Diesel too old??

[Greynomad]

Our Girt has not moved for 13 months, due to the Covid lockdown.
Starter batteries replaced last week, as the last lot died due to lack of use.
Kicked over OK, but I’m concerned about the age of the ¼ tank of diesel which has been sitting unused all that time.
Should I drain the tank & get a jerrycan of fresh fuel to get her to the service station? Or will I be OK driving her the 500m on old fuel?

[jon_d]

Just drive it to the petrol station and fill er up. Add some biocide to it. I've added the same to the Bedford - Isuzu turbo and the Territory. https://automotivesuperstore.com.au/pen ... sltreat001? (as far as I can determine is just diesel and mothballs)

It might be wise to replace the fuel filters and have a couple on hand.

Ray, planning a trip?

[native pepper]

Diesel has a life of about 7 years, my boat sat for more than 3 years without being used when we were on the road and it never had a problem when fired up and heading off.

[T1 Terry]

Aged diesel is more of an issue in the cold than the hot. Diesel will grow both wax chains (that become sheets that eventually become a solid mass) and an algae type growth that will block filters in mins.
If you run a fuel treatment like the one Jon mentioned or the Pro-Ma diesel treatment https://www.proma.global/ProductMoreInf ... enuID=6611, you will stop the wax and growth developing, if it is already in there, regular filter changes until you get it all out of the system. You can not just dump the fuel and that will sort the problem, it will be through the whole fuel system and simply regrow in the new fuel ..... don't ya just love diesel fuel ..... bio diesel is just as bad so that isn't a substitute to get around the problem ... well except maybe the waxing problem. A good does of kero in the diesel will control the waxing problem if it's used before the cold hits, or after the diesel has been warmed up enough to melt the wax.
Had a crane shipped to China with 200ltr of fuel still in the tank, took 3 days with a number of those hot air blasters heating the underside of the tank to melt it enough to drain it Then they had to get it out of the fuel lines and the CAT diesel fuel system .... we were not popular people with the maintenance crew, it was -20*C where the crane was unloaded and they needed it running to self erect, add the boom and to wire up

T1 Terry

[native pepper]

Aged diesel is more of an issue in the cold than the hot. Diesel will grow both wax chains (that become sheets that eventually become a solid mass) and an algae type growth that will block filters in mins.
If you run a fuel treatment like the one Jon mentioned or the Pro-Ma diesel treatment https://www.proma.global/ProductMoreInf ... enuID=6611, you will stop the wax and growth developing, if it is already in there, regular filter changes until you get it all out of the system. You can not just dump the fuel and that will sort the problem, it will be through the whole fuel system and simply regrow in the new fuel ..... don't ya just love diesel fuel ..... bio diesel is just as bad so that isn't a substitute to get around the problem ... well except maybe the waxing problem. A good does of kero in the diesel will control the waxing problem if it's used before the cold hits, or after the diesel has been warmed up enough to melt the wax.
T1 Terry

There are a few types of diesel fuel, winter, summer and arctic blend that I know of and have used, the growth you are talking about is diesel bug and any wax would come from second class summer blend dino. Biodiesel is the best thing to use to clean your fuel system and also extremely good for removing oil stains etc, it doesn't wax as all wax is removed in the process. I've been making and using biodiesel for more than 2 decades and driving on vegetable oil since the mid 1970's, both BD and VO kill dino bug and those starting to use BD or VO always have lots of trouble with the dead bugs clogging the fuel delivery system.

The best way to clean your system and keep it clean is to drain your tank, put a few litres of VO or BD in it then use a method to slosh it around the tank. VO users, have a two tank systems, one for starting/stopping on BD or dino and the main tank. I have 3 tanks on my cruiser and 5 on the bus, so we can drive and flush tanks at the same time I use BD to start and VO for running on. The cruiser carries 320lt in it's tanks and the bus just over 1000lt, so can drive 3000klms without refuelling and costs me about 65c, which is the cost of making a couple of litres of BD to start and stop the engine.

You drive then drain the tank, put 5lt fresh dino and 10% VO repeat then drain and what comes out is fuel with all the bugs from the insides of the tank. Recently I helped a friend who has changed to VO and his fuel system clogged up and we did that process then opened the tank and it was spotlessly clean.

We produce enough used cooking oil in Aus to run the majority of diesels in Aus, but the majority of used VO ends up animal feed, or land fill. The processed food you buy for your animals, has used vegetable oils in it and they don't centrifuge, decanter filter or clean it, they just pour it into the processor. I think that's why sometimes the food people buy for their pets, makes them sick or kills them and that could be the heavily chemically saturated used oils they use. Which is why I make all my dogs food.

Commercial fuel cleaners, only remove what is floating in the fuel system, not bugs on the tank walls and lines, kero is just a thin dino like jet fuel, it has the same problems. There is wax in VO, which we don't remove but adding 10% BD or dino over comes those problems in winter. You can make a couple of litres of BD at home very simply and it's the best cleaner there is, even better than citrus oil.

In my experience, the bast commercial fuel cleaner is lucas, which does really good job, especially with injectors, but doesn't remove the bug from tanks walls and lines. However is you really wan to clean out your engine cylinders an injectors, spray a fine film of pure water into the air intake and it will steam clean your system.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Lucas-Fuel- ... ctupt=true