Diesel Fuel

[Snellville-Dave]

Seems like I see a lot of posts that relate various problems to be related to fuel - stalling, water in fuel, etc. How often do most diesel drivers have fuel related problems. Once a year or is it going on all year. Is it like buying a Toyota to save money on gas and then finding out you lose all the savings, when you have to get them worked on, because of the high price of the parts. Maybe the good things about diesels are wiped out with all the problems I seem to be reading about.

 

[Crunch]

Originally posted by Snellville-Dave

Seems like I see a lot of posts that relate various problems to be related to fuel - stalling, water in fuel, etc. How often do most diesel drivers have fuel related problems. Once a year or is it going on all year. Is it like buying a Toyota to save money on gas and then finding out you lose all the savings, when you have to get them worked on, because of the high price of the parts. Maybe the good things about diesels are wiped out with all the problems I seem to be reading about.

Don't let it scare you. Several people here have said they gave up draining the fuel/water separator because it never had any water in it. I drained it the first time I changed my oil, but beyond that the only time I even messed with it was to add an extension to the short drain hose that it comes with. You can have all kinds of problems with fuel, but that seems to be more related to where you buy it than the fuel itself. I've only got 9000 miles on my truck and I have never any fuel related problems at all. My tach doesn't twitch, I always have full power, my fuel economy is great (considering my lead foot) and when I changed my fuel filter at 5500 miles (more out of curiosity that followed the pictures of the fuel filter posted here) it was black, but not full of crud. Over the long haul, this will probably be the cheapest engine you have ever maintained.



That said, it's still a good idea to know what to look for and how to remedy the problem should it crop up. You can't go wrong in keeping an extra filter in your truck, along with the 1 1/8" socket or crescent wrench for those Murphy's Law incidents in the middle of the desert.

 

[klenger]

I've been driving CTD's for 2 3/4 years (44,000 miles) and have never had a fuel problem. I try to buy all my fuel from truck stops, use Power Service on most every tank, and keep a spare fuel filter in the truck with tools to change it if necessary.

 

[JNutter]

I had my '94 F250 for 5 years and 110,000 miles and the only fuel problem I ever had was when my wife filled it with 92 octane premium unleaded :--) I changed the fuel filter twice in that time period, and it seemed to be fine both times.

 

[DocDetonancour]

Fuel...

Been running Cummins since 96 and never had a fuel concern. I use additive if I will be in temps less that 10 above. Here in spudville that was once in 02/03. I do buy fuel at a station that sells a lot. City and county fuel from the same pumps amd vendor adds no gel in the cold season. Basically just drive and love it.