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Old 12-05-2018, 05:39 AM   #1
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instead of fuel polishing?

This product is touted by a source I trust.

Anyone try it? NOT for aluminum tanks read the reviews.

https://www.amazon.com/Fuel-Right-Di.../dp/B004Z1CC60
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Old 12-05-2018, 05:46 AM   #2
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I hate to be critical but after 40 years in and around the auto business, working with gasoline and diesel, any product like this is snake oil until proven otherwise. However I am always willing to listen as I like quick fixes as much as the next guy. Just my 2 cents.
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Old 12-05-2018, 05:48 AM   #3
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Think I would rather remove the impurities through polishing than try to treat them away. Didn't see anything in the blurb about treating or removing water.

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Old 12-07-2018, 01:56 PM   #4
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Whether you do it yourself or hire a fuel polishing company, cleaning the fuel/tank is two parts. One is a fuel treatment and the other pumping the fuel, many times, thru a Racor like filter that traps water and debris.
Treatment alone will not work unless you have an engine like Detroits that circulate much more fuel than they burn. Or add a fuel pump to circulate fuel thru your filter. For example, my Detroit mains pump 35 gallons/hr but burn 4 each. So 70 gallons/hr are filtered and 60+ gallons/hr returned to the tank.

I've used many fuel conditioners. The best is Archoil AR6200. I use it in my Ford truck and the injectors are at nearly double the expected life. It's also recommended by Jay Leno's garage. A side benefit is better mileage. In my Detroits I get about 4-6% better mileage, quicker starts, easier starts in very cold weather, etc. And my tanks are always clean.
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Old 12-12-2018, 11:25 AM   #5
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There are a number of additives that claim to reduce fuel consumption by 5% or more. I found that by using 20 of them, I had to stop every couple of days and pump the excess fuel out of the tank or it would overflow.
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Old 12-12-2018, 12:24 PM   #6
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Quote:
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There are a number of additives that claim to reduce fuel consumption by 5% or more. I found that by using 20 of them, I had to stop every couple of days and pump the excess fuel out of the tank or it would overflow.


On a serious note, I have used "sludge breakers" in my home heating oil tank, and it DID work to some degree. Some were better than others.
I used to "dip" the tank because the gauge didn't work, and I could feel the difference.
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Old 12-12-2018, 02:58 PM   #7
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Greetings,
Mr. FF. Seriously? I mean SERIOUSLY? Surely a man of your experience already knows the answer. I've been reading your posts for over 10 years now and you're the LAST person I would have ever thought might consider such an "elixir". NO sarcasm.
Other than something like Bio-Bor your mantra has always been filter, filter, filter. What gives?
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Old 12-12-2018, 07:56 PM   #8
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I immediately think "Snake Oil" but one day there will be one that truly works as well as advertised.

I once was in Mississippi and the local Lagoons (where sewage goes) had turned over and all the sewage had risen to the top preventing sun from treating the lagoon. Nearly lost. We brought in a chemist with his magic elixir. I saw him drop one single drop into a jug from the lagoon and it was 100% clear. Hired immediately and he took drums of it and poured them into the lagoon and saved it. Amazing to see.

I have no doubt that chemicals can be developed to remove impurities from fuel. However, the trick is to do so without changing the makeup of the fuel itself. Still waiting on that solution.
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Old 12-12-2018, 10:04 PM   #9
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This sounds about right. It was the second review of three product on Amazon:

I ordered this Diesel treatment to clean up the tank and to prevent corrosion of my aluminum tanks. After ordering, I decided to do some investigating about it. One very interesting review of fuel additives by Practical Sailor, which does not accept advertisements reported "While the product has its supporters, it was the only product tested that made corrosion worse than the control, and it was the only product that induced pitting in the aluminum sample" Naturally, I'm not going to add this to my tanks... incidentally I have ordered many items from Amazon over the years, had to return a few of them, after all this is mail order, NEVER having to pay return postage. Well that seems to be a thing of the past on Amazon. I was required to pay the return postage. Three things I've learned from this...
1- Always investigate BEFORE ordering.
2 From now an READ the return policy for every item ordered, this is mail order, sometimes the product is not what it seems.
3- I will definitely be re-assessing my trust in ordering things on Amazon.com.
P.S. I am a Prime Amazon customer.
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Old 12-12-2018, 11:33 PM   #10
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2 From now an READ the return policy for every item ordered, this is mail order, sometimes the product is not what it seems.
3- I will definitely be re-assessing my trust in ordering things on Amazon.com.
P.S. I am a Prime Amazon customer.
Note that the product didn't come from Amazon. That's why the reviewer had to pay postage.

As a side not, this customer clearly likes to return items. Amazon has a return rate between 5 and 15% on most products. However, that rate is nearly 30% on clothing, shoes and jewelry. Unfortunately, customers expect everyone to allow you to return anything. Brick and Mortar is more like 2-3% returns. Returns are a huge threat to profitability of online business.
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Old 12-13-2018, 07:02 AM   #11
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"Other than something like Bio-Bor your mantra has always been filter, filter, filter. What gives?"

With a 6-71 DD that pumps 20gph and burns 3gph , and monel tanks with a low point drain , changing filters on time works for me.

I read of folks that have dirty fuel in the tank , with contaminated side walls that add bug bodies as the boat moves.

I know of one fellow with bad TT tanks that simply emptied all the diesel and poured in a few gallons of cleaner (Zep ?) from home depot waited a week pumped it all out , flushed with water and has had no further fuel problems.

The cleaner & water actually cleaned the tank!

My thinking with this stuff is house fuel is filthy compared to diesel , so perhaps this product breaks the gunk into chunks.

Chunks are really easy for any filter to block , a house furnace uses small, usually cotton filter, that seems to work for a year .Thousand or more gallons.

For a fellow with a marginal , usually un cleanable , box of fuel , the low cost of the product might be all that's needed to slowly clear the bug bodies from the tank.

Sure beats paying a dock walker a buck a tank gallon to swish the fuel around with a pump and filter that might clean some fuel, but do almost nothing to clean the tank.

Not a panacea , maybe it wont work , but it should do no harm and the price is right.
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Old 12-13-2018, 08:54 AM   #12
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My alternative to fuel polishing:
Use the engines and change the filters once in a while.
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Old 12-13-2018, 08:58 AM   #13
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My alternative to fuel polishing:
Use the engines and change the filters once in a while.
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Old 12-13-2018, 10:16 AM   #14
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Not sure there is an "instead" for fuel polishing if your tanks are large enough, but in terms of additives that actually seem to work, Optilube stands out. In the only objective wear test I've seen, it came out at the top of the additive list. And, if Amazon reviews are a metric, people using it seem to agree. I can't tell you whether it does what it says it does or not, anymore than I can tell you whether Rotella is better or worse than Mobil1 other than by looking at empirical testing. Based on that, Optilube seems to work.

https://www.amazon.com/Opti-Lube-XPD...ct_top?ie=UTF8

http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/76-...y-results.html
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Old 12-13-2018, 10:25 AM   #15
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My alternative to fuel polishing:
Use the engines and change the filters once in a while.
I shouldn't publish such an uninformative post.
I added biobor and fuel stabilizer when I bought the boat. The biobor caused a lot of shit to break up and clogged stuff up. A few filter changes and a tank later, my fuel system is pristine and has been every since.

I continue to add them every time I fill up. I figure the engine only uses about a quarter of the fuel it pulls from the tanks, the rest is returned to the tank nice and clean.
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Old 12-13-2018, 07:17 PM   #16
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That stuff does not say it can "polish" your fuel.
They are not mutually exclusive.
I put Stabil in the tank when I refuel, if I am not going to use that fuel in the coming weeks, but I still polish my fuel.
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Old 12-13-2018, 09:06 PM   #17
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Caterpillar tech told me not to add anything to my fuel, period.
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Old 12-13-2018, 10:51 PM   #18
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Caterpillar tech told me not to add anything to my fuel, period.
That's really smart. If your fuel sets for any length of time, you'll be breeding organisms in your tank. Probably gaining water, too. The diesel of today is crap. It has almost none of the lubrication properties older diesel formulas had. Many of the additives in older diesel are no longer legal. Additives that slowed pump and injector wear, fuel stability and others. I always use an additive when fueling. In 60 years on the water I've never had a diesel fuel problem. But it seems like, a couple times a year, someone is posting about a totally preventable fuel problem.
I know some of you are tired of my posts about Archoil products. But they work. I recently received a link to a video from powerstrokehelp.com. That shop specializes in Ford Powerstroke diesel repair. I found them looking for help in solving injector problems in my Ford diesel. They recommended Archoil. And that did solve the injector problems, increased my mileage and made cold winter starts easier. Something that stood out in the video was the shop owners statement that since turning his customers on to Archoil, their injector sales dropped 80%. It can be bought from him, Archoil.com, Amazon, and probably ebay.
If you're interested in the video it's here:
Also Jay Leno's Garage has a video on Archoil. The work truck he's standing in front of went almost 800,000 miles on the original diesel engine.
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Old 12-14-2018, 06:02 AM   #19
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"I continue to add them every time I fill up."

Practical Sailor suggests changing bug killers at times as the bugs can evolve to live with different biocides.


Darwin in your fuel tank!
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Old 12-14-2018, 06:16 AM   #20
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Caterpillar tech told me not to add anything to my fuel, period.
And is this tech an expert in fuel science?
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