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ATF in Fuel?

4K views 15 replies 9 participants last post by  Patrick 
#1 ·
I was reading in a recent diesel magazine, where someone wrote in about putting 1 quart or ATF in his fuel tank during a fill up. He claims that the ATF will luburicate the lift pump and will clean the injectors. Anybody heard of this is it safe? Just wondering what your thoughts are on this?
 
#4 ·
099f350 said:
i would use a namebrand diesel fuel treatment, the ones with cetane boost help a little. some people claim better mpg's when using a treatment, but i think i would shy away from the atf.
I use Diesel Kleen w/Cetane boost when I run diesel it did help the MPG's a little, seemed to smooth out idle as well.
 
#5 ·
i will garantee that ATF in your fuel WILL cause problems down the line. ATF has chemicals in it that the o rings and rubber componants are not built to resist, which will eventually cause them to swell/fail........Marc
 
#6 ·
mschn99 said:
i will garantee that ATF in your fuel WILL cause problems down the line. ATF has chemicals in it that the o rings and rubber componants are not built to resist, which will eventually cause them to swell/fail........Marc
The same type O-rings and rubber components that are in a transmission. That's the whole Idea, keep the rubber soft so it will seal. When O-rings get hard and shrink, is when they fail.
Over the road truckers have been using ATF for years, as a cheap additive to keep their fuel pumps lubed, since the EPA dropped the sulfur content, the first time.
Glenn
 
#7 ·
no glen, it is not the same rubber componants, the composition of rubber made to do its thing in a transmission is different to the composition of an injector o ring. Big rigs are a whole nother ball of wax, heck you could even run ATF in an IDI 6.9 or 7.3 with probably no problems. you cant compare a DI motor the same......if the o rings swell up in the injector bore they will cause a leak. its not as simple as "it swells up and seals better" this is what will happen till it swells up so much it has to go up or down vertically in the bore because there is not more room left to expand......then you get a leak and problems........try it and let me know how its working for ya a few years from now......:popcorn:
 
#8 ·
I thought Ford changed their O-rings and lines to synthetic materials back in 94 or 96 to eliminate compatibility problems, with oil and fuel additives.

This is a quote from another site.

I've been driving diesels for a living since 74 and have learned many of the truckers bad habits. Many of which have to do with "non fuels" I always carried cans of ATF to refill fuel filters so I didnt have to prime the pump. Added gasoline to the fuel in the winter time to lower the at which the fuel would gel. One company I drove for had a fleet of about 1000 OTR trucks and one central maintenance shop, whey they did oil changes it all went into their underground fuel tank and when you fuel there you got black fuel. Another national leasing company (Ryder) pumped the oil from the pan, through a filter and right back into the saddle tanks. Im now on my 7th diesel 3 OTR trucks and 4 Pickups and they all got treated the same way. Now for the past 12 yrs I've been in a mixer so depending on what company I worked for and who I knew in the shop Ive had a pretty good supply of hydraulic fluid or motor oil. I never had any specific ratio I would use, just whatever I was given, and a lot of that was just filtered through an oil filter. I have a friend who used to work for the electric co here and he brought me two 55 gallon drums of transformer and I used a lot of that straight. Oil changes and ATF changes always went thru a filter and then into the tank. Ive been running on WVO for the past year and a half now so I dont look for others now but if something is offered I will burn it. A few months back I blew a hydraulic booster ram on the work truck and the mechanic had almost 20 gallons of hydraulic that was gonna go in the waste oil tank. I brought it home and mixed it with 60 gallons of wvo and settled and filtered it just like I would with veggie. Just over a year ago I pulled the injectors and replaced them with some stage I from Bean. There was a slight carbon buildup on the nozzles and nothing wrong with them internally. If all these non fuels are bad for injectors it sure was not obvious on mine.

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96 F250 XLT, RC, 4X4, E40D MonsterBox, 3.55's, Hypermax DP, 6 position chip / Wildman burns, Baldwin PA2818, Joe Servo IDM, Donaldson coolant filter, 35-12.50-16.5 BFG A/T's, Hayden tranny cooler, Perma-Cool remote trans. filter with Amsoil filter elements, shimmed regulator, 4" Tuff Country lift, 4" stacks with aeroturbine 4040, Fumoto valve, Westach guages, Synthetic Rotella 5W-40, Amsoil bypass filter, Mile-Marker 449SS hubs, Tymar HPX, Stancor 586-902 relay, Mobil I synthetic ATF, dual pulley tensioner, Air Lift rear bags, on board air, twin 6 gallon air tanks, vented filler necks, a/c mod, 203º t'stat, BDP stage 1's, 02 17º HPOP, Holset H2E, 110 gallons vwo/40 gallons bio, Windstar fans, custom desert pinstripes and the cat ran away with the............

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It just seems if this guy can run all this stuff through his PSD, with no ill effects, a qt. of ATF now and again would't hurt a thing.
 
#10 ·
"It is not a good practice and likely will cause far more problems than it could solve. Using ATF in this way is something of an "old truckers tale" and has been used on everything from Volkswagens to Class 8 trucks. Another erroneous strategy is to add old or new engine oil for lubricity. The problem with these "additives" is they are specifically designed to resist high temperatures and burning. As a result, if they are added to diesel fuel they leave behind ash, heavy metals, and other deposits that can easily cause costly damage to fuel injectors and other sensitive engine components. The best practice is to use quality diesel fuel additives like Stanadyne's Performance Formula. They are designed to clean and lubricate engine components without leaving behind residues that can be hazardous to your engine's health. The bottom line is, don't add anything that is not specifically designed to be combusted in the engine."
http://www.diamonddiesel.com/diesel/ffaq.html
 
#11 · (Edited)
if you want to run ATF in your fuel glen, by all means do it. your a big boy and you can deal with any problems it may cause.....

I dont care what one guy does, what he has claimed were the results, or even if hes been lucky and has had no problems.......bottom line is the detergents and chemicals in the trannie fluid will not react well to the o rings on the fuel side of the injectors, and can cause swelling in any portion of rubber fuel line. Yes, the oil sealing o rings were re designed in 1998 i beleave to add a metal backup ring and a re desginged o ring FOR THE OIL SIDE. that has nothing to do with the o rings on the fuel side, which are not the same material........

the other thing to consider is first off, trans fluid or oil will not efficiantly stay mixed with your fuel, they have two different density levels. after the turck sits, the fuel will seperate. the sloshing of the tank will not effective mix it, especially for short trips. thus, every time you add ATF, it will float on the fuel and most of it wont get used. after time your ATF percentage will be high enough in the tank that when you run low on fuel, that is all it will be sucking. This will definatly cause issued. the worst thing is the fact that the detergents work well enoug in ATF that it will probably break down the contaminants in your fuel filter small enough to then allow them into the motor..........
 
#12 ·
Marcc
I didn't say I run the stuff. But if the two petroleum hydrocarbon based products did separate, the ATF would be on the bottom.
 
#15 ·
Why would you want to run the risk of putting ATF or waste oil through your engine? If you consider the cost of a quart of ATF to a good injector cleaner you might be saveing $1.00-$2.00 bucks. It just dosent off set the risk of major engine failure.
 
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