ATF in diesel tank????

sounds sketchy but who knows I have crazier things that turned out to be true.

:badidea: a guy at my work put atf in the filters to "lube up" the injectors on a 644 deere. cranked over once the nothin. it blew the ip . luckily didnt make to injectors. i especially wouldnt on a duramax cause of higher ip pressures. might work if its deluted down but you can't compress atf like you can diesel fuel. the dumba$$ then proceeded to tell me to do this to my 6.5:duh:

What do you mean compress diesel fuel? You can't compress a fluid, no matter what type. I'm thinking that the ATF ruined the pump for some other reason. In any case, not sure that I would put ATF in my tank. There are lots of other additives out there that are designed for diesel engines that are safe and provide extra lubrication.

Tutts said:

What do you mean compress diesel fuel? You can't compress a fluid, no matter what type. I'm thinking that the ATF ruined the pump for some other reason. In any case, not sure that I would put ATF in my tank. There are lots of other additives out there that are designed for diesel engines that are safe and provide extra lubrication.

Click to expand...

really, ever had moisture in brake lines? compresses! the pump blew cause it couldnt compress the atf, it was too thick.

i would try some other type of specific fuel system lubricant. much safer

The moisture in the brake lines compresses because the moisture (aka water) boils from the heat in the system before the brake fluid letting off gas which then is compressed. You can't compress water.

works fine done it and with good results its no different than using two stroke oil in your fuel same deal adds lubricity and atf unlike 2 stroke oil has awesome cleaning properties. as far as it taking out a pump when used in a new fuel filter to aid in priming ummm doubt it there was most likely a problem with the pump. and copressing the liquid is exactly what you want to happen i mean is that not what causes the reaction that makes the power you love so much. the short of it is use what your comfortable with and enjoy your truck..:ro) mike

WAskier said:

The moisture in the brake lines compresses because the moisture (aka water) boils from the heat in the system before the brake fluid letting off gas which then is compressed. You can't compress water.

Click to expand...

trust me ya can. we tried this in one of our race karts brake system, hadnt work. took it around the track once and about lost it on first corner cause it was compressing the water.

and there was nothin wrong with pump. atf clogged the pump cause it was to thick. duramaxs run an even higher pressure. you want it to compress, not not compress. im thinkin a delutted amount of atf might work but i wouldnt try it. better off going with a specialized lubricant for those type of things

i don't get why the decision to put it into the fuel filters. the key to the first post is the fact that it was said to be added to a fill up. which would mean it's dilluted. atf into the fuel filters is hardly dilluted and i'd expect there to be some sort of complications.

wasnt tryin to talk about about just in the filters, just what ive see a little atf do to a pump.

GM has, or used to have, a bulletin saying ok to add to full tank. I would not put it into a filter, but I've been putting a quart into a FULL tank on my Sub (42 gal) every 10000 miles or so, no problems.

Basic laws of fluid mechanics tells us that fluids are by definition incompressible. If you are seeing compression in a fuild filled system (like brake lines, or fuel lines) its cause theres small amounts of air in it.

:exactly:

I seen some pics on the other Dmax site about using ATF in the fuel. The valves had rock hard buildup on them. IIRC, it was caused by synthetic ATF. Not sure it matters these days, as all ATF likely have some synthetic additives.

Just use a good FUEL additive. I know from experience that a bottle of FPPF Total Power goes a long way. Our fuel systems are very expensive, why jeopardize it with ATF.

Too many sea stories here on this subject. The few GM people I've talked with have recommended Stanadyne or Power Service as OK additives and nothing else and these won't void your warranty.

Don't do it. It's an "old school" diesel repair technique. ATF added to the fuel or run as a "direct shot" from a filled fuel filter was used as a cleaner and lube for older mechanical injection systems. The Bosch HPCR injection system will not take well to running other than specifically formulated fuel additives. Our sometimes resident lubrication engineer and expert, George Morrison, specifically and emphatically stated that the formulation and contents of ATF (dye, anti-foam, etc.) are NOT good for your injection system. Use a fuel additive or nothing at all, but it's your $16,000.00 engine, so do what you think is best.

I dont know if this helps but back when I used to drive rigs and heavy equipment,our service guy would fill the fuel filters with ATF before firing them back up after a service.(Cats and Cummins) I never saw a prroblem in the 10 yr.s that I worked for that outfit.They had well over 100 diesel engines too.Not including about 10 Gensets that were serviced while they were running.I dont know if that would apply to a DMax though.

I've added ATF to my diesels for years including JD construction equipment, tractors, cummins / cat powered big rigs, powerstrokes, and now my duramax. ATF has excellent lubrication qualities with built in cleaning solvents that are amazing at cleaning up and lubricating diesel injectors. I add 1 quart per 35 gallons every 20 tanks of fuel.

As for compression of liquid: Liquid cannot be compressed per say... law of physicss However, liquids can be handled in such a way that suspended gas can be seperated (called cavitation) and compressed. The liquid is not compressed, the compressed gas is therefore causing you to see symptoms of compression. This only happens in the most extreme cases in semi-closed systems like fuel injection.

Not sure why ATF would blow up an injection pump.

But, to say that liquids are incompressable (as in zero, nada, zip, bupkus, niente) is wrong. They just don't compress very much compared to gasses.

For hydrocarbon fluids, figure about 0.5% compression for each 1000 psi up to 4000 psi (2%). At 20,000 psi, the liquid is probably compresses a several percent.

Not alot, but it is not zero.

http://www.osti.gov/fcvt/deer2003/boehmanpaper.pdf shows the bulk modulus (inverse of compressibility) for diesel and biofluids.

ive been putting tranny fluid in my fuel for 180000 on my dmax and ive had no injector trouble.and i usually put in 2 gallons per hundred of fuel.