It’s February.  It’s cold.  Time to use a diesel additive to prevent gelling right?  While that’s certainly a great reason to use one (hint: Use CleanFire!) it’s also a short sighted preventative maintenance plan.

The nationwide use of Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) has had a huge effect on diesel equipment (particularly produced before 2007) as it lacks the lubricity that used to be part of the standard diesel fuel formulation.

In the course of just over a decade the sulfur content has been reduced from 5,000 parts per million (ppm) to only 15 ppm.  This leads to premature fuel injector failure, dry seals and many other parts having their useful life drastically cut.

Add in the extensive use of #1 diesel this winter, with its inherit dryness, and it’s easy to see the detrimental effect it can have on your equipment without the use of a quality additive.

It used to be that you could get by with the lubricity contained within the fuel to handle your lubrication needs, but with the introduction of ULSD into the fuel system it’s imperative that you run a high quality diesel fuel additive in your equipment!