Up to now I've been using Howes Diesel Treat as my additive of choice for no other reason than that's what the truckers appear to use. After some additional research, however, I'm currently torn between the following products for preferred diesel fuel additives:

PowerService
Winter: Diesel Fuel Supplement +Cetane Boost
Summer: Diesel Kleen +Cetane Boost

RedLine
Summer: Diesel Fuel Catalyst
Winter: Wintereized Diesel Fuel Catalyst

I would favor the PowerService products only because they seem to be much easier to get. I've seen much activity across many threads concerning this topic, but please chime in with current opinions anyway...

PowerService also offers an oil additive, Diesel Lube Oil Extender, for which they make some bold claims. Does anyone know anything about this stuff and does it have any merit or real utility? Incidentally, I run strictly Mobil 1 0W-40 (MB Approved) for oil...

Thanks!

__________________
-Ken Harris
1984 Mercedes 300SD
2001 VW Passat 1.8T
2004 Harley Davidson FLHRSI
-----------------------------
Der Dieselfanatiker

You really don't need to use a fuel additive. The car should run fine on just regular old diesel fuel. MB does not recommend any fuel additives, or oil additives.

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'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

I feel like I sell this stuff, but it worked to clean up my WVO where nothing else did. SO this is what I willl always use.........

http://www.starbrite.com/productdetail.cfm?ID=1161&ProductCat=Automotive&ProductSCat=Gas%20%26%20Diesel%20Additives%20%28Auto%29&ProductSSCat=

read the tech paper on it for full details..

__________________
'87 924S
'81 280SEL

Sold ->

81 300SD -
93 300E w/ 3.2
85 300D-
79 300SD
82 300CD
83 300CD - CA
87 190E 5 spd
87 Porsche 924S

"..I'll take a simple "C" to "G" and feel brand new about it..."

Plain old diesel fuel may be fine if you have access to clean, high-cetane, lubricating diesel fuel. If you do then you are very lucky. MB recommends a minimum cetane of 45. Most US diesel fuel has a cetane of 40. My favorite additive is the Amsoil Cetane Boost and it makes a huge difference in engine noise. As for lubrication I like to use either B5 (5% biodiesel) which is available locally or one of the fuel additives available in any McParts store.

Austin, can you elaborate a bit more on your problem? Did you have waxing problems with your WVO? I checked out that site but there doesn't seem to be a way to buy it (like adding it to a cart).

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

For those in hot climates algaecide is a good idea.

I use a 50/50 mix of Diesel Service and Marvel Mystery Oil, which seems to take care of both the cetane and the lubricity issue. I put it in according to the amount of Diesel Service recommended. The car runs noticeably smoother, and seems to have more power.

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rdsw
Salem, NH
1984 300SD, 260k miles and counting

Straight diesel fuel is fine until the temps drop below zero. In the winter you need some sort of anti gel. I have use Power Service in the white bottle for this and it seems to work.

__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I began using this stuff as I was limping my new 300CD home from Texas (by way of Louisiana) and it really does work . the car ran better and after some initial smoking as it blew out the carbon and what all else , the car was more responsive and started faster hot or cold . After adding it to the tank , I ran a bottle of it through the IP as a purge and it cleaned a _lot_ of black crud out of my IP....

This products does _NOT_ kill algae tho' .

The Starbrite stuff here is a fungicide and is sold in West Marine stores , I hope to find it in the Van Nuys , Ca. store to-day , will report back what I find and use .

We seem to have crappy , high sulfur Diesel in the U.S. , my mechanics all complain about it in our big rigs so adding a cetane booster really seemes to help .

__________________
-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

has anyone used stanadyne fuel treatments?

http://www.stanadyne.com/new/ppt/ppt_dfa.asp

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________________

punkinfair

Da; Sure . I have been using WVO for about 2,000 miles and I have been having to change out fuel filters very often, like 100- 300 miles, due to them getting clogged with black goop and specs; probably algae. I tried using ValveTech biocide and it didn't fix it. ON the first treatment of Starbrite Diesel additive, the filters are completley clear after like 400 miles. This works with enzymes vs pesticides. It also is effective for water in fuel and condensation in tank. I think Perago has used their Tank cleaner and suggested them.
I get it from West Marine which is local to me. If not to you , they have a website,which you should be able to order from. www.westmarine.com

__________________
'87 924S
'81 280SEL

Sold ->

81 300SD -
93 300E w/ 3.2
85 300D-
79 300SD
82 300CD
83 300CD - CA
87 190E 5 spd
87 Porsche 924S

"..I'll take a simple "C" to "G" and feel brand new about it..."

O.K. , after reading Austin's post I hopped in the car and went to West Marine , of course they didn't have the fancy $42.00 PowerService multi - bottle fungicide kit so I read all the various bottles of algae treament they had in stock and decided what the heck and bought the StarBrite ' StarTron ' _enzyme_ stuff , if it works it'll be cheaper and good for the enviroment blahblahblah , I just want the black slime GONE . I drove the 240D (SWMBO was along) and added a little bit to that in the parking lot as a phophylactic measure and just now added some to my 300CD so we should know right quick like to-morrow if it's going to work or not .

Interestingly , it says you cannot over treat so I added 4 Oz. instead of the recommended 1 Oz. to a full 21 (thanx Max!) gallon tank .

__________________
-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

Nate; I hope it does the trick for you too. Also if you have black slime and you just added it,you hopefully have a new or clean clear primary on now to see if it's gonna clean it up.
BTW Are you running diesel ; WVO or a blend????
AA

__________________
'87 924S
'81 280SEL

Sold ->

81 300SD -
93 300E w/ 3.2
85 300D-
79 300SD
82 300CD
83 300CD - CA
87 190E 5 spd
87 Porsche 924S

"..I'll take a simple "C" to "G" and feel brand new about it..."

I just changed all my fuel finters and cleaned the in tank screen , (it was clean) plus I added a WIX # 33011 paper element filter in front of my new pre-filter to catch any slime or silty stuff as I knew I was going to be using an algaecide .

After reading Austin's second post I think I'm on the right track , read either the label or the website for this stuff , if it's true it'll be the Bee's Knees .

I'll toss some spare fuel filters in the trunk just in case .

I'm running _only_ brand name Diesel from busy stations , I think the algae was in there when I bought the car from Steve , he ran it on Bio-Diesel and since algae is a bio deal , I bet it grew in there like crazy .

My 240D _still_ flat runs away from this car .

__________________
-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

I started using this stuff in the Sportfish I drive, and it seems to work fine. I really ahve no way of telling other than the amount of "smoke" I clean off the transom after a day of running. Longer term will be determined by fuel usage and fuel filter change intervals. It's more concentrated than other stuff which saves space. That's why I tried it in the first place.

Another good idea is to not let the fuel level get low. The more room there will be for condensation of H2O.

__________________
'87 924S
'81 280SEL

Sold ->

81 300SD -
93 300E w/ 3.2
85 300D-
79 300SD
82 300CD
83 300CD - CA
87 190E 5 spd
87 Porsche 924S

"..I'll take a simple "C" to "G" and feel brand new about it..."