winter I usually do not let the level drop too far below 1/2 tank. Now, on a long run I now try to get the tank below 1/4 before fill up to try to get a larger quantity of fuel treated for a lower temperature, and treat it with powerservice. My thoughts are that fuel from Kansas was not treated for that low of temperature and when I filled it up with "regional" fuel it was too diluted to keep it from gelling.

Since work was going to have me parked at home in south central Kansas for a month I fell out of the powerservice habit. We had a cold snap and the overnight temps dropped into the negative numbers. I went out to start the burb to take my kid to school the temp was 1. The truck started and the 1/4 mile drive to school went well, the drive home did not. The engine stalled and I could hear the lift pump hammering, it was out of liquid fuel. Sat and waited for a couple of minuets, back blew the fuel line to the tank and was able to get it started and home.

With two gelling type incidents I was concerned I might have a snotty sock issue adding to my problems. I was planning on installing the metron fuel rod anyway so I dropped the tank to have a look. First thing is I think I had a sock for a gasser. IIRC a diesel sock should have a bypass built into the end of the sock for gelling issues, this one did not. Oh well, since everything else was really clean I took the sock off, I am planning on adding a pre lift pump filter in line and forget about the sock.

I decided to have some fun and take a sample of the fuel and place it in a freezer. Currently the freezer is -5 to 0 Fahrenheit and the diesel is cloudy. It is past it's cloud point and seems thicker, it has a higher viscosity. Next I plan on adding the correct amount of powerservice and retest.

Is there a rule for fuel stations and treated fuel by region or is it up to the station to figure out what level of treated fuel they want to sell. I am assuming if you buy fuel in Minnesota it will be good for a lower temperature than fuel from Kansas. Thoughts?

Thanks

Brian
 
I think the stations buy fuel and its treated at the distributor. I have never seen a station add anything to thier tanks. I emailed Pilot truck stop once what was different about thier fuel and they did not answer my email. So its further I think its a combination of distributor treatment and how much business and turn over a station has to how current the fuel mix is.

Stations probably??? do a tank maintenace additve with filter maintenance but probably??? its subcontracted to the companies that specialize in pump services??? Around here in South Carolina fuel comes out of the Atlanta area I think. We don't get low enough temps for many problems. I use to tell my ex brother-in-law who travelled all over the place to treat every fill up (especially in the fall and spring) because of the different regions he would be getting fuel from and large temp swings he may experience. Plus he would fill up from any station any where and did not notice how dirty a station was (if had dirty nozzles/pumps/facilities etc).
 
I have been working in Refinery's since the late 70's. Here in Chicago we additize all the #2 fuel that goes out, starting in late September our #2 fuel is good to -20 until mid late March. From April till Sept it's good to zero. Our #2 fuel is shipped out & covers a fairly wide area here in the midwest region.

The pour point spec requirement is regional, like you thought.
 
Have you changed your FSU from the original? I know my replacement FSU had the Gasoline sock, not the proper diesel sock and had no flap to allow the cold diesel.

That was enough to run me till stall a few times until I blew air into tank from LP inlet.

I know its not about gell/cloud point, but adding additives did not fix the improper sock issue.
 
I have heard that some truck stops in the northern region do sell straight #2. I don't know that for a fact. The big rig drivers don't like the winterized fuel because it drops their mpg. Some big rigs have fuel heaters in the tanks that circulate hot engine coolant to keep the fuel from gelling. That would be one of the reasons they don't shut them off in cold temps.
A few years back we had a early cold snap here. I went to town to fill my trusty olds diesel and none of the diesel pumps at 3 different stations would even pump the fuel. I have to say though, I haven't had a fuel gelling problem in 15 years or more. I do give all the trucks and tractor a dose of power service in the late fall in case I don't get the treated fuel in time for the cold temps.
 
Crankme69 said:
I have been working in Refinery's since the late 70's. Here in Chicago we additize all the #2 fuel that goes out, starting in late September our #2 fuel is good to -20 until mid late March. From April till Sept it's good to zero. Our #2 fuel is shipped out & covers a fairly wide area here in the midwest region.

The pour point spec requirement is regional, like you thought.
Click to expand...

What about lubricity additives? Is there anything added to this ULSD?
 
I do believe that a lubricity additive is a standard part of the distributor's blend. It was a hot topic with the switch to ULSD from LSD.
 
Very good! Thanks for the replies guys. I was just curious. It is good that we have members in the refinery business! :thumbsup:
 
Matt Bachand said:
Have you changed your FSU from the original? I know my replacement FSU had the Gasoline sock, not the proper diesel sock and had no flap to allow the cold diesel.

That was enough to run me till stall a few times until I blew air into tank from LP inlet.

I know its not about gell/cloud point, but adding additives did not fix the improper sock issue.
Click to expand...


This was exactly my problem, the FSU was changed by previous owner and a gas sock was installed. That is what sent me down the path to look into gelling and cloud point of the fuel.

Thanks for all the replies on this thread, if I understand correctly most fuel is winterized at the refinery, you get whatever mix the refinery see fit to produce, probably decided by their customers demands. So if you have a refinery in Texas they could have a different level of winterization than a refinery in Minnesota?

Thanks

Brian
 
Brooklyn Tow said:
So you don't run any 2 stroke or ND 30wt......do you run additive (Power Service, standyne, etc.?)
Click to expand...

I give everything a shot of power service in the fall in case of a sudden cold snap is all. I have no need for 2 stroke. The soy diesel is the best lube that they tested over at the place. 2 stroke did very little to help lube the ip. Some additives actually made it worse. I'll poke around over there and find that study and post a link. It was a very interesting additive test done by a independant lab. No ties to additve mfgs. and oil co.
 
biodiesel definately came out on top of lubricity additive, but 2-stroke also did very well compared to more expensive things. Regular used motor oil didnt seem to help at all. That study is posted here in a poll about fuel additives.
 
I think so I haven't gotten under his yet to know for sure, he's only had it a couple of weeks, guys on stroke forum in 6.0 section been real free with answering my questions, got a local sort of next big town over a 6.0 guy 30 miles away that knows his stuff.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top