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How to Prevent Diesel Fuel From Gelling

Written by Charleen

Preventing Diesel Fuel Gelling – Off Season Update

Take advantage of the off season pricing here in the Sioux Falls store!! Here’s one product you will need in winter. Save even more buying now. (Products: Diesel All in One and the Diesel Cold Flow)

Mark Nyholm|

We diesel burners get a little more uptight in the winter over what comes out of the green-handle pump at the fuel station. Diesel owners know that winter can mean diesel fuel gelling. That’s when diesel fuel freezes, rendering our trucks useless and, in some situations, costing us a boatload of money in repairs.

In this post, I’m going to explain why diesel fuel can gel or become frozen and what you can do to prevent it and keep your truck rolling all winter.

What causes diesel fuel gelling?

Diesel contains naturally occurring wax that solidifies in cold temperatures. Normally the wax is a liquid in fuel and is important, so we definitely want it in the fuel.

When temperatures drop, however, wax crystals form and cling to one another.

As temperatures continue to decrease, formation continues until it restricts the flow of fuel through fuel filters, eventually stalling the engine. Depending on the fuel, gelling can occur at temperatures barely below 32ºF (0ºC).

Check out the video to see what happens when diesel fuel gels.

 

video
play-sharp-fill

 

#1 and #2 diesel fuel

The fuel refineries do a pretty good job of blending winter-rated diesel fuel that avoids gelling. To produce winter-blend diesel, they often mix some percentage of #1 diesel fuel with #2 diesel fuel.

Why, you ask? Because diesel #1 contains less wax and offers cloud and pour points of typically -20ºF (-29ºC) or colder, making it preferable in cold weather.

Cold-filter-plugging point (CFPP) & other terms

So, what do “cloud point” and “pour point” mean, anyway? They’re a couple important terms people use when talking about diesel cold-weather performance.

  • Cloud point – The temperature at which wax crystals begin to form in diesel fuel. This is normally around 32ºF (0ºC) for #2 diesel fuel, but can be as high as 40ºF (4ºC).
  • Cold-filter-plugging point (CFPP) – The point at which wax crystals allowed to form in untreated diesel fuel clog the fuel filter. Most diesel owners call this “gelling.”
  • Pour point – The lowest temperature at which fuel maintains its ability to flow.

The ultra-low-sulfur diesel (ULSD) at every pump must meet certain CFPP characteristics to protect drivers.

However, refiners typically base the fuel’s cold-weather performance on temperature projections that don’t leave room for sudden and violent temperature swings. Where I live in northern Minnesota, the temperature can drop from 40ºF (4ºC) at lunch time to zero by the time I head home after work.

It’s possible the fuel at the station where I plan to fill up the next morning doesn’t yet have fuel blended for such cold temperatures.

Or, how about the trucker who starts a run in Kansas City, where it’s 50ºF (10ºC) and he filled up with #2 diesel, but ends in Duluth, Minn., where it’s -10ºF (-23ºC)? Then what?

Use cold-flow improvers to prevent diesel fuel gelling

Let’s be proactive and turn the mirror on ourselves. There is chemistry available that ensures the wax in your fuel stays liquid so your fuel system can pump fuel to the engine. We call these additives “cold-flow improvers,” and AMSOIL Diesel All-In-One is loaded with them to ensure you don’t run into these issues.

In the fuel industry there is a test called the “Cold-Filter-Plugging-Point Test.” It measures the coldest temperature at which fuel will flow without plugging a filter.

In independent testing, AMSOIL Diesel All In One provides as much as 32ºF better protection against cold-temperature diesel fuel gelling than Howes Lubricator Diesel Treat*? You know – Howes, one of the largest diesel fuel additive companies in the U.S.

Howes diesel additive is substandard in cold flow protection.

 

Diesel All-in-One ensures the fuel remains flowing and your truck keeps rolling no matter how frigid the weather.

Some might say, “That doesn’t matter…Howe’s has a free-tow guarantee that’ll cover me if I’m ever stranded.” That’s no guarantee; that’s an insurance policy, and they hope not to use it. If you want a real guarantee, use AMSOIL Diesel Cold Flow to ensure you don’t have to call for a tow.

Plus, it doesn’t just give you optimum chemistry for cold weather. Oh, no sir/ma’am. It also delivers…

  • Optimum detergency to help keep the fuel injectors and combustion chamber clean
  • Lubricity to lubricate the fuel pump and injectors
  • A four-point cetane boost to provide extra help at startup and improve combustion efficiency for improved power and fuel economy
Diesel All-In-OneBuy Diesel All-in-One

If it’s gelled, now what?

Clogged filters and frozen diesel are a huge hassle, especially for truckers or fleets that needs vehicles running to make money.

AMSOIL Diesel Recovery quickly dissolves gelled fuel to allow the operator to continue driving with minimal downtime. AMSOIL Diesel Recovery separates the molecular bonds of wax crystals that have agglomerated in diesel fuel. It thaws frozen fuel filters and reduces the need for a new filter, saving money and preventing an inconvenient trip to an auto parts store.

Buy Diesel Recovery

*Based on independent testing in July 2017 of AMSOIL Diesel All-in-One and Howes Lubricator Diesel Treat using diesel fuel representative of the U.S. marketplace and Howes’ recommended treat ratio for above 0°F.

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Figuring out Engine Knock

Written by Charleen

Why Does My Engine Knock? 3 Possible Explanations.

John Baker|

There are a few different reasons your engine might make a knocking, ticking or pinging sound. Let’s break each down and talk about what might be happening.

Is it an engine knocking sound, tick or ping?

One driver’s knock is another driver’s tick. Or ping. Still others compare the engine knocking sound they hear to marbles rolling around inside a coffee can.

The spontaneous ignition of air/fuel inside the cylinders is a common source of engine knock.

While the description of the sound may differ, the circumstances under which it occurs are often the same – low-speed, high-torque conditions common when you’re accelerating.

Engine knock typically occurs during low-speed, high-torque conditions, like when you’re accelerating.

How engine knock occurs

Say the clock has struck 5:00 and you make a bee-line to your truck and take off for home. When you mash the accelerator out of the parking lot, that’s when you hear an engine knocking sound. Or ping. When you let off the gas, it goes away.

This is likely due to either pre-ignition or detonation. They’re effectively the same phenomenon, but they occur at different times.

In a properly running engine, spark-triggered ignition typically occurs a few degrees before the piston reaches top dead center (TDC). This careful timing ensures the downward force of the exploding fuel/air mixture works in tandem with downward piston momentum, resulting in optimum efficiency and power.

That’s bad timing

Pre-ignition (and its cousin, low-speed pre-ignition [LSPI]) are abnormal combustion events that throw off this precise balance. Under certain conditions, the fuel/air can spontaneously ignite too early in the combustion cycle. Sometimes low-octane fuel is to blame; sometimes it’s deposits on the piston crown.

Fuel with too low an octane rating for your engine can sporadically ignite prior to the piston reaching TDC.

Or, chunks of carbon can heat up and create a hot spot that effectively ignites the fuel/air before the plug fires. Then, when the plug does fire a fraction of a second later, the two flame fronts collide. In certain conditions, they can clash with the upward-moving piston. The resulting shock wave rattles the piston inside the cylinder, creating the knock, ping or can-of-marbles sound you hear.

Detonation has the same effect, except it occurs after the plug fires.

Computers in modern vehicles can detect engine knock and compensate by adjusting engine timing. Though it saves your engine from destroying itself, performance and fuel economy can suffer.

Tick, tick, tick

Say your engine is ticking like a time bomb, especially in the morning when it’s cold. You likely have a valve-train issue.

Your engine uses intake valves to feed clean air into the cylinders and exhaust valves to kick spent combustion gases out. The valves open and close thousands of time per minute in a choreographed whirlwind of activity.

top dead center valve timing

A finely balanced system of parts – rocker arms, valve stems, cam lobes, lifters – control their movements. The clearances between these parts, known as lash, can become loose (or sloppy, in automobile nomenclature). When that happens, all those moving parts clattering against each other can create a ticking sound.

It’s especially noticeable in the morning before the oil has had a chance to circulate throughout the upper end of the engine.

Many engines use hydraulic lifters, which use an oil-pressure-assisted plunger and spring to compensate for lash, helping ensure the system runs smoothly and quietly.

Proper oil pressure plays a big role in valve-train operation and noise. Low oil pressure can reduce the effectiveness of hydraulic lifters, increasing lash. This is most likely to occur with a low-quality conventional oil that thins at high temperatures, preventing the engine from developing good oil pressure.

If the rods are knockin’…

Rod knock is yet another possible explanation for your engine knocking sound.

Your engine is built with a designed clearance between the crankshaft journals and the connecting rods. In a properly running engine using a good oil, the motor oil fills those clearances and prevents metal-to-metal contact.

But, let’s say you’ve been using a poor-quality conventional oil.

At high temperatures, the oil thins and the fluid film weakens. The pressure between the crank journals and connecting rods squeezes the oil from the clearances. Now, metal is riding on metal, wearing the surfaces and widening the clearances. Eventually the clearances widen so much that you begin to hear the metal surfaces clattering against each other. Eventually, they’ll weld together and destroy the engine.

Quieting a noisy engine

This all sounds dire. But you can sometimes address pre-ignition by using a higher octane gas or by cleaning deposits from your engine with a fuel-system cleaner like AMSOIL P.i. Performance Improver.

Buy AMSOIL P.i.

Using a higher-quality oil that flows better in cold weather and maintains its viscosity when hot can sometimes quiet a valve-train tick.

Shop AMSOIL Synthetic Motor Oil

Rod knock is the worst of the three. Once the clearances between the crank journals and connecting rods have widened due to wear, it’s just a matter of time before catastrophic damage.

In any case, visit your mechanic and take care of the problem before it gets worse.

The bottom line…

The moral of the story is simply to pay a little more now to maintain your vehicle rather than spend a lot later to fix it.

Use a high-quality oil that stands up to extreme heat and maintains correct oil pressure. Periodically clean combustion chamber deposits with a fuel additive, such as AMSOIL P.i.

Doing so can help keep your vehicle running properly and quietly for years.

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Lubricant specifications are here to help.

Written by Charleen

Use Lubricant Specifications To Your Advantage

 

Amsoil Tech Guru

Matt Erickson | DIRECTOR, TECHNICAL PRODUCT MANAGEMENT

Specs can be confusing if you miss these three points.

Let’s step back in time for a minute. It’s the 1920s. You’re cruising around town in your Ford* Model A or maybe your Nash* Advanced Six Coupe. You’re off to the theater to see the latest Charlie Chaplin picture. Life is good.

But your car needs motor oil. How can you be sure of the oil’s performance? Will it provide the quality needed to keep your engine humming?

This dilemma is why we have motor oil specifications today. Back then, there was no telling what motorists were getting in each can of oil they purchased. One oil might offer good engine protection while another solidified in the cold, evaporated in the presence of heat and delivered all around poor performance. The industry quickly realized the need for a simple way to assure motorists the oil they were buying wouldn’t ruin their engines.

Setting The Most Basic Standard – The API

Eventually, the American Petroleum Institute (API) introduced its first gasoline motor oil performance specification – API SA. Motorists could look for oils recommended for the API SA specification and know that they were safe to use in vehicles built in 1930 and earlier. Soon, the API SB specification was introduced to supersede the previous specification. Fast forward several decades and now API SN PLUS is the current gasoline motor oil specification, with API SP/ILSAC GF-6 set to be introduced next May.

Side Note: There are still marketers selling SA and SB rated oils which will destroy your engine – Amalie is being sued for selling a product line through Dollar stores. So watch out!! These specifications including the latest are “LOW” minimums.

Today, the market is loaded with lubricant specifications, which is one reason many motorists don’t understand them. In addition to API, there’s ILSAC, ACEA and JASO specifications. And don’t forget the dozens of specifications published by the automakers themselves, like GM* dexos® 1 Gen 2 or Chrysler* MS-6395. Plus, we have several transmission fluid specifications, like MERCON* LV and DEXRON* III.

Clear as mud, right?

Understanding lubricant performance specifications isn’t that difficult if you identify a few key points.

1) A lubricant performance specification is a set of minimum performance standards.

Say you turn to the back of your owner’s manual and see that the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) recommends using a 5W-20 motor oil rated for API SN PLUS. That means you can safely use any 5W-20 motor oil recommended for API SN PLUS. To earn that designation, the oil must demonstrate a minimum level of performance in a range of motor oil bench and engine tests. These tests are designed to screen for wear protection, stability in the presence of heat, engine cleanliness and more. These standards usually set the minimum performance standard for conventional oils, which is a pretty low bar. That means two lubricants recommended for the same specification (API SN PLUS, for example) do not necessarily provide equal performance and protection. Lubricants meeting the specification requirements have only met the minimum performance requirements, leaving room for significant differences in performance.

2) Many OEMs publish their own motor oil performance specifications.

For decades, API and other industry lubricant specifications were the only game in town. Some 3rd parties called it “The lowest Common Denominator”. This kept things relatively simple. Then, General Motors* introduced its GM dexos 1 spec in 2011, further confusing things for consumers. An OEM might determine its engines require oil that offers better performance in certain areas than required by industry specifications, hence the need for its own specification. European OEMs have been doing this for years. Thus European labeled oils…

3) Specifications aren’t the same as brands.

You might hear owners of GM vehicles say that they need to use “dexos oil” in their engines. There’s no such thing as a brand of oil named “dexos.” What the driver means to say is he or she needs to use an oil that is made for the GM dexos specification. This is a key difference because they might falsely think they have to use the OEM-branded fluid to maintain their warranty when they can, in fact, use any oil recommended for the dexos spec.

Lubricant specifications are designed to help motorists, but at the end of the day they’re just recommendations. The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act guarantees you the freedom to choose whichever oil you think is best for your vehicles and equipment. An OEM cannot deny warranty coverage simply based on the oil you use. For the record, AMSOIL recommends consulting your owner’s manual for the recommended viscosity and oil specifications and using an oil that lists those on its label.

Note!! This does not apply in Canada. AMSOIL is working to create a Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act in each providence to protect Canadians as their American counterparts enjoy.

Profits are with set minimums (Specifications) – Performance exists when they are enhanced further

This is where AMSOIL stands apart from all other products which can be sorted into two additional categories.

Lubricant specifications also simply set minimum performance requirements. We’re not satisfied with “minimum” performance here. That’s why customers who want the best protection should use AMSOIL instead of just any old oil recommended for their vehicles. For proof of how AMSOIL products exceed the toughest specifications, visit www.amsoil.com/performancetests.aspx

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Signature Series: The Measure Of Performance

Written by Charleen

SIGNATURE SERIES: Brand comparison Testing – Viscosity

In the NOACK Volatility Test, Signature Series scored far below the API limit for evaporation and proved it remains where it’s needed most – protecting your engine.

Nearly 35 years ago AMSOIL became the first oil manufacturer in the United States to use the NOACK Volatility Test as a measure of motor oil excellence. Today, it’s the industry standard. Originally developed and used in Europe, the NOACK test was not commonly used for lubricants until AMSOIL Founder Al Amatuzio pioneered its use for automotive motor oils in 1985. Previously, a lubricant’s flash point was the primary way to approximate its volatility.

Oil Volatility: Feeling the Burn

Modern engines generate more heat than their predecessors. At elevated temperatures, the oil’s lighter-weight molecules can volatilize, or burn-off. The more volatile a lubricant is, the lower the temperature at which the lubricant will begin to evaporate. The more it evaporates, the less oil is left to protect the engine, and frequent top-offs are required. You may have owned an automobile that mysteriously “used” motor oil.

Volatility affects more than the rate of oil consumption. When light elements in oil evaporate, the oil’s viscosity increases. This thicker oil forces the engine to work harder and can result in numerous problems:

  • Reduced performance
  • Reduced fuel economy
  • Poor cold-temperature starting
  • Increased engine deposits
  • Out-of-balance oil formulation, potentially leading to reduced protection

Signature Series Limits Oil Consumption

Signature Series has a uniform molecular structure that limits evaporation and keeps it where it’s needed most – protecting your engine. It limits the volatility (burnoff) that occurs when oil gets hot, protecting against the harmful effects of oil thickening, additive imbalance, higher emissions and oil consumption. A lower NOACK number indicates better resistance to evaporation. Signature Series falls far below the API limit for volatility, reducing the need for frequent oil top-offs and limiting vehicle emissions.

 

NOACK Volatility Test

In the NOACK test, an oil sample is weighed and heated to 250°C (482°F) for one hour. Dry air is passed over the sample, carrying the oil vapors that have boiled off and depositing them in a beaker. The original sample is removed and re-weighed. Any reduction in weight is reported as a percentage loss of the original weight.

Signature Series Fights Viscosity Breakdown

AMSOIL fights viscosity breakdown better than the competition, providing superior protection of pistons, cams and bearings.

Signature Series Neutralizes Acids

AMSOIL Signature Series is fortified with a heavy treatment of detergent additive and it delivers 30% more acid neutralizing power than Mobil 1, and 36% more than Royal Purple, helping engines to stay cleaner, Longer. Also due to requests AMSOIL is comparing Schaeffer’s to these comparison tests.

WELL-BALANCED PROTECTION

Signature Series’ well-balanced formula delivers exceptional protection in all areas of motor oil performance.

Signature Series Fights Wear

AMSOIL Signature Series Synthetic Motor Oil provides 75 percent more engine protection against horsepower loss and wear than required by a leading industry standard, extending the life of vital components like pistons and cams. Based on independent testing in the ASTM D6891 test using 0W-20 as worst-case representation.

Signature Series Guards Turbos

Signature Series protects turbochargers 72% better than requiredC by the GM dexos1® Gen 2 specification. CBased on independent testing of AMSOIL Signature Series 5W-30 in the GM turbo coking test.

Signature Series Protects Against LSPI

AMSOIL synthetic motor oils achieved 100% protection against LSPI. Based on zero LSPI events in five consecutive tests of AMSOIL Signature Series, XL and OE 5W-30 Motor Oil in the LSPI engine test required by the GM dexos1 Gen 2 specification.

Signature Series Cleans

AMSOIL Signature Series Synthetic Motor Oil has 50% more detergents to help keep oil passages clean and promote oil circulation. It provides 90% better protection against sludge. vs. AMSOIL OE Motor Oil Based on independent testing of AMSOIL Signature Series 5W-30 in the ASTM D6593 engine test for oil screen plugging as required by the API SN PLUS specification.

Sioux Falls customers can stop on in at Stan Houston’s Equipment company 2030 W 12th St.  for AMSOIL products locally. If you don’t see something please request it and we will get it stocked!

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