1. Do you use any?

2. Do you notice a difference?

3. What do you use?

Yes, EMPHATIC YES, and Power Service gray bottle or white bottle, depending on temperature.

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617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap

I've got a bottle of grey Power Service in the trunk. I got a sour batch of diesel once in Roseburg, OR that was causing misfiring and I used it to keep rolling until the next fill up in Sacramento.

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RenaissanceMan Labs: where the future is being made today.

Garage:

2017 Chevy Colorado Diesel (nanny state emissions)
2005 Volvo S40 T5 AWD, 77k
1987 Mercedes-Benz 300D turbodiesel, 4 sp auto, 156k - 28.7 mpg
1996 Tracker 4x4, 2 door, 16v, 3 sp auto. 113k - 28.6 mpg

WARNING: this post may contain dangerous free thinking.

Are you having trouble starting the engine? Cetane is only really an issue on cold start.

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CENSORED due to not family friendly words

1. Do you use any?
- Only when I get bad fuel (noticeable by excessive tractoriness)

2. Do you notice a difference?
- Slightly. Less noise, smoother idle.

3. What do you use?
- Power Services in the grey bottle.

I'm not a firm believer in any "fix in a bottle". I use the PS additive when I get a bad batch of fuel (seems to be a random thing, even at the same station). It makes it livable until I refill or run the tank down and fill up again from scratch. Adding to every tank would be fairly expensive for not a lot in return.

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Current stable:
1995 E320 149K (Nancy)
1983 500SL 120K (SLoL)

Black Sheep:
1985 524TD 167K (TotalDumpster™)

Gone but not forgotten:
1986 300SDL (RIP)
1991 350SD
1991 560SEL
1990 560SEL
1986 500SEL Euro (Rusted to nothing at 47K!)

Yes, yes, power service gray 3/4 year and white in winter - I noticed a huge difference in the first couple weeks/months I bought my 81 240D. That may well have been because it was sitting with some good portion of old gas in it and/or that it wasn’t driven more than 100 miles at a time with very little highway activity. Since adding about 3K miles and lots of highway time (after full suspension and tire renewal) it runs infinitely smoother. The nailing the power service corrected initially has never come back but I still use it anyway......that and biobor to keep any bugs dead!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This stuff. Keeps the injection pump happy.

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'80 300SD - '83 240D - '00 E55 AMG - '02 G500

Fuel does make a difference. My two OM617 definitely idle smoother on Propel's "Diesel HPR" fuel, which is only available in CA. It is bio-based, but works in any diesel. It may clean the fuel system as well.

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1984 & 1985 CA 300D's
1964 & 65 Mopar's - Valiant, Dart, Newport
1996 & 2002 Chrysler minivans

Power Service Diesel Kleen makes all my W123's run smoother and slight improvement in power and fuel economy .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

1. Do you use any?

Not regularly. I've tried Seafoam and Startron, didn't find any improvement in MPG, some improvement in engine smoothness and lower smoking.

2. Do you notice a difference?

Not enough to justify continued use.

3. What do you use?

When I've got a poor running car, I'll use LiquiMoly Diesel Purge or Diesel911 or Heet. I've used a biocide as needed when I detect or suspect a microbial bloom in the fuel tank.

Put me in the camp that counts most of these additives as snake oil if they are used with every tank. Getting objective evidence of an improvement against an established baseline requires time and money, and most owners don't take the time or spend the money to get that evidence, so "seat of the pants" measures which are highly subjective and prone to influence by "I spent the $$$ so it MUST have worked" or "I'm smarter than all the rest of these jokers (Look I drive a MERCEDES-BENZ!) so I KNOW this is working" are largely what is going on.

My apologies if I haven't offended you yet, give me time and I'll get around to you...

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Respectfully,
/s/
M. Dillon
'87 124.193 (300TD) "White Whale", ~392k miles, 3.5l IP fitted
'95 124.131 (E300) "Sapphire", 380k miles
'73 Balboa 20 "Sanctification"
Charleston SC

I use Standyne diesel fuel additive and Red Line, mostly to compensate for the lower sulfur in Calif. diesel fuel.

I did seem to experience smoother operation with the Standyne and a bit less smoke.

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1979 300D 220 K miles
1995 C280 109 K miles
1992 Cadillac Eldorado Touring Coupe 57K miles SOLD
********************
1979 240D 140Kmiles (bought for parents) *SOLD.
SAN FRANCISCO/(*San Diego)
1989 300SE 148 K miles *SOLD

Quick driveby update!

No cold start issues, hits on the first cylinder that comes up on compression, even if it's been sitting a week below freezing.

This is it, almost exactly. Poor fuel makes it pretty clattery upon cold start. It's tractory to some degree all the time, some much worse than others, seems to be fuel dependent. Nails when it's super bad, and a stiff dose of cetane boost helps tremendously. It really seems fuel dependent, it can be running great, fuel up, pull out of the station, and half mile down the road it's idling like it has nuts and bolts loose in the cylinders. I gave up, I just dose with cetane boost all the time.

Using Mach4's engine as a baseline, it sounds like that maybe twice a year. I pulled up next to a 300CD at the fuel pump yesterday that was much quieter, mine has an almost Cummins like harshness to it. Yes, the timing is fine.

I wish HPR diesel was sold up here.

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617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap

Did you guys know that, looking at this from a chemical perspective, a small amount of turpentine added to the fuel will increase cetane values? Bring a 40 to a 48?

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Strelnik
Invest in America: Buy a Congressman!

1950 170SD
1951 Citroen 11BN
1953 Citroen 11BNF limo
1953 220a project
1959 180D
1960 190D
1960 Borgward Isabella TS 2dr
1983 240D daily driver
1983 380SL
1990 350SDL daily driver alt
3 x Citroen DS21M, down from 5
3 x Citroen 2CV, down from 6

Do tell. How much turps to a fresh tank of diesel?

I am on the third tank of fuel, 2nd bottle of techron, trying to get the 77 to settle down. Cold starts are smokey ugly, warm are not. Valve adjust on the slate for this weekend.

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95 E300D working out the kinks
77 300D, 227k, station car
83 300CD 370k, gone away
89 190E 2.6- 335k, no more
79 VW FI Bus- 145k miles, summer driver
59 VW Beetle ragtop- 175k miles
12 VW Jetta- 160k miles

I’m using b100 biodiesel that is about 58 cetane. Noticeably smoother compared to pump diesel

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Current fleet
2006 E320 CDI
1992 300D - 5speed manual swapped

former members
1984 300D "Blues Mobile"

1978 300CD "El Toro"

I agree with your statements here apart from the 'smarter' bit 'cause obviously anything newer would be smarter but I live my old Diesels so.....

Anyway, SWMBO doesn't like to drive and when she gets into the car she can tell if I've added a cetane booster or adjusted the valves, whatever .

Always, every time .

Sadly she never seems to notice when I've taken something apart and hand polished, lubricated and re adjusted it, I do that stuff mostly for me .

Central locking and cruise control on my '82 240D coming up soon .

-Nate


" so "seat of the pants" measures which are highly subjective and prone to influence by "I spent the $$$ so it MUST have worked" or "I'm smarter than all the rest of these jokers (Look I drive a MERCEDES-BENZ!) so I KNOW this is working" are largely what is going on."