Winter Diesel additive recommendations?

I take it you've never had a truck gell up while going down the road in extreme cold. I have... had been on the road for over an hour. Temp was -20 degrees Fahrenheit before wind chill... And I was fighting about a 25 mph head wind out of the north. When it started gelling I started losing power and speed rapidly. Ended up on the side of the road and calling for help.

 

Built a fuel heater out of copper pipe and fittings and plumbed it into the heater circuit. As long as I can get it running and build a little heat, I'm good to go.

 

I use Howes, mostly because it’s been around for a long time (1920) and it’s the cheapest compared to Power Service and Lucas. It’s about $10 bucks at Walmart and treats 320 gal. However, I do carry one bottle of Power Service because Howes can only treat down to -20. Power Service does -30 (I think).

I worked for Stevens Transport for a few years. They stopped using Howes because they were having issues. My guess is people who use Howes are more likely to gel because the instructions on the label are not clear, specifically on the part where you MUST fuel over the antigel to get a good mix. Simply pouring antigel over fuel won’t work.

 

The Power Service you are talking about is actually the same one as the antigel/winterizer (white bottle). Maybe you are referring to the Power Service Diesel Kleen (gray bottle) used as an injector cleaner. I use it every 10,000 miles. As to how effective it is, I cannot tell you. There are some YouTubers showing varying results from using various injector cleaners. I started using it ever since I got towed once for bad injectors before hitting 500k on my truck.

Power Service 911 (red bottle) is only to be used if you gel up. I keep a couple of those in my truck just in case. Otherwise, you will have to call roadside service and they will actually put some of that same stuff in your tanks!

 

Nope. Wont hurt it.

 

I don’t think it will hurt the truck. I personally do not mix the injector cleaner with the antigel. I think it probably makes the injector cleaner less efficient. I just wait until I am in an area where I won’t need to add antigel to then use the injector cleaner.

 

My old 92 WS had that set up never had problem