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  #1  
Old 10-14-2004, 01:18 AM
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Black ALgae

What will kill black algae in diesel fuel....Jim

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  #2  
Old 10-14-2004, 01:40 AM
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" Diesel Doctor" or " Biobar"...
or check a local marine supply house and ask them.... I am sure there are several brands for this... boats have a real problem given the humidity they work in....
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  #3  
Old 10-14-2004, 02:36 AM
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Catfish in the fuel tank?

I've used Diesel Doctor with limited success. My 83 SD had a nasty algae problem. 2 tubes of Diesel Doctor during fill-up cleared the pre-filter and kept it clear for a few months. I never bothered to drain and flush the tank. It ran fine with or without the black stuff showing in the pre-filter.

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  #4  
Old 10-14-2004, 10:56 AM
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Sixto,
Why are you having a fungus problem in the Bay Area? Are you drawing fuel from a storage tank? We haven't had a fungus problem here in over a decade. One of the biggest reasons was the Calif. law that required all under ground fuel tanks to be dug up and replaced with leakproof tanks.

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Old 10-14-2004, 12:17 PM
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Thumbs up jim16671836, Read this post for info.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jim16671836
What will kill black algae in diesel fuel....Jim
That will help you..
Biobor, what is it, why do I need it???
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Last edited by whunter; 10-15-2004 at 07:18 PM.
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Old 10-14-2004, 10:04 PM
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Peter,

The car in question sat for a few months in SF before I came upon it. It was filled at the same very busy Rotten Robbie station my 81 SD and SDL are filled. Those cars never had an algae problem. Come to think of it, the 81 SD sat for a few months in San Jose with a sheared flex plate before I came upon it.

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Old 10-14-2004, 11:00 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sixto
Peter,

The car in question sat for a few months in SF before I came upon it. It was filled at the same very busy Rotten Robbie station my 81 SD and SDL are filled. Those cars never had an algae problem. Come to think of it, the 81 SD sat for a few months in San Jose with a sheared flex plate before I came upon it.

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87 300SDL
Maybe the problem is homeless men with bladder infections using you car for something other that it was intended.

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Old 10-14-2004, 11:28 PM
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Could be, but the cental locking worked at all points.

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  #9  
Old 10-15-2004, 12:09 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sixto
It was filled at the same very busy Rotten Robbie station my 81 SD and SDL are filled.
Which Rotten Robbie is this?

I routinely fuel up at the big Rotten Robbie on Lafayette Ave in Santa Clara; it's generally got the cheapest diesel, and it's a truck stop so it tends to go through a lot of fuel. I've never had a problem with their fuel.
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  #10  
Old 10-15-2004, 12:52 AM
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The very same. It was a pre-existing condition that wouldn't go away. The fuel itself is good because neither the 81 nor the SDL have algae.

You're right about the traffic at that station. I'm rarely the only Diesel at the retail pumps.

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  #11  
Old 10-15-2004, 08:49 AM
cmichalik
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I've got a question about black algea. What does it look like when it dries out? I was given a used fuel filter canister (similar in nature to our oil filter canisters but for fuel) for my truck to see if I could clean it up & us it as a spare. When I opened it up & took the filter out, it had a clump of "stuff" in the bottom of the canister. It was pretty big. About the size of a "D" cell battery. It almost looked like a lump of charcoal that had been soaked in liquid until it fell appart. Is this black algea? It was black, kinda gritty, and would break appart when mushed w/ a screwdriver.
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  #12  
Old 10-15-2004, 11:53 AM
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Hunter,
Went to the thread you directed, but failed to see the point. There was no new info there.

Sixto,
Now that you have explained the situation, I think I see why you had a FUNGUS problem. Diesel cars and diesel fuel storage tanks can't be left idle and particularly in a low fuel state. You should always fill your tank before you park the car for an extended period of time. To splain what happens we all need to know that the stuff that grows in the tank is FUNGUS and not ALGAE. Algae is reproduced through photosynthesis which requires sun light. I don't know about you guys, but the inside of my tank is one place the sun don't shine. Fungus forms in your tank when there is water in the fuel. Fungus lives in the water and lives on the fuel. Where does the water come from? Here's where the low level of fuel in the tank comes in. As the ambient temp changes from hot afternoons to cool evenings, the walls of the tank sweat and produve water. It doesn't take too many days before you have a perfect environment for colonies of fungus to form. I have logged thousands and thousands of MB diesel miles and never put anything in my tank, but of course I live in Ca. I'm sure conditions are different in places like the South where the humidity is unreal. It may be necessary to treat fuel in those places. I lived in Virginia for 4 years and I could never get dry.

Peter
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  #13  
Old 10-15-2004, 07:22 PM
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Red face It was for Jim, not you, sorry I was unclear.

Quote:
Originally Posted by autozen
Hunter,
Went to the thread you directed, but failed to see the point. There was no new info there.
Peter
Thanks Peter
I went back and edited it to be clear.
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  #14  
Old 10-16-2004, 12:46 AM
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There's some stuff called Kill-Um that is sold at many heavy diesel injection shops and construction equipment supplys. Cost about $25-30 a bottle . It works great and a bottle goes a VERY long way. ( this stuff is primarily for treating infected storage tanks, so you car taks a very small amount of it at a time )

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