Power Service fuel additive?

[SAvery]

Does anyone out there know if Power Service brand Diesel fuel supplement + cetane boost is a good fuel pump lubricant? They said it was good at NAPA. I bought it because I haven't had time to go get some Stanadyne additive. Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[Duluth Diesel]

I use Power Service with every tank. Done so since I bought my truck new. I run the Arctic Express mix in the winter and the Diesel Kleen in the summer. I buy it by the case from my local Cummins store. If they sell it, it must be OK. I have also heard many good things about Power Service.

There was a thread a month or so ago with a very good post regarding Power Service products.



To me, it is worth every penny. And it does help lubricate fuel pumps.

 

[illflem]

My feeling is all diesel fuel additives come from the same barrel, you just pay more for the extra sales hype.

I use whatever is on sale at Napa, usually PS or Howe's

 

[JLEONARD]

I just bought some a few weeks ago and used in 2 fillups so far.

For me it's much more available than most other brands so I'm giving it a try.

I guess I'll know in about 100,000 miles if it was any good.

Jay

 

[dpuckett]

I use the diesel Kleen when I cant get any Stanadyne; works almost as good to cut smoke and makes it sound a little better, esp with my not-so-hot injectors. I use the Diesel Supplement (white bottle) in winter to add lubricity and reduce getl point. Cant find the arctic express round here, but I stay away from NAPA at all costs. Long story, has to do with being in central NE and having no K-Y when i got an alternator at NAPA.

 

[Sixpack]

Originally posted by Duluth Diesel

I use Power Service with every tank. Done so since I bought my truck new. I have also heard many good things about Power Service.



To me, it is worth every penny. And it does help lubricate fuel pumps.

Me too!

 

[LightmanE300]

Powerservice while easy to find and seemingly cheap, is not so cheap. The treatment ratios are higher than other additives that have better performance and quality anyway. Hate to break it to ya, but if you read up you'll see that powerservice is actually about 77% regular #2 diesel fuel.



Do a search for fuel additives, there are plenty of threads to read up. Once you decide whether you want to emulsify or demulsify, some of the best choices are stanadyne performance formula and primrose powermaster.

 

[illflem]

Originally posted by LightmanE300

Hate to break it to ya, but if you read up you'll see that powerservice is actually about 77% regular #2 diesel fuel.

If you do a MSDS search for the various additives you will find almost all of them contain 60-95% #1 diesel, Stoddard solvent or kerosine.



http://www.msdssolutions.com/index.asp

 

[NETim]

Dammit Bill, do ya always have to be so smart?



Tim

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

From what my neighbor tells me (diesel injection mechanic) Power Service is among the lowest-quality diesel additive available. He said it's good stuff for inline injection pumps such as the 12-valve Cummins but not so beneficial to the VP-44 as Stanadyne (his recommendation).



Bill is probably right a lot of it's diluted with diesel, but otherwise the stuff would be so strong, nasty and concentrated it wouldn't be very fun to deal with. Stuff that's 60% diluted will certainly be a lot stronger/concentrated than stuff that's 95% diluted. But I'm gonna disagree with Bill about it all coming from the same barrel There was a long writeup by Amalgamated in TDR magazine several issues ago about additive formulation and the science behind it and what they are trying to accomplish with it. It's good reading (anyone want to dig it up?).



I've tried almost every additive available and have settled on Amalgamated since I got the best results with it, but it's a PITA to get (5 gallons minimum at a time and probably won't sell to you unless you tell them you're a TDR member).



www.amalgamatedinc.com

Custom Formulations http://www.amalgamatedinc.com/custom.htm



Vaughn

 

[klenger]

If you do a MSDS search for the various additives you will find almost all of them contain 60-95% #1 diesel, Stoddard solvent or kerosine.

That's probably whey you get better fuel milage when using the treatment, ... you are adding more fuel to a tank of #2.

 

[RKohn]

Used'em all...

or at least a bunch of them. Very slight differences noticed in smell, running, and pump sound. I usually just grab what's readily available and reasonably priced, like PS at Tractor Supply or Rotella DFA at Wally World.



Been running Howes this year (Found a real good deal by the case in Ohio coming back from spring break. may not have been worth it though. Wife wasn't too happy having to ride the last 300 miles with her feet up on the case. )

 

[Bob Wagner]

I've used PS for 3 yrs. with better LP results than many



I will keep on keepin on

 

[LightmanE300]

Originally posted by illflem

If you do a MSDS search for the various additives you will find almost all of them contain 60-95% #1 diesel, Stoddard solvent or kerosine.



http://www.msdssolutions.com/index.asp

Actually stanadyne's base is a lube oil. Other concentrated additives like Primrose also don't contain lots of filler. One twelve ounce bottle treats 187 gals... . Powerservice is a waste of money IMO for the most part, unless you're on a road trip and have run out of good additive... it IS easy to find powerservice =]

 

[Bob Wagner]

http://www.stanadyne.com/dsg/showfile.asp?id=1447

 

[illflem]

Originally posted by LightmanE300

Actually stanadyne's base is a lube oil.

No, it's Stoddard solvent, also known as dry cleaning solvent. It is very dry.

Powerservice is a waste of money IMO for the most part, unless you're on a road trip and have run out of good additive

Better not say that to the 70% of over the road truckers who said that PS is their additive of choice in a recent poll at www.etrucker.com/

 

[QRTRHRS]

Originally posted by illflem

Better not say that to the 70% of over the road truckers who said that PS is their additive of choice in a recent poll at www.etrucker.com/

That's not hard to figure out. Go into the truckstop's and see PS on display at a "discount".



Come to think of it, that's why I use it.

 

[Mike Ellis]

I did another comparison test (of sorts) between Stanadyne and Marvel Mystery Oil on a recent run out to Albuquerque, unloaded. Kept to the speed limits both ways, ran Stanadyne on the fillup going out there and MMO on the fillup coming back.



Left DFW area on fresh tank with Stanadyne added, filled up at Ft. Sumner NM with 575. 5 miles elapsed, 28. 645 gal = 20. 1 mpg. I put MMO in the tank at that point, and went on to Albuquerque. On the way back I drove through Amarillo and filled up in Tulia, 527. 1 miles elapsed, 24. 297 gal = 21. 7 mpg.



Driving conditions and speed limits were pretty close each way, on the way back I had more interstate driving at NM's 75 mph speed limit than on the way in, but I also took a couple of detours along the way so it should have balanced out. There was altitude gained going west, so coming back was "downhill" a bit but not enough to account for the difference I suspect.



The truck was peppier with MMO as evidenced by highway merges and such, I noted this fact on my IPAQ computer that I log this sort of stuff with (yeah I'm a geek). I have no idea why MMO would make a difference, it is probably just kerosene but my truck seems to like it. Maybe it just likes the taste. Or, maybe the Stanadyne cleaned out the injectors good on the first tank and MMO made no difference at all on the second



Interestingly though, many of my tanks with Stanadyne have actually showed a mileage decrease compared to the plain fuel tanks before / after. Power Service additive does not show this mileage decrease. Just reporting what I've seen...

 

[pcarlson]

To expand on illflem's statement:



Stoddard solvent is a petroleum mixture that is also known as dry cleaning safety solvent, petroleum solvent, and varnoline; its registered trade names are Texsolve S® and Varsol 1®. It is a chemical mixture that is similar to white spirits.



Stoddard solvent is used as a paint thinner; in some types of photocopier toners, printing inks, and adhesives; as a dry cleaning solvent; and as a general cleaner and degreaser.



Marvel Mystery Oil is just that, a mystery as it's pretty tight lipped as to what it is and what's in it. However Utah State used it in an engineering study for Enviro-Bond and used Marvel Mystery Oil for it's study... "Marvel Mystery Oil is used in this experiment because it is chemically similar to crude oil". They say this due to its hydrocarbon chains of MMO and crude oil.



My . 02

 

[Truckie]

My brother and I both use Power Service in our trucks, and never have had a problem with it.

My brother has a 95 12 vavlere with 134,000 miles on it and 97% of the fuel additive ran through it was and still is Power Service. I have a 2001 CTD and only run Power Service through it. The time we miss we do notice a slight difference it the performance of the trucks not a whole lot through the summer but when it starts to get cold and we miss we notice a big difference in performance. If you want to know and see what to see what are the big sellers and the best to use go and hang out at a truck stop for about half hour and watch and see what those drivers are buying and using. I'll tell ya its Power Service, Lukas,and Howie's. I do not have a problem with any of them, I have used them all in my truck and in the tractor trailer I use to drive. Also just look at the top of the bottles and you can see which ones have been sitting there for a while and the clean ones are the movers.

MIKE