fuel cooler?

first it wouldnt take my post. then i get 3. sorry ,how to delete?

 

CAT have let me down that many times I have trouble believing anything they say.

 

maybe i can get this post right. . i got that from engine tech center when i was messing around with fuel coolers a few years ago...couldnt get close to that temp. 30 degrees above ambient temp was best i could do. that was great if it was 56 degrees out. never saw a difference. according to tech center that was because ecm adjusts to fuel temp up to 158 degrees..maybe thats why fuel temp wire works so well

 

Sorry,I'm still a bit dark on CAT,I have learnt more on here from a few of the guys than some of the crap CAT has lead me to believe over the years.

 

thats why i stated like i did. cant ever forget their toting the company line. i have a few good contacts there and use them for point of reference. i usually end up off on my own.

 

You are right that some dont need them, it is very situation specific, it depends on truck spec, climate, fuel capacity, etc but there is a simple test to find out if you do...at the end of a day that is about the hottest you'd usually work in and with the lowest amount of fuel you would normally carry get out and put you hand on the fuel tank, if it is warm to touch you could probably use a cooler, if it is to hot to hold your hand on you definately need a cooler, if it is cold to touch a fuel cooler would have little benifit. If you run in hot climates (eg here in Aus) you usually need a cooler but in cold climates they may not be of any use at all.
When you add a fuel wire it becomes a different story, without getting too complicated... a fuel wire takes away the engines ability to compensate for different fuel temps (hotter fuel has less power per litre the cold fuel as its less dense, therfore the engine must increase the fuel volume to maintain rated power), since a fuel wire is giving full compensation for hot fuel, most fuel wires trick the computer into thinking the fuel is 75C then the colder you can get the fuel from this temperature the more power you will gain from the wire, so in this case a fuel cooler will always benfit except in very cold climates where the fuel will get too cold and will not burn completely.

 

I just installed a cooler on a 97 379 pete. I used a p/s cooler from a 2003 378 pete. It bolts in under the air to air and was a direct fit to the brackets. Only problem is a new one from Pete was $800.

 

A quick way to cool fuel would be to zip tie the fuel line to the A/C return line to the compressor. With the A/C, or defrost working the return line will be cold. You would get some heat exchange from that.

 

I run sourthern US, in summer its 95 to 105 degrees, fuel at the pump is around 92. after a few hours fuel in my tanks is 135 degrees.