3 Threats to Your Rig’s Diesel Fuel System and How to Avoid Them

Protecting your rig’s diesel fuel system is critical for reliability, power, and fuel mileage. However, there are three threats that every OTR driver should be aware of that can cause damage to their truck and interrupt their income: water contamination, particle contamination, lack of pump and injector lubrication. Knowing how to avoid these issues and costly repairs will keep your rig on the road so that you are making money.

Let’s take a look at each issue and how you can avoid it.

Issue 1: Water Contamination in Diesel Fuel

Water is commonly found in diesel fuel due to condensation, handling, and environmental conditions. Additional water can enter fuel systems through an open fill port, a defective tank, or it can simply be transferred from another water contaminated tank. Controlling the buildup of water in diesel fuel is crucial for minimizing water-related oxidative degradation in diesel fuel over time, and possible injector blowouts. 

Issue 2: Particle Contamination in Diesel Fuel

Because water rusts steel and iron components, water inside a diesel fuel tank forms loose particles of iron oxide that can quickly clog fuel filters. Micron sized and smaller rust particles may pass through fuel filters to reach injectors, scoring surfaces and ruining fuel injection spray patterns. 

Issue 3: Lack of Diesel Pump and Injector Lubrication

Today’s advanced, high-pressure diesel engines rely on the fuel for lubricating both the pump and injector. However, diesel fuel formulation underwent a big change in 2006 with the introduction of ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD). ULSD is a cleaner-burning diesel fuel that contains 97% less sulfur than low-sulfur diesel (LSD). A reduced level of sulfur increases wear. Further, lower energy content means that the engine needs to burn more fuel to create the same output of power — thus, resulting in less fuel economy. 

What You Can Do to Protect Your Rig

The fuel formulation experts at VP Racing Fuels have developed a way to address all of these issues with two products: Diesel All in One™ additive, and Tank Snake™ water absorber.

Diesel All in One™ is a fuel conditioner that cleans injectors and pumps, increases cetane, and replaces lost lubrication. Another great property of the Diesel All in One™ additive is its ability to disperse water which is important for protecting the integrity of the diesel fuel tank against rust and corrosion. Diesel truckers have noticed increased fuel mileage and reduced smoking. Diesel All In One comes in various sizes including 16 oz that treats up to 1 tank, 24 oz that treats up to 240 gallons and 64 oz that treats up to 640 gallons.

Tank Snake™ is a 1-2” diameter, sponge-like filter that is inserted into the fuel tanks on your rig (secured to the fuel cap) to remove water from your diesel fuel. Tank Snakes are available in various lengths, and types (one-time use, reusable) and can be ordered in bulk for truck fleets.

Here’s what fuel suppliers have to say:

“Equipment, contractors and trucking companies understand that your diesel fuel must be always running top-notch. Duncan Oil is always looking for new technologies to help our customers and that’s why we equip our fuel storage tanks with VP’s Tank Snake.”

– Ryan McDaniel, President, Duncan Oil

“There is no better product on the market than VP’s Tank Snake! Nothing works better in its application. Other products that claim to do what the tank snake does either fail after a few uses or don’t do a complete job as they say. Anyone that uses diesel is missing the boat if they don’t treat their diesel with VP’s Diesel All in One. It has shown in our customer usage that it increases fuel mileage, improves lubricity in fuel, cuts down on DEF usage due to fuel burning so much cleaner! But the biggest plus for us in Wisconsin winters is, most people don’t blend any #1 with their #2 since the Diesel All in One is an anti-gel also! With #1 diesel normally $.40-.60 a gallon more than #2 diesel, it saves BIG money for the user, so that means putting more money in their pocket.”

– JP Remington, Vice President, Remington Oil

Visit VPRacingFuels.com/CDLLife for a special 20% trucker discount on these products or to inquire about a bulk order.

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