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I removed fuel tank a couple years ago and cleaned fuel screen that was covered with a thick yellow honey like substance. After sitting all winter i took it out of storage and fuel pressure would not build up so i took tank off again . Same build up on screen. I always fill up at service stations. What should i add to stop this happening? Seems to me to be an algae like build up. This is on my 2001 2500. diesel
I buy 100 gallons at a time and store it in a transfer tank. Sometimes it sits for a few months before I can use it up like last winter. I use an additive called BioBore to prevent and growth. Primarily used for jet fuel, it works for diesel and heating oil as well. If you are getting your fuel from the same place, I would also suggest changing stations. Their tanks may be contaminated.
Yeah, kinda like a classic gonorrhea or syphilis infection, I didn't think it would happen to me. Maybe it's because I so seldom drive my truck lately - but that's been the case for a number of years, so I don't really get it. Anyway, I've again become proficient at changing both the stock fuel-filter (usually a waste of time) and the thimble-sized intake screen on my in-tank electric pump (don't ask...an old mod I went through that works great... when it's not clogged). So now I do at least know where the globular algae ends up when the fuel-pressure drops precipitously.
Also worth mentioning that a few years ago, I'd just filled up at a high-volume station and almost immediately had fuel-pressure problems. I couldn't believe the appearance of the fuel: it was as if someone had dumped flour in it; fine white suspended floury particles were everywhere. Now, I'm virtually certain that it was my 'original sin' - where I picked up that algae to begin with. At the time, no one on the couple of forums where I posted to ask about this thought it sounded like algae, and it still doesn't, to me.
So back to a couple of months ago: I thought Bio-Kleen would rescue me from the pointless stress of watching my FP gauge while wondering if I would be able to get home again, or end up at roadside, fumbling with inadequate tools, and questioning my life decisions in general.
That was when I decided to face my Algae Demons, and shock-treated a full tank (27 gallons) of diesel with a shiny new bottle of Bio-Kleen. I carefully calculated the "shock" ratio and measured the stuff out with a graduated cylinder I happened to have around, turned the ACC on to get the electric pump to circulate it for a while. Since I'd just gone through the ritual of de-globbing the electric pump's intake screen, and FP was as high as it ever gets (30psi), and didn't drop much during subsequent drives, I kept my fingers crossed.
Then, much more recently, I started using the truck more, and was more than a little dismayed to see the pressure had dropped, first to 25 psi...a few days later it was more like 15. And abruptly the other day, when I was more paranoid about my recent adventures in pinion-seal replacement going wrong, I took my eye off the gauge, then looked back to see it sitting on the settable low-limit alarm switch (it's a Murphy Swichgage, if you're interested.) Years ago, I learned that even at 0psi, I could do at least SOME driving, since it seems the IP will keep drawing to some degree. But by the time I was heading back home (with a bed full of trash that was supposed to go to the transfer station), it was actually dying, in nothing less than epic Friday-afternoon commuting traffic - THE last place and time I want to be blocking up the arteries.
Anyway, LSS, at roadside, I had to dig into the fuel canister, extract the pump, and de-globule-ize the intake screen, yet again - Bio-Kleen shock treatment or not. And the fuel appearance? Again, barely translucent, with the floury particulate dispersed all through it.
So does the Bio-kleen have a limited-duration effectiveness? How much shocking can one beleaguered occasional-diesel-driver be expected to perform, beyond what my wife and kids have grown to accept? Can I inject it with bleach? Ivermectin? Zinc tablets? /s
One thing people don't understand about biocides is that they don't magically make it go away, kills it. It will prevent it from happening, or at least getting worse. If you have it to the point where it keeps causing problems, you need to clean your tank out and change your storage habits. Keep your tank full when not in use and use a biocide. This is particularly important in humid arias. The best way I avoid it is by using a transfer tank with filters. Add my additives which includes a biocide, fill my tank, then fuel my trucks from that. Haven't had a problem sense. You'd think it shouldn't happen in cold climates, but it does. Even my heating oil tank is subject to it. Another thing is to be careful where you get your fuel. One place in Arizona where my wife was getting fuel, their tanks were full of a fine dirt that kept clogging my filters. Switched stations, problem solved.
One thing people don't understand about biocides is that they don't magically make it go away, kills it. It will prevent it from happening, or at least getting worse. If you have it to the point where it keeps causing problems, you need to clean your tank out and change your storage habits. Keep your tank full when not in use and use a biocide. This is particularly important in humid arias. The best way I avoid it is by using a transfer tank with filters. Add my additives which includes a biocide, fill my tank, then fuel my trucks from that. Haven't had a problem sense. You'd think it shouldn't happen in cold climates, but it does. Even my heating oil tank is subject to it. Another thing is to be careful where you get your fuel. One place in Arizona where my wife was getting fuel, their tanks were full of a fine dirt that kept clogging my filters. Switched stations, problem solved.
I posted a few years ago on this or some other Cummins board, after my filter had plugged, very shortly after filling from a nearby station. My tank fuel was chalky-floury white, translucent, but clearly full of SOMETHING. No one who responded mentioned algae. I got a gallon to check from the same station, and it didn't look cloudy, leaving me baffled as to where it had come from. It bore no resemblance to anything I'd imagined would result from algae, but algae is my belated diagnosis. During this recent bout of cloggage, my red diesel looked...like *red* flour had been dispersed in it. (BTW if some DOT inspector wants to know why it's red, well, it's the Scourge of Red Algae - of course. "Why, inspector, surely you've heard of the Red Tide?")
I came to the same conclusion Cougar did about biocides; Bio-kleen's tech services pointed out that, while their additive indeed kills the algae, there's a residue left behind (hmmm...dead algae skeletons?) that doesn't go away it's until lodged in filters, or makes its way through injectors, I suppose. I treated my bulk tank with Bio-kleen, and recirculated it for a while before issuing the remainder to my half-full Dodge tank. And I fully expected that the same intake-filter clogging would continue, but figured I'd know better what to watch for.
It didn't.
It's been a week, and I'm still seeing the same supply pressure as I was the last time I cleaned the thimble-sized pump intake screen.
I was pleasantly surprised when I dropped my tank years back to remove the pump,,,very clean, clear fuel with just a bit of dirt in the bottom. The inside of the tank looked white. Another thing was the almost 7 gallons of fuel in there. I ran it down to the warning light and figured maybe 3 or 4...a 2x12 and a floor jack worked nicely.
Did anyone suggest tampering or vandalism? Our fuel tanks are an easy target without locking caps or fuel doors for a bored kid or diesel hater....just a thought.
When I pulled my tank to install the FASS and draw straw, my tank looked the same. I believe the white interior is factory, a coating or just part of the molding process, I don't know. It wouldn't wipe off.
06-18-2024, 08:01 AM
