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So Called Fast Fixes
Latitude 38 – November, 1994
Over the years we have attended to many diesel fuel contamination problems. In so doing, we’ve noticed a number of mistakes made by ill-advised boat owners:
- Buying cheap – “good deals” – diesel fuel.
- Paying a premium price for so-called “high sculpture” commercial fuel.
- Using additives that do nothing but complicate the fuel contamination problem.
- Heeding the “sage” advice of “old dock thumpers” to put transmission fluid and/or 40 weight crankcase oil into the diesel.
- Pouring water-absorbing chemicals — would you believe even raw alcohol? — into their diesel supply.
The above are only a few of the so-called “fast fixes” that have led to even worse diesel fuel problems.
We advise our customers who have been told to put transmission fluid and crankcase oil into their diesel fuel — ostensibly to improve lubricity — that they are really being advised to get ready to eventually repair or replace a $10,000-$15,000 diesel engine.
The availability of so-called commercial — “high sulphur” — fuel has been advertised by some fuel docks in the San Francisco Bay Area. But, beware, as sometimes these supplies have been of very low quality, with lots of water and particulate contamination.
There are numerous fuel additives on the market that allegedly will solve all fuel problems. We recommend that the prospective buyer call the manufacturer of the additive to obtain S.A.E. or comparable data before using the product.
Particulate will eventually appear in all diesel tanks and will have to be purified. But why complicate the problem with the “quick fixes” that can make it all the more expensive?
We recommend that boaters only purchase their diesel fuel from credible franchised fuel docks that pump large volumes of fuel, keep their receipts, and log where they obtained the fuel from. Do not put additives in your fuel until the additive is substantiated by the aforementioned S.A.E. data or comparable testing analysis.
Please call DIESEL FUEL FILTERING for quotation & appointment! (510) 521-6797
We are in compliance with State and Federal Specifications and Pollution Control
