Last time we talked about running out
of diesel fuel in your New Holland tractor- actually easily detected,
easily prevented and hopefully easily solved. Today let's check on
the issue of something as simple as water in the fuel. This can start
a whole chain of troubles no matter if you are working on a Massey
Ferguson, Deere, Kubota, or even any other diesel motor
As always a reminder about safety.
These are powerful machines that can hurt you or worse. Safety
glasses are always a good idea- nothing like a little diesel in the
eye. Read that owners manual for even more safety info. We can get
you a New Holland or Ford tractor manual if you need it.
The first and most obvious issue is
the motor will not burn water. This is not that big a deal because a
little water won't make a difference to the running of the engine.
The problem is what happens to the water before it gets to the
engine. If it is below freezing those little droplets of ice
sometimes will move through the system until they find something to
freeze to- often another little piece of ice. Those little droplets
keep sticking together until they block something at best or freeze
and break something expensive at worst. So- how do you fix that
problem? Unfortunately the only answer is heat. You have to melt that
ice to get it going again. I don't know of anything you can add to
the fuel to thaw that ice. Now- Mama used to say “an ounce of
prevention” well you know where that's going. There are lots of
different chemicals that claim to remove water and they work to
varying degrees. We recommend “Diesel 911”, “Stabil Diesel”
or “Valvtect Bioguard” These are some of the most popular diesel
chemicals and that usually means they work. Of course the best way is
never let water get in there. How? Real clean fuel and keep it full.
Water can condense in a fuel tank from the atmosphere but the less
atmosphere in the tank the less condensation. The other issue with
water is growing things in your fuel. Yep, life is possible, even
likely, in diesel but generally only where there is water present.
Those same chemicals also claim to be a “biocide” which means it
kills life. So to sum it up- keep your diesel fuel clean and full and
you will minimize your problems. Oh-I almost forgot, your storage
tank at home or your suppliers tank can have problems too. The best
bet is to buy your fuel from somewhere that sells a lot of it so at
least it starts out clean. OK happy snowplowing and here's to real
dirt plowing and Spring. Thanks, Charles- Surry Equipment
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