thanks for sharing this Gerald, will try it out....good to know that its helped you with a good clean up inside.
keep us posted

 

I use Total Diecyl Plus diesel additive in my 2008 V10. "Multipurpose additive for diesel, specifically designed to lubricate the injection system and keep it perfectly clean; and improve the combustion properties of engine diesel fuels." A 500ml bottle treats 250 liters of diesel fuel (2 1/2 tanks for the Treg). Price ~$9.50 per bottle.

 

I'd be interested to see some research on this . I don't understand lubricate system when diesel fuel is a lubricant ? I understand improve combustion properties , clean, if nozzels could in fact get blocked at the pressure these injectors work at ? Gerald's experience is quite positive, I just don't understand why at only 100,000 k's Gerald would experience these issues, I didn't at 180,000 k's. All V10 without DSP will blow black smoke on acceleration, in fact all diesels will without DSP. White smoke outa diesels is a worry as this is usually a sign of two much fuel .

So why does the additive give better fuel milage? If injector unblocked, then more fuel ? What is the reason for better fuel economy, I would like to understand .

 

I was introduced to Lucas upper cylinder lube at on of my accounts who was an auto parts warehouse many years ago,when the counter people said to me this is the only additive you really feel work,I used Marvel Mystery Oil in an injector that used 1 quart per thousand miles,one of the engines had 135,000 miles and was overhauled by the purchasers Uncle,who said he has never seen valves so clean.I buy Lucas oil in gallon jugs for around$20.and refill the quart dispenser bottles,I add it every tank full,in both gas and Diesel vehicles,recently removed the heads from a GM Diesel with 210,000 miles,all was clean. I also use Howes Lubricator in the fuel on the Diesels.

Cetane is the ability of fuel to completly,low cetane creates smoke higher rating ,complete combustion and more power. Howe's also has lubricity additive.

Injector spray patterns on clean injectors are more uniform and create more efficient combustion,Marty

 

Thanks for the review!

Thanks to you guys, I decided to buy a large bottle of that Lucas stuff today, and use it on both my diesel Passat TDI, and gasser Touareg V8. In fact, I just filled up the EGG the full 100 liters a couple of hours ago, and added about 8oz-9oz of the Lucas stuff.

Curious to see if I will see any kind of improvement, particularly gas mileage.

 

do report back and let us know if you notice similar improvements

 

I will

 

There has been a discussion on this in another forum I read -
Caravaners Forum • View topic - Adding 2 stroke oil to Diesel Fuel
Interesting comments, and a good one from a VW owner If someone wants to volunteer their TDI to put 2 stroke oil in it I’d be interested in their results. That little sticker on the fuel cap has me scared enough not to try it.

 

My wife was complaining her Golf 2 LTR TDI was running rough and in 2 occassions stalled. I followed her are night and the exhaust plume was also very noticeable.

I decided to add the recommended portion of Lucas Upper Cylinder Lubricant and Injector cleaner in Her Golf after a fuel up two days ago, and even She noticed a remarkable improvement.

Interesting reading about 2 stroke oil, but I think I will stick with the Lucas product for now.

VWdude, please let us know your experience, I guess you really need a good week to feel any affect if any at all.

As mentioned in my original post, a postive result may not happen in all cases. Certainly not new engines.

Regards

Gerald

 

Years ago, my mechanic (Benz specialist) used to add one quart of transmission fluid (ATF) to the tank of my diesel Merc Benz to clean the injectors.

 

I got some yesterday as well to try in my 98km 2005 V10. It seemed to me to be blowing excessive amounts of black smoke and I was feeling the same as Gerald. It seems to be running smoother already, but maybe thats the same feeling you get after you've washed and cleaned it and it's looking scmick. I will let you know how it goes after a couple of fills. I will also try some in my wife's non DPF (diesel particulate filter) 2.0 TDI Golf which also smokes and smells at first startup for the day.

I have owned many diesels and without DPF they all smoke, but with the non DPF V10, how much is too much? When should you start wondering if there is a problem with an injector, etc? I guess the other thing is how you drive. I've always understood it's good to give it a good steady high rev blast every now and then to clean things out. Driving conservatively with low revs all the time will clog up the exhaust and then when you do tramp it, all the loose soot comes out. Clouds and clouds of black smoke. The V10 will happlily sit at 1,200rpm around town all day and never go above 2,000rpm so that could be part of the problem.
Happy Tregging
Peter

 

For the V10 you basically have a truck motor ! I mean in size , small truck, but follow any older small truck and watch what happens when it is under load, Black smoke outa the exhusta ! When the metal is to the pedal on the V10 the fuel meter can be in the 30 ltres/100, that has got to make some smoke !

 

Myth about fuel additives

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1937918

It seems the general thinking is that Fuel additives for diesels work and additives for petrols are a waste of time and money.

I did a bit of a WEB search and it seems that additives might help in raising Cetane Rating, cleaning injectors , and cleaning DSP's .
Apparently diesel engines tests of additives is quite expensive and there are so many additives so I could not find any test data of the different products .
Did find test standards so this indicates that there is some science to this.

 

Just a quick update. I have now done about 3,000kms using the Lucas additive. Still smokes of course, but seems not as much. Also seems to run smoother, especially when hot? At $18 for 1LT which treats 600LTs of fuel it seems like a good investment. Maybe a little better fuel ecomomy especially on open road. On last tank did 10.4lt/100km which had about 70% highway driving including 3 trips up to Mt Tamborine south of Brisbane. Not bad for a V10. It loves the drive up the mountain. Now getting high 11's to low 12's around town. Best so far before additive was 9.7lts/100km on trip from Brisbane to Hervey Bay. Need to do that trip again, then across to Fraser Island.

 

I read there is plenty of free oil in the Gulf of Mexico. Bring your own bucket and spade !!

 

Is that why you are "Oilslurper"? - might get a couple of free birds with it as well. In this harsh world it's good to have some humor as well.

 

I learned something recently that may be of interest. The exhaust has 2 pressure sensors that tell the system when to regenerate.
Recently, I had been dropping smoke bombs when I never had beefore and my exhaust tips were caked in black crud. It turns out one of my pressure sensors was bad and the dealer is replacing both under warranty. The only symptom they stated the driver would notice was excessive smoking and FWIW, this is heavy black smoke like you would expect from a 30yr old diesel vehicle who just stomped on the throttle.
I once bent an exhaust valve on an old VW Golf at a toll booth and that is the only time I have seen nearly this much black smoke.

 

US company, Stanadyne make a diesel fuel additive. Their claim to fame is they actually manufacture diesel fuel systems. I've been using the stuff for more than a year. Having said that my 3 x TDI's are very low in klms (all under 40K's), so I don't know about older donks and benefits from additives. I'm using the stuff to keep my system clean

 

The Stanadyne stuff is what many VW dealers sell for the TDI's here in Canada.

 

The way I view this additive issue is simple. You add the stuff because it will benefit your expensive diesel engine by keeping it clean of contaminants through injection and/or combustion. That is the only reason I use the Stanadyne product. Any power increase or fuel consumption gains are secondary and should not be the reason to add the stuff. On the matter of diesel fuel (or all fuels in general). The main problem with fuels is underground storage and contamination. In my experience, that is something we can't control. I suggest fuel farm QC process is very stringent - all fuel should be clean when it goes into the tanker. Personally, the Caltex diesel (Woolworths pump) I use is just the same as any other diesel. I just want contaminant free fuel.

 

I have tried the Stanadyne product many times in the past. Have also tried the PowerService(grey bottle summer, white in the winter). With my experiences, the PowerService(white bottle) is much better at preventing gelling in the really cold climates(not an issue in Australia I know ). The Stanadyne is questionable. In fact, it has been reported(by my VW parts guy of all people!) that if you take a bottle of Stanadyne, and stick it in your freezer, you will have some very chilling(it will gel up badly) results! I still haven't tried that out for myself however. I would do it right now if I could, but I don't have any Stanadyne lying around. Maybe someone else could try this and see if my VW parts guy is telling the truth?

The Lucas stuff clearly benefited my wifes Passat. It is chipped with Stage 2 RocketChip, and although it would smoke if you gave it a go after babying it for too long, even with the Stanadyne, now it seems to zip along with more efficiency and hardly any smoke, althougfh I would really need to test that out at night with someone following me closely with his headlights on, so that I could check for smoke in the rear view mirror..

One thing that the Stanadyne does have is Cetane boost which is great for chipped cars like mine. The Lucas doesn't, but for the life of me, I'm trying to figure out why fuel mileage went up so drastically with the Lucas!

I need more time with all this!

 

Some of the additives without mixing say to store above freezing.

 

anybody tried this on the newer V6 TDi Diesels?

 

Hi All,

The additive debate rages on, the feedback is interesting and diverse at the same time.

4 weeks on, wow. I used an entire bottle and my consumption has levelled to 12.6-12.8lts/100km.

Leading into winter, my V10 has changed by way of running smoother, cleaner and the plume of excessive smoke has nearly cleared.

My wife's GOLD 2LTR TDI has benefited also, the sudden change to efficiency, smoothness and long jevity per tank has increased by 25-30% with a Odometer reading around 80K.

At the end of the day, each additive experience is relative. However, I am glad that many people have experienced a change. But I sense this threat is not over, yet.

I am glad I shared my personal experience, please keep up the feedback and experiences.

Bring on the Simpson Desert crossing.

Regards


Gerald

VK3GJM

 

Hi Gerald,
12.6 - 12.8l/100km, still seems a bit on the high side, mine regularly gets between 10.4 -11.8 l/100km, and I have quite a heavy right foot and in a mixture of stop-start and highway driving. I have never used any addititive and I don't think the previous owner used any either, mine has just gone over 160,000km and still smiling!
Cheers
Reggie

 

For what it's worth, here's my experience. I had to go back to dino diesel because of no supply of B5 where I live. After one tank I was back to the normal smell, smoke, sound and performance. I tried some 2 stroke oil after reading here, but didn't really notice any difference. Next, I tried some diesel fuel additive from Canadian Tire. Some improvement, but not jumping up and down cheering. 10 days ago, I was able to fill my empty tank with 5% biodiesel. After 1/4 of a tank, the beast ran quieter, less smoke, better performance and on the whole tank, I gained 1 litre/ 100k. My backyard scientific conclusion, the best possible additive for my treg is 5% bio. I'm going to be looking for a steady source. This exactly the result I got when I first tried bio. I'm sold. Cheers!

 

I hear ya diesel4me on the B5. Im hooked on B2-5 myself. But I only get B5 when out of state (in NH). Otherwise I just add 2 qts B100 when refilling at the reserve level to manually blend ~B2.

Added a little more on the last tank to end up with ~B4. Actually averaged 30 mpg on my daily drive for a bit.

If you have no joy in locating B5 nearby, try finding a B100 supplier instead. Five gals lasts me about 4 months. (Just keep it out of the cold.)

 

I don't have a Touareg (yet), but i've used Power service Diesel Kleen ( grey bottle in summer, white in winter) religiously in my 2000 NB TDI and it's got over 400,000 km and it's running great, i had stopped using it for a while then used it again and man you could really notice a difference, it's sold at walmart and canadian tire. I highly recommend it. Oh ya i've had a best of 4.2 liters on 100 km and average aroudn 5 with this stuff.

 

Gerald, thanks very much for sharing your experience, it looks like this has also 'partially' cured an engine shudder problem I have been having for which no fault code as logged and the dealer has not been able to correctly diagnosed thus far. Lucas - good stuff!!!
Cheers

 

Just an update. I thought I would try the Lucas since I can't get B5 at the moment. After a little more than half a tank, I must say that it seems better than any additive I've used. The mileage definitly is as good as using B5. The engine does not have the same smoothness or low smoke as the B5. I would have to say that this is the best additive that I've used. I'll continue until I can get bio again. That has given me the best result to date. Cheers!