Husband thought the truck was gelling up. Took it in, they put in a new fuel filter. Since the tank was almost half full, the mechanic told him to put a 70/30 mix of fuel in it, which should dilute the current blend of biodiesel enough to prevent it from gelling up again. Didn't work. The next day the same problem happened. Truck ran pretty rugged and had to put the pedal all the way to the floor before the truck would move. Another mechanic just told him it's the biodiesel that's clogging the fuel filter and that the truck isn't gelling up at all. Is this true? Other than not putting biodiesel in the tank, what can be done to prevent this? The last mechanic said he'll probably run through 4 or 5 fuel filters before the truck is back to normal.
2007-02-12 08:03:47 · 8 answers · asked by ladydi_1987 5 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Car Makes ➔ Dodge
The truck doesn't even have 5,000 miles on it. Will this ruin the engine?
2007-02-12 08:15:02 · update #1
No, it won't wreck the engine. But it does get a little rough starving the injection pump for fuel after a while. I don't know what bio-fuel mixture you are using ?. B5 should work fine. But, anything higher I would be using a fuel heater . I would go to the station that sold you the fuel, and find out if they have been getting complaints. At work we have run into cases of an incorrect mixture, bio-fuel with too many impurities, not processed correctly, and too many starts and stops due to the craving of french fries (joke).
As for the answers of runaways and oxygen sensors---Lil, Tell me a story --how about more fairytale. Cummins only runs away if the turbo starts pumping oil into the intake manifold or someone shuts off the fuel return (old ones). and there are no oxygen sensors on diesel cummins engines--only their natural/LPG gas cummins engines.
I do not recommend keep changing the fuel filter or diluting the mixture. You run into a safely problem of not knowing when you will have and when you will lose throttle (hate to have it happen after turning across on coming traffic. Drop the tank and flush out with clean diesel, change the fuel filter. Run through a few tanks of clean diesel . Change filter--then after running the fuel threw a pump and remote mounted fuel filter--slowly add small amounts of the bio-diesel that you removed from your tank and see if anything happens.
2007-02-12 14:01:25 · answer #1 · answered by redrepair 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I heard that the gelling of biodiesel occurs only due to temperature so if you have the truck in a heated garage for a while or the weather gets warmer outside (like over 20 F) the gelling shouldn't be a problem.
2007-02-12 08:33:26 · answer #2 · answered by Matt M 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, that'll learn yuh for trying to go all "green" and stuff! :- )
Your best bet would be to flush out the tank, or get someone you know to help you siphon out what's left of the gas/biodiesel mix. Short of that, just keep burning off what's left as well as changing the filter.
What you have is a mixture that really won't hurt anything, but isn't flowing through the system worth a hoot. The more gas you can add, the more dilution you'll have, and eventually it'll get back to normal. BTW, I bet your car exhaust looks like Smokey The Bear on a bad day!
2007-02-12 18:47:19 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, sounds like big problems for you. First, if you were to go to any Chrysler,Dodge, or Jeep dealer your Warranty on your powertrain will be void. Second, instead of saving money and the environment or whatever.. you are gonna spend money now to try to fix this problem. If your Cummins "runs away" like I have seen a couple, because of this fuel mix.... your gonna need a new motor.. roughly $18,000. (running away is when the motor on it's own runs at full throttle and can't shut off due to the slime in the fuel system... a diesel engine shuts off by starving it of fuel.. i.e. a fuel cut-off solenoid. so when it gets gummed up and can't shut the fuel off... you'll be in for a show..just remember to put it into neutral so you don't drive thru anything..)
2007-02-12 11:55:44 · answer #4 · answered by Richie Rich 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋
the biodiesel is cleaning all the gunk out of the fuel system that the petroleum based diesel left behind,until all that gunk is gone keep changing the fuel filter as needed,buy a spare one and keep in vehicle,for emergency.
2007-02-12 08:13:07 · answer #5 · answered by drivingfast2 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
just add more pump diesel if you can--if you can't then you may want to siphon all you can get out -then add #1 diesel to it-this will dilute it. there is also a product at your local auto part store called power service 911 it de-ices lines and also plug it in at least 2 hours before srarting
2007-02-13 13:28:50 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Check your fue field (within & underneath hood) appear for a fuse categorised dtr or drl that are supposed to be the fuse that controlls the lighting. Remove it and the lighting will close off (I did this on my ninety seven' s-10).
2016-09-05 08:15:14 · answer #7 · answered by golden 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i believe that if the fuel filters werent actually clogged you may need compatible oxygen sensors
2007-02-12 09:16:09 · answer #8 · answered by Max P 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋