Do You Know Enough About Additives?

Investing in the right additives - and knowing how to use them - can have significant payoff for your company and construction fleet

The most popular additives combat cold weather gelling, but additives can be used year-round for a variety of reasons.
The most popular additives combat cold weather gelling, but additives can be used year-round for a variety of reasons.

What do you know about additives? Are you using the right additives for your construction fleet's engine and oil needs? Knowing your fluids is key to maintaining a healthy fleet. Worktruckonline.com wrote a three-part series to educate readers on fluids. Part one focused on oils while part two focused on coolants and DEF. The focus here in part three is additives.

Construction contractors may use multiple types of additives including diesel and gasoline fuel additives, cold-weather additives and oil additives. While additives can be easy to use, there are a few guidelines to keep in mind.

  • Read labels carefully when applying additives to fuel tanks on trucks. Overtreating with some additives can promote sticky, unwanted engine residue
  • If treating for the winter, treat the fuel before it gets cold and continues to treat the fuel throughout the winter season. One untreated batch of fuel can impact the overall winter operability performance of that fuel.
  • Only use isobutanol-based additives that are meant to thaw gelled fuel as an emergency measure. 
  • Don’t use gasoline or lubricant additives in diesel fuel. These additives have been designed to function in other engine environments and could cause harm to the engine.

Investing in the right additives can lead to significant payoff.

(more on choosing and using the right additives...)

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