Shoutout to the guy who told me to stop using that fancy fuel additive on my 7.3 Powerstroke

I thought he was full of it. For years I'd been dumping that expensive additive in every tank, convinced it was keeping my injectors clean. Then my buddy, who runs a fleet of old Fords in Wyoming, showed me his fuel filter after 15,000 miles with just straight #2 diesel. It looked cleaner than mine after 5,000. He said, 'Kai, you're just making expensive pee.' I switched to plain fuel six months ago. Zero power loss, starts just as good in the cold, and I'm saving about $80 a month. Sometimes the simple way is the right way. Anyone else run their rigs on straight diesel and have the same results?

3 comments

3 Comments

kelly617d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah what webb.linda said about lubricity is spot on. I think there's a bigger thing here though - it's like how people overcomplicate everything these days. You got guys selling snake oil for trucks, for lawns, for your skin, whatever. Everyone thinks they need some special product to get by. But half the time the basic stuff works just fine if you maintain it right. Like my buddy with his old Cummins in his farm truck runs straight diesel for 200k miles no problem. We're so used to being sold solutions to problems we don't even have. Sometimes the simple way is the right way like you said.

gray_patel2mo ago

Yeah, my uncle's a diesel mechanic and he says the same thing about modern fuel being pretty good on its own. He only suggests an additive if you get some really bad fuel or it's crazy cold out.

webb.linda2mo ago

Well, there's another angle to this. A lot of those additives can actually mess with the lubricity of the fuel, which is the opposite of what you want for a high pressure oil system like the 7.3 has. You might be cleaning one imaginary problem while causing real, slow wear on something else. Your buddy's filter test proves the fuel is plenty clean on its own.