I lost one injector in my CAT C15 a while ago at a slightly over 450,000 miles. CAT told me poor quality fuel usually causes this but that they don't "believe in additives". Nevertheless, I started using Lucas Lubricator with every fuel fill-up after that because I noticed that it improves my fuel mileage and the way the truck pulls. I think Lucas does help to compensate for the effects of bad fuel. I also drain my water separator every morning COMPLETELY. On my International the separator doesn't have any window at the bottom, so there's no way to tell if there's water in there, so after the injector repair I started draining the entire thing. The best deal on Lucas is at Duty Free stores on US/Canada border (eg, Peace Bridge in Fort Erie, ON) where you get a low price plus an additional 10% off if you have a Duty-Free truck-driver bonus card. To get this free card, you register at the counter, and within a couple of weeks you get it in the mail. That's the lowest price I've found so far.

 

And look at that! Manufacturers put it in the fuel themselves during the months that it is needed!

I don't consider anti gel to be the same as this other garbage that people throw in their fuel.

 

I don't really care to start a debate but have you ever noticed that the fluid in an automatic transmission doesn't get black and dirty like engine oil does? There are several reasons, most important is the fact that there is no combustion going on in the transmission, but ATF has solvents and detergents in it that motor oil and diesel fuel don't have. Those detergents are what makes it clean injectors. I never added it as a regular thing to my fuel, I just filled the filters with it when I serviced the truck. I bought an 1984 Mack in 1988. It had an E6 300+ in it and I drove it in town until it had 765,000 miles on it with out a problem doing exactly that. At 765K it still ran great. It didn't even smoke like most old Macks did. Was it the ATF? Who knows?

When I was young, way back when the earth was still cooling, I used to add ATF to the crankcase of gas engines to quiet ticking hydraulic lifters. It worked very well because of the added detergents. It helped clean the sludge and varnish from inside the engine better then anything I have ever seen.

I'm not saying you need to believe it, I'm just telling what I did and why and offering what I experienced for results. I'm not offering any empirical evidence here that there was a positive result but there was definitely not a negative result. Other then ATF, I'm like you. Oil in the crankcase and fuel in the fuel tank and air in the tires.

 

If you use a quality oil in the first place there would be no need for an additive to clean. Used to add solvent to car motors before tearing down to make clean-up easier.

 

That's the only reason. The lack of the addition of soot and combustion causes the lack of dirt. If you put engine oil in your transmission (no I'm not recommending you do this) it would maintain its color just fine.

Saying that detergents in ATF keep the fluid clean implies that there is dirt that the detergents are taking away. If so, then where is this dirt going? Does it just magically disappear?

Furthermore, why not throw a bottle of laundry detergent into your fuel tank. After all, if it's detergents you're looking for, then any old detergent should work, right? But doing something like that would just be crazy.

 

Furthermore, why not throw a bottle of laundry detergent into your fuel tank. After all, if it's detergents you're looking for, then any old detergent should work, right? But doing something like that would just be crazy.[/QUOTE]

Thanks alot,now i need to siphon all the fuel out of the trucks.

 

Thanks alot,now i need to siphon all the fuel out of the trucks.[/QUOTE]

Don't do that man, just ride the Tide. Get it. :lol:

 

Actually, Chrysler did use 5W-30 motor oil in their FWD New Process transmissions in the Omni's , Horizons and K cars and the oil actually did get dirty but only from parts wear because it was an inferior lubricant. I always ran ATF in them as well which was acceptable according to the warranty of the vehicle. What wasn't acceptable was the use of heavy gear or mineral oils because they were too thick to get to the front counter shaft bearing.

The detergents don't keep the fluid clean any more then laundry detergent keeps the water clean. They keep the dirt from building on the inside of the transmission. The filter traps the dirt, keeping the fluid clean. In the case of ATF in fuel, the contamination is microscopic in the injectors and when released by the detergents they go through the combustion chamber of the engine and get burned. The newer low sulfur fuels are much cleaner so the need to use ATF or any other cleaner probably doesn't exist anymore.

Whats crazy is assuming that all detergents are the same. Are all lubricants the same? Would you put grease in your crankcase or oil on your 5th wheel. Some detergents would be considered acid and some would be considered base. Many of the detergents used in products made from crude oil are themselves made from the same crude oil. Not even remotely something you would want to wash your cloths with. A lot of laundry detergents today are organic meaning their made from base compounds and plants. If it says green on the bottle, it's probably organic.

Your an interesting person Rev. You seem to have a very cut and dried, short sited view of things. If everyone thought that way, we would never have put a man on the moon and we would probably be driving ox carts instead of a trucks.

 

Ummm... the fuel injectors get dirty from the fuel going thru them, NOT from the oil in the crankcase.

 

Show me a scientific study that shows ATF in the fuel does anything positive at all.

One would think if it actually did what you're claiming, the ATF manufacturers would be repackaging their product as injector cleaner and selling it at an inflated price.