1993 Gelling up? Anit gel and all

[TRACTJDS0428]

my 1993 is gelling up. i have howes anit gel in it now. ive tried power service and kerosene. had it gel anywhere from 14 to -17 degrees. truck has never gelled till this year. ive replaced the lift pump, changed the fuel filter twice. taken the fuel warmer off and cleaned and inspected it. had alittle water in the seperator. other than water what could it be? what restriction points are there besides the filter that could gel up? sombody said too much anit gel is bad, anybody know or seen that happen? would an AirDogg fix my problem? Daily driver and plow truck....need help asap. PLEASE

[cmann250]

Other than the filter, the sending unit is the biggest restriction.

A 70/30 blend (diesel to kerosene) is what I've run and not had an issue with it since it got real cold the first time. I just had Power Service then and it gelled up. A 70/30 blend is roughly 20 gallons of diesel and top it off with kerosene. Then I dump a lot of Power Service in it (white bottle) to make up for the kerosene's lack of lubricity.

Our Co-Alliance fuel man said that ULSD doesn't act the same when being treated with Power Service as LSD did. He recommended kerosene.

[Tacoclaw]

There's a chance you just have some actual water in your tank. I left mine sitting for a couple years with 1/4 tank of fuel and it gelled up on me every morning in the winter. I finally ended up putting a container of the highest percentage rubbing alcohol (92% I think?) in the tank once it was almost empty. Somehow or another, the alcohol mixes with the water and whips it right through everything. It literally stopped doing it the very next tank and hasn't done it since.


How long ago did you change your LP? It may have a screen on its inlet port that is real bad about gumming up, as is the in-tank suction screen. I wouldn't drop the tank over it until you've done some more simple stuff though.

[skilletky]

you can have too much additive depending on what you use. at my old job, we had guys dumping several bottles into each tank (because their fleet manager told them too) and the additive itself was plugging up the filters.

we had onsite fueling and treated our fuel. we had 55 gal drums of concentraded powerservice. we put about 7 gallons of it in the tank every time they brought us a load of fuel (about 7400 gal.) we had drivers coming into the shop filling up their empty milk jugs with it and dumping a gallon into each tank (300 gal total). they would literally make it to the highway and have to come back because it stopped up the filters so bad the truck would barly run.

[TRACTJDS0428]

Other than the filter, the sending unit is the biggest restriction.

A 70/30 blend (diesel to kerosene) is what I've run and not had an issue with it since it got real cold the first time. I just had Power Service then and it gelled up. A 70/30 blend is roughly 20 gallons of diesel and top it off with kerosene. Then I dump a lot of Power Service in it (white bottle) to make up for the kerosene's lack of lubricity.

Our Co-Alliance fuel man said that ULSD doesn't act the same when being treated with Power Service as LSD did. He recommended kerosene.

What do you mean by the sending unit? At the tank or filter?

[TRACTJDS0428]

There's a chance you just have some actual water in your tank. I left mine sitting for a couple years with 1/4 tank of fuel and it gelled up on me every morning in the winter. I finally ended up putting a container of the highest percentage rubbing alcohol (92% I think?) in the tank once it was almost empty. Somehow or another, the alcohol mixes with the water and whips it right through everything. It literally stopped doing it the very next tank and hasn't done it since.


How long ago did you change your LP? It may have a screen on its inlet port that is real bad about gumming up, as is the in-tank suction screen. I wouldn't drop the tank over it until you've done some more simple stuff though.

Changed the lift pump last night only because I had one on the shelf. The old one was holding between 6-8 psi fuel pressure. At this point im doing whatever I can think of. I did notice that my new lift pump doesnt jump around. The new pump stays at 6 psi almost all the time. Drops to 5 every now and then at idle. Old pump was 6-8 driving, 4-5 at idle.

[cmann250]

The sending unit at the tank. There's a screen inside the tank and some plastic fittings that are about 5/16" ID. If the filter isn't waxed up, something back there has to be.

Will it start, run, then gel or will it not start at all?

[TRACTJDS0428]

Last couple times it has completely quit. Before it would idle.

[BobS]

There's a chance you just have some actual water in your tank. I left mine sitting for a couple years with 1/4 tank of fuel and it gelled up on me every morning in the winter. I finally ended up putting a container of the highest percentage rubbing alcohol (92% I think?) in the tank once it was almost empty. Somehow or another, the alcohol mixes with the water and whips it right through everything. It literally stopped doing it the very next tank and hasn't done it since.


How long ago did you change your LP? It may have a screen on its inlet port that is real bad about gumming up, as is the in-tank suction screen. I wouldn't drop the tank over it until you've done some more simple stuff though.

I'll consider you as one of the luckiest guys in the world. Alcohol in a diesel injection pump usually causes the soft seals to harden and break. Maybe a one time shot won't destroy it but I would suspect prolonged usage will.

[Tacoclaw]

Hell, I run it in all my vehicles. Not all the time, don't get me wrong, but if I think there's some water-esque problem some alcohol takes care of it.

No large amount either, jut a normal sized container of rubbing alcohol you could get at any drug store. Guess I shoulda specified the amount.

[CumminsPower59]

I gave up on using additives. After a couple gel ups, no more. I run a bio blend, and cut it with 7 gallons of kerosene per fill up. Haven't had a gel up since...yet. I've seen VE's run on JP8 for 10+ years without any sort of additive and that stuff is incredibly dry compared to other fuels. Now, I have had the fuel pressure drop because the fuel was incredibly cold, but not gel up.

[TRACTJDS0428]

Definitely thinking about cutting with kerosene instead of additves. Whats everybody think about airdoggs? How do they hold up in the cold? Got alot of people running them around here and aren't having too much trouble.

[tim curran]

Have you used power service 911. It works good. It was -22 in Maine two weeks ago me and my truck were on the road all morning chasing down trucks with gelled fuel. They had changed the bio diesel blend. When fuel waxes up it stays that way it takes a lot of fuel filters and additive to fix it. A couple of bottles of 911 will dissolve that wax. Kerosene doesn't gel but give you horrible fuel mileage. Lubercation is the key. Get your diesel fuel in a place that a lot of trucks role through. Power service ment for the cold weather dosed up a little high has always worked for me. Try a good dose of 911 and fill your fuel filter up with it.

[cmann250]

Whats everybody think about airdoggs?

They're fine, but they're something expensive and electrical that can fail for no real reason. You must hate pushing the priming button

[tim curran]

10 psi electric fuel pump works good for me. Got it from nappa