Originally Posted By: Fleetmon
Just recently our fire department had issues with a Series 60 turning the fuel black....naturally our first thought was combustion soot from a bad injector fouling the fuel.....nope. This was another case of biodiesel eating away at a fuel line which in turn caused small particles from the fuel line to clog the flter (Davoc 382) and eventually cause low power.
Haven't seen that with my previous Cummins ISX or my current Series 60. Now, the Cummins would turn fuel black, but that was due to asphaltine, which is the fuel is getting "cooked' in the rail before returning to the tanks. That problem has been addressed by Cummins and other OEM's and now you can get products to add to the fuel to break down the carbon molecules that are bonding to create this stuff. Many confuse it with Algae growth. Two different things going on. But hey, since biodiesel is out there, lets just blame it instead. And never mind that the filter in the Davco can be changed when fuel reaches top of filter to eliminate power loss. Does anyone ever do any maintenance checks on this stuff or do they just shine up the trucks and drive them? That's the purpose of a Davco unit.... being able to see how full the filter is, seeing what contaminates are in there that it caught, and being able to easy change out the filter if needed.
I have been using various blends of biodiesel for over 6 years. In my Jeep Liberty Diesel, in my semi's, and my ag equipment. I have never had a fuel related problem.