Fuel additives are gelling!

[AJain]

So I was using Stanadyne Performance Formula regularly until a couple of months ago, until one day at the fuel station I pulled it out from inside the bed, where it was cold soaked to about +10F, and it was almost all gelled!



Needless to say, I was unhappy at the idea of dumping a gelled substance into my (as yet) ungelled fuel. I immediately switched to Power Service and have been happily using it until last week - when it was -15F and the PS fluid had also gelled inside the bottle!



Is this a normal thing, for the "pure" anti-gelling additives to begin gelling on their own, well before the normal gel point of the fuel alone??

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

YES, it CAN be normal for undiluted fuel additives - even the anti-gelling ones - to freeze or gell in extremely cold temps - they rely on dilution with fuel for maximum anti-gelling characteristics.

 

[Turbo Tim 1]

A guy from Cenpeco explained to me that with certain additives the will gell when straight or mixed to strong because they are polymers and are designed to be with in a certain ratio. My Cenpeco will gell if I mix 4 oz with 1 Gallon but when I mix a 4oz to 25 gallons it's fine. I don't know but it made sense to me. I know Howes will gel also.

 

[Diesel Nut]

I just spoke with my buddy in Colorado and he says that he has been in -30 weather and not had Amsoil's additives gel up. Same thing, bottles were in the bed of the truck. I do know that Amsoil recomends at those temps that you use both the Cetane Boost and the Diesel Fuel Additive Concentrate. Just don't mix them before adding to the tank.

The coldest I have personally been in was about +10 and my additives were about the only thing on the truck not frozen! So much for the subzero windshield wash!! :-laf

 

[Diesel Power]

i've seen -5 degrees outside and never had my amsoil additives gel up, no white smoke either. I don't know what they put in the amsoil stuff but it works :-laf

 

[AJain]

Thanks for the input, guys. Guess I should plan on keeping my additives somewhere where they won't get so cold & gel on their own. I'm assuming that the additives probably won't mix properly if they're already gelled when I pour it in. I'll definitely take a look at the Amsoil version, but for now I still have a bunch of the Other Stuff I'd like to finish up first.



aJ

 

[Dl5treez]

If you can get it to pour into the tank, once it hits the fuel it will "un-gel" and start to work just fine.



Think of it the same as straight engine coolant--it will freeze solid somewhere around 0 deg F, yet mixed 50/50 with water it is good to -34 deg F.

 

[coobie]

So I was using Stanadyne Performance Formula regularly until a couple of months ago, until one day at the fuel station I pulled it out from inside the bed, where it was cold soaked to about +10F, and it was almost all gelled!



Needless to say, I was unhappy at the idea of dumping a gelled substance into my (as yet) ungelled fuel. I immediately switched to Power Service and have been happily using it until last week - when it was -15F and the PS fluid had also gelled inside the bottle!



Is this a normal thing, for the "pure" anti-gelling additives to begin gelling on their own, well before the normal gel point of the fuel alone??

I have used Stanadyne PF formula and primrose 409 for the last 2 1/2 years. No gelling problems yet,Michigan gets pretty cold also. coobie on edit of this post(re-read it)I did have a problem with the stanadyne freezing up(gelling) in my garage where it was kept(18-20 degrees). No problems with the 409 primrose stored in the same place.

 

[w gilmer]

D15treez I Just Had An Experiance With Frozen Standine This Week. I Picked Up Truck At Airport After Sitting For 28 Days In Sub Zero Temps. 1 Cycle Of Grid Heaters An It Fired Up Fine At-18 Deg. drove 60 Miles To My Normal Fuel Stationwhen I Discovered That My Additive Was As Thick As Frozen Honey!!!forced In To Tank As Big Globs. (bad Mistake)filled With #2 Blended. (second Bad Mistake) First Thing Was The Fass Bound Up. Temp At The Station Was -32deg. was Able To Get Pressure Up By Cycling Fass On And Off. Started Home Which Was 75 Miles Away. (3 Bad Mistake) Fass Stayed On Line But Fass Filter And Eng Filter Plugged. Pressure Down To 3 Psi Ideling Down The Road At 20 Mph. Changed Both Filers And All Was Well. made It Home Ok. I Then Sucked From Tank And Added 4 Globs Of Additive . That Was 7 Days Ago. Those Globs Have Not Changed Shape Yet. the Temps Have Ranged Between-30 And +6 Deg Today. I Will Never Use Frozen Additive Again. i Use Standyneregulary In -30 Temp But It Was Always Warm When I Added It To Cold Fuel. I Hope This Help Someone From Making Same Mistakes As I Did