Algae In Fuel

[Jon Wehrenberg]

No, I'm going to use it more often.

Not kidding about that.

[Woody]

The only way corporate jets stay in the air is with anti algae additive added at every refuel .

We may not have as far to fall when we loose our engine but we can learn from their practices.

Another point - a good old Detroit Diesel mechanic told me to never let the engine sit and to drive it for at least 40 miles every month. This will help the fuel in the tank as well as the engine.

[truk4u]

Jon,

Ditto! I had the same thing a few months ago in the Racor, looked like small black flakes of burned paper that you could only see while the engine was running. Once you shut down, they settled to the very bottom of the glass reservoir and didn't show themselves even by a periodic draining of fuel.

Like you, pulled the filter and it was solid black with icky algae. Took everything apart and cleaned and installed a new filter. My bus runs somewhere every month, I can't imagine what the Racor filter looks like on a bus that has set. I'm just going to change more often as a PM.

Pull your filter out boys, you may get a big surprise!

[GDeen]

Is there any downside to running a fuel additive? Anyone use it and have an idea on cost? Thus far my bus hasn't sat more than 4 or 5 weeks without some driving, but that day will come for sure.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

I believe there are algacides available to prevent algae. The real solution is to run a lot of fuel through the coach. This last month we ran 4000 miles so the old fuel was flushed out since I tended to run it down to the low fuel light trying to get to cheap fuel.

[jack14r]

If there is algae left in the tank and you fill the tank with fuel won't the algae grow in the tank?I thought that if one gets algae that an additive was required to kill it.

[Orren Zook]

Probably the best algaecide on the market is made by E-Zoil of Buffalo NY, its called BIO-BLAST and will kill bacteria, algae and fungus in diesel fuel. One pint can treat between 1000 gallons (initial shock treatment) and 2000 gallons.