Diesel Fuel

GregCO

Member
Not wanting to take away from the topic below, I have a silly question. As I am no diesel expert by any stretch and only use it in my utility tractor, I buy most of it 50 gallons at a time by filling a fuel barrel that I pump out of. In the winter I buy #1 at the COOP and #2 in the summer from the same place as they have died fuel that saves a little money at the pump. I do add a little conditioner during the winter and so far in the last 10 years have had no issues. It works so I'm not going to mess with a good thing.

Here is my question.
#1. I have been told that you can add a little gasoline to it to help prevent gelling and ice problems during the winter. Is this true and how dangerous is it to do? Haven't tried it myself and for the amount of additive I go through it doesn't add up to a hill of beans. I just don't use enough that it matters.

#2. Is the diesel fuel sold at the gas stations as road fuel treated for the season or is it a crap shoot if it will gel up or not? Seems there are allot of pickups out there that are burning it everyday that are used as grocery getter's being driven by the general public that probably know less than the average bear about fuel and they seem to keep going down the road.

What you say? Just looking for opinions. I'm not looking to reinvent the wheel for myself as I just don't burn enough diesel fuel a year that is matters to me. Just wondering if the gas trick works or how risky it is.

Thanks,

Greg
 
I would not add gasoline.

I would add some anti bacterial and Cetane booster when the bulk tank is filled.

Just add the appropriate anti-gel into your tractor when you fill from your bulk tank, and you will be fine.

Do not assume #2 is good below 20 degrees without some anti-get
 


its some truth and a lot of myth.

If you have NO other means... '69 diesel vw owners manual said that you could at up to one gallon of gas to a full tank of diesel, to help avoid gelling. I tired it.. and although the car did not gell, it lost almost all power and ran horrible. the preferred way was to buy a blended fuel of no 1 with no 2.. blended for your area so you have a very slight lose of power. The colder areas have more no1 added and the more power you lose.

move to modern days. Newer injection systems manal... Say DO NOT ADD ANY gasolene to your diesel. .NONE.

So... unless your gelled up, stranded and about to die.... and have no other choice... I say never do it. My little rabbit diesel would only run 40 mph with gasolene added. I went home and pump the tank nearly dry and went back to the pump blend of winter diesel. Never again...
 
I believe there are more BTU's in a gallon of Diesel than gas, thus decrease in HP, and gasoline tends to explode versus burn at those compressions when injected.
 
I have been a fuel jobber in Mt for over 35 years. I sell 8 to 9 million gallons a year of gas, diesel and propane a year. If it absolutely has to run in winter then you want #1 diesel. Canada has a seasonal blend but not the USA. Don't put gasoline in your diesel. The margin of error is too small for someone who doesn't know what they are doing. And you dont, sorry, I don't mean to be rude but #1 is what you want..
 
I live in Iowa and only buy #2 for the tractors year round, I add power services at the correct ratio in the winter into the smaller tanks.
 
Iv run diesel tractors for a long time and have a diesel pickup truck, my tractors get home heating oil with power service conditioner in the winter, never any problems, I don't put gasoline or keresone in them either. I don't run my diesel truck in the winter months anymore, but the on road pumps around here say enhanced for the winter, my brother runs his diesel truck all winter and dosent treat the fuel. This was on sale last month at NAPA, I think it was $6.99 per bottle. Iv never had any problems with this brand.
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Adding gasoline to diesel is very tricky. It can be done but you can mess up a engine very quickly if you do it wrong.

If you live in a cold area and buy from a major truck stop or jobber you are getting a #2 and #1 blend in the winter based on what the conditions are the day the truck dumps the fuel in the stations tank. The colder it is the more #1 they mix in.
Where problems arise is if it is 0 today you are getting fuel that will work at 0. If it goes to minus 25 next week the fuel you are buying now may not work next week.
 
"Back in the day ": we added a gallon or two of gas to 100 gallon of diesel in our semi tractors. Also used rubbing alcohol to blend with water and prevent freeze up. Old mechanical diesels you can probably still do something like that. Engines with sensors and computers I say NO !best to just get #1 and/ or additives and not take a chance of destroying an engine.
 
Thanks guys. Your input is greatly appreciated and also what I was thinking about mixing gasoline in diesel. I never got brave enough to try it and just stuck with what I thought was good fuel and some additives in the winter. Like I said, Ive never had a problem, so there is nothing to fix. I was just curious if it was a practice or not. Sounds like in most cases it is not. I'm good with that.

Greg
 
I'd ask your fuel supplier exactly what you are getting in the winter. Here in WI, blended diesel is the norm. If an over the road truck has issues here, it is usually because he fueled up down south somewhere.

I have used the gas in the diesel trick with good results. In a tractor we fed cows with (JD 4230) we would blend in a qt of gas in a 35 or so gallon tank of fuel. It would make a difference in -20 F weather.We now park the tractor in a heated shop at night. This means that yes the tractor is out running during the day, but spends 18 hours in the warm. This results in the fuel staying above the outdoor air temp. Consequently, we have not used the gas trick since building the bigger shop.

The gas thing will work IF you have a tractor with a mechanical injection pump, and if you keep the amount of gas very small. It does not take much to have results. And remember that too much will wreck the pump, as gas does not provide the lubrication that diesel does.
 
Different products for different people. Had a bottle of power service in my semi side box. Was gonna put it in the tank be fore I left for the week. Was-20 at the time and the bottle of ps was gelled, wouldn't pour. Used Howes ever since.
 
i had a '80 vw rabbit diesel pickup, and it said right in the owners manual that it was ok to add up to 10% gas to diesel fuel to keep it from gelling, now this was 1980
 
We dont see temps that cold here in SC, but occasionally it gets down below 10 for a couple of days. Ive never had the white bottle gel, but our mechanic here at work showed me a bottle of the grey that gelled.
 
I know of a person that had a 6.2 van that every fill up he pulled to gas pump and put 5 gallons of gas and then filled it with diesel, summer or winter..the trans went out and he quit driving it, had around 450,000 on it...would
I chance no...
 
I get all my diesel for all my diesel engines at the auto diesel tank at Sheetz never had a diesel related problem I know of and haven't had the problems with my injectors in my Ford
diesel many people have.Fuel companies are not going to screw up the auto diesel but if they have some questionable fuel it figures it'd go in the off road or truck tanks.At the concrete plant we'd get a load of not very good diesel sometimes.
 
We have no live stock, so may only use 1 tank per tractor in the winter, fill up during the non-winter season, not worth having 2 fuels.
 
I spent years owning a fuel business, saw more tractors blown up adding gasoline to the diesel, same way with VW pickups most of them blew out the head gaskets in the winter, been there seen too many of them. You do not need to mix anything when using straight #1 fuel. There is a strip of the country where --If you are north of the mason Dixon line you should be using at least a 50/50 mix of #1 and #2. If it gets below 0 and stays there you need 100% #1 in your tank. Anybody in the northern tear of states should be using straight #1. I've been out along the road too many times filling tractors and trucks with #1 fuel -- after the guys tried using that mouse pee in a bottle attempting to lower the cloud point of the fuel. You may get lucky for a while but sooner or later your luck IS going to run out using it.






3
 
The btu's are slightly lower on #1 compared to #2, but the loss may be offset in the winter due to the cold air which is boosting horsepower. I add kerosene to my diesel just make sure, not a fan of additives.
 
I supply fuel for ambulances, fire trucks, sheriff vehicles etc. The only way to not worry about it is to use straight #1 in this weather up here. Most people wait until the fuel is already below cloud point before they add an additive. They are only adding a bottle of glue to already gelled fuel. Anyone who has been in the fuel business very long eventually ends up with mixed fuel. You used to be able to get by with 1.5 to 2.0% gas in diesel no problem. I am not so sure I would go that high today with these newer engines. Trucks today return a lot of hot fuel to the tank and keep running in alot colder weather then they used to. They get shut off over-nite and by then its too late. Another thing, diesel fuel hates wind chill. in my experience you might be right down near the cloud point and be fine idling. But as soon as the wind starts to blow over that tank you start to have gelling
 
The only difference between road and off road diesel fuel is the color. Sounds like your concrete plant needs a new supplier.
 

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