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Stiction… What Is It?

Stiction… What Is It?

By now you’ve inevitably seen this term in turbo diesel enthusiast magazines.  And if you own a Ford Powerstroke 6.0L diesel engine, then you likely have experienced it. Stiction… it’s a combination of two words. Static and Friction. What it really means is that there are two components touching each other and a specific force is required to get them to move relative to each other. Like your pen resting on your desk. It requires a certain amount of force to get your pen to slide across your desk.

Solving Stiction on Ford 6.0Stiction has been a marketing term in the turbo diesel market for about the past 6-8 years now with the issues that Ford has seen with their 6.0L diesel engine. It’s a HEUI motor that, unfortunately, Ford made a poor decision to crank up the fuel pressure while utilizing similar injectors to the 7.3L diesel and they just aren’t capable of handling the pressure. So what happens is the solenoid on the injector that controls when the injector fires wears and gets sloppy. That wear puts it into a binding condition and the injector control is lost. The net result is poor idle and throttle response.

So what have some savvy entrepreneurs done? They’ve come out with a product to improve on the situation. Unfortunately the problem is irreversible. You cannot replace wear with chemistry. So can it make it better for the short term? Yes. However it is truly short term and typically ends in injector replacement.

What is the magic chemistry in a small bottle that costs so much? It is a combination of detergent and friction modifier. The detergent goes in there and cleans up any deposits in the oil side of the injector to ensure the solenoid can fire as smooth as possible. The friction modifier goes in there and coats the two metallic components and provides a more slippery surface so that the increased clearance between the two of them results in less binding. Unfortunately this method doesn’t last that long and you have to either keep adding this special juice or just replace the injectors.

I’m sure if you are a 6.0L owner you are wondering what I could have done differently. Unfortunately, based on the design and pressures, I’m doubting whether there is a foolproof method to eliminate the problem. But there are ways to lessen the pain and improve on the longevity of those injectors.

First, you want to choose a high quality synthetic diesel engine oil, like AMSOIL, to ensure your injectors are staying clean and the oil is providing the best wear protection possible. Regular oil change intervals using a high quality oil filter is step two to this important process. And finally if you are trying to keep the oil side of the injector clean you better think about the nozzle of the injector and keeping that fuel flowing as Ford intended. Using a concentrated dose of diesel fuel additive, like AMSOIL Diesel Injector Clean, will help keep that injector flowing like new.

One more thing for northern climate enthusiasts to consider is engine oil viscosity. Since the HEUI injector uses engine oil to build fuel pressure it is very important to ensure the viscosity of the oil is suitable to promote development of proper fuel pressure. Take a look into your owner’s manual the next time you are in the garage. Your book will tell you that a 5W-40 or 15W-40 oil is recommended in most conditions, however if the temperature drops into the freezing range, Ford recommends you change to a 10W-30. No mystery why that is. The lower viscosity of the 10W-30 will flow more freely in cold temps and help develop fuel pressure much easier. Something to consider as you plan your oil changes throughout the year. Perhaps a viscosity change in the fall is the right answer for you. Whatever you choose to do, be confident that AMSOIL has a full line of high performance turbo diesel products for your truck. Take a closer look at http://www.amsoil.com/shop/by-equipment/diesel-motors/

Photo courtesy Diesel Power Magazine

Synthetic Warehouse note: The lower viscosity does so well for the Ford 6.0 that our #1 seller thanks for various diesel forums is our HDD 5W-30. Reduce the stress on your Ford 6.0 and call us or stop in for the 100% Synthetic Heavy Duty Diesel 5W-30 (Product Code HDD)

Sioux Falls AMSOIL Store Video

I thought I would make a quick video of the Sioux Falls AMSOIL location.

I also wanted to thank all our customers especially all the new ones that keep showing up. Last year we saw a good increase in sales but so far this year two out of three are totally new customers who were either referred by a friend (First time AMSOIL customer) or a long time user of AMSOIL who quit because of the lack of supply.

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We wanted to turn that opinion around and not only provide for a good supply during normal business hours but make AMSOIL a household name allowing the products to become stocked in every shop and repair center in the area. That is our primary goal – AMSOIL everywhere!
Why not? It benefits all drivers and equipment owners no matter the budget or age of equipment.

Also if you are an entrepreneur and want to earn a 2nd income stock AMSOIL in your garage and fill the gap on the other side of town. That also increases the service you can provide to area businesses who stock or service vehicles with AMSOIL not limited to commercial fleets. Our store then serves as your warehouse. I have had to double the initial inventories just to keep up with surprises so I’m sure we can keep you covered.

Another thing I’m seeing is the increase of awareness by over the road trucking. Thanks to AMSOIL’s increase in national advertising we are seeing people stop in the store from Oregon, Idaho, Canada, Colorado and North Carolina just passing through on I-80 but they see our listings and drop in to get oil. Sioux Falls and our location may be the easiest off of any major interstate highway in the country to get product. The cool thing with truckers is they know which oil they need already but the store causes them to just want to stock up to eliminate any shipping costs and hassles. They never know when they will be somewhere long enough to receive an order. Because of this you have to keep on hand 5-gallon tubs of gear oil and a minimum of five of the 5-gallon diesel packs in every viscosity and type.

In summary the Sioux Falls AMSOIL store is planing ahead to be the main stop for all of those who are Do I Yourselfers and those who want to take their oil somewhere to be changed. We also have programs in place for those who do oil changes to stock our products and AMSOIL Corporate will also list your service on their website.

Oh – We just aligned with a Mobile Oil Change business called Lube N Go.  They immediately recognized the value and quality AMSOIL offers to busy Sioux Falls commuters who want to know the oil in their cars is held to the highest standards. Many choices available with their business so we are glad to have them aboard!

Ches Cain
Synthetic Warehouse
47073 98th st.
Sioux Falls, SD 57108
402-933-3902
ches@syntheticwarehouse.net

Ordering after hours or out of state use our website: www.oilordering.com

Sioux Falls store video Transcript  (Don’t expect this to make a lot of sense without watching the video.

Video Transcript

 

Welcome – right now we are in the Sioux Falls synthetic warehouse our Sioux Falls AMSOIL location and location start to really pick up speed we get customers every day saying that they stopped buying AMSOIL and now that they’ve found a place that keeps everything in stock they’re coming in

We hear that every day.

Every day in our store to get accounts. People that didn’t know they can keep AMSOIL in their shops they’re coming in from mostly outside the area like a 50 mile radius outside the area so it’s taken about a year of the shop being here.

 

There’s our checkout counter & feature items. We’ve got all the chemical stuff up by the window – there’s some clearance sale items as we got the new stuff coming in. Um, ATV UTV products on the bottom. Over here we have all the transmission you could see here all the transmission gear products the cold air intake filters which are quite popular if you have them people do notice that discuss the K&N’s or the other ones that don’t stop dirt.

Just a display of the greases. Of course the whole range of oil filters and then back over here in the corner we have the power sports island here got the backup all of our motorcycle oils quick shot of course I must do something with this shelf – must expand it a bit.

 

Things for the summer right now the Saber Pro has really stepped up I started doing some blogging and putting this in precedence an now we’re starting to get lawn & garden type of business is coming in. This winter we did have a lot of snowmobile traffic so imagine this summer will pick up on the jet ski stuff I got all the marine products back here that’s been slow to pick up but we’re starting to move some of that. More backup supplies.

I got some Aggrand there.

I sell these Berkey filters -nobody else keeps them in town and just some various displays here we’re going to expand this more.

Got all the dirt bike oils on this table and they’re starting to pick up the new transmission fluid and the new 10W-40 here (their backup supply.)

 

Bypass filter display. This is our diesel rack we got the coolant we got every Bypass kit here I got extra hose and other parts in another spot. I have hats here but everybody wants a free hat – you get a case we’ll give you one!

We start here with the signature series and we go down to the all the classic car and hi-zinc, specialty products here so there’s a lot of quarts gallons, court cases and in other cases down here. Gallons are in the middle of course the European oil with its own area & OE that’s starting to pick up and then our best seller is the XL – we move quite a bit of XL lately so there’s that.

 

Then the diesel oil’s up too. All this stuff takes time, guerrilla marketing tactic that gets the word out without having to have expensive radio commercials and TV but starting to get a lot of mouth that way now.

 

So you see we’ve got everything here diesel fuel additives they just recently this winter started picking up a lot of the cold flow stuff the cetane boost that’s probably the best bargain for the money and the whole story that’s free money if you had a diesel truck and you’re not using this. You spend 20 bucks it’s like getting 25 back so we have that.

 

Back up supply for the whole store goes down here we got the whole line of the racing oil.

I have compressor oils that’s a staple item here in the store

GL4 – we move a lot of that by the way (75W-90 trans). Let me stand back you can see the grease display. So we have things that hang out on top –  these didn’t sell until we started getting them out where people could see them and then they sell regularly.

 

As a dealer you want to specify the bestseller multi-purpose grease high speed high pressure so we got universal multi-purpose Greases water-resistant best for trailers and equipment exposed to water I got the Arctic grease here and then behind this sign polymeric Grease best for heavy-duty use off-road most advanced Greece in the industry best for open bearings and hinge pins excavating equipment so people can walk in they can quickly find with any of course we ran out of room here we got the racing grease here racing grease combines all attributes of other grease high speed high temp extreme pressure and water resistance so a lot of people are confused they want a little bit of everything the racing grease has you covered course there’s a higher cost with that.

 

So you can save money by just.. I tell people to get two grease guns as the heavy duty and your big grease gun and then buy one of these small ones in use the water resistant for everything else or hand packing bearings or whatever here’s the Slip Lock and assembly lube over here – So that’s just a quick overview.

 

I have a storage room we keep our back-up supply but come on in any time where in Sioux Falls at 4211 South 12th Street or 84 and G open every day but Sunday! Thanks for taking the tour!