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?

2 comments

2 Comments

gray_patel19h 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.linda1d 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.