trucker repair cost saving tips

Diesel engine rod and main bearings when its most important

2009-05-29T20:05:00.005-05:00

I would like to talk about when you truckers should replace those rod and main bearings to make your Diesel motor last forever. Unlimited miles!

Rod and main bearings In your diesel engine are a very important part of a diesel motor that gets taken for granted and is a major cause or motor replacement!

Rod and main bearings used to get replaced from around 200,000 to 3 or 400,000 miles. The diesel engine bearings and the oil we run now a days makes them last much longer. But i have been finding that a lot of or I should say most truck drivers are avoiding changing them and taking a chance that they will make it to the next overhaul. But the time in between these is also changing to record numbers.

When to change them tho is the question since every diesel motor is different and is always changing.

Here we go I am going to give you a few and see if yours falls into one of them.

Detroit diesel 60 series 6 to 800,000 miles depending if hauling rock to over the road. I have seen them spin on out anywhere between 800,000 to mil 200,000 miles I have seen overhauls last to mil 6 or 8 before needing liner o rings and usually just gets overhauled since there but I would not of been scared to just use knowledge and little cleanup time and just re seal the motor if it would have had good bearings because everything else was very reusable . If it was mine I would have saved a few thousand and took the chance it wasn't using oil so why change it. I have done head gaskets and not changed the cyls and their still running daily With hundreds of thousands of miles more on them. The pistons hardly ever wear any at all. I have done it to a few tight truckers diesel engine and it worked great.

Cat engines are about the same mileage. The bigger the cat the longer you can go. Cat is a rpm motor to create power. The smaller the diesel engine the harder it cranks and the smaller the bearing. If your running a C 13 or smaller change them before 800,000 or else! Most motor replacements have been cat smaller engines from spinning a bearing. 8 hours labour and $200 in parts is one hell of allot cheaper than $ 10,000 eng plus core charges in the thousands plus labour and a few bugs to work out. The bigger cats I have seen bearings out of them up to mil 400,000 and they were shot but the cat cyls just don't make it they wear out from the outside and pit through and or liner o rings blow out and put coolant in the oil.

Cummins engines are the hardest on bearings they are more of a stoker diesel motor. Low end torque! This beats the bearings out but this is one of my most favorite motors to work on to make last for ever! Esp N14! N14 requires bearings every 500,000 you can go longer but the bearings look horrible and lots of brass showing. I have found the motors with this interval seem to last for ever and this is a motor that was designed like much larger motors that were make to fix one or 2 cyls at a time and last forever. Only reason to ever replace a block and crank is if you have a big hole in the block and it is almost imposable to do this unless you have very unusual special circumstances. L10 to M11 6 to 800,000 this motor will spin out of pushed to far . ISX. 1 mill This motor has been very good even tho its not my favorite and have had lots of complaints on HP it seems to be a very low maintenance motor.

Mercedes diesel this motor reminds me allot of smaller Cat diesels in the bearing department. Not many make it to mil without changing the bearings. It has very small bearings in it compared to others.

If you follow these guidelines for changing your rod and main bearings your diesel motor may out last you!

Tired of trucking and want a change or just want to truck part time?

2009-05-27T20:09:00.010-05:00

How many of you truckers want a change but just cant find anything you know how to do to make the same or more money each month?

Have you ever considered being a broker?

I am one person that has the same problem. I have been turning wrenches for many years and believe me if I could find something else to do that would pay me the same and didn't half to get all dirty and full of grease and fuel everyday i would jump to the opportunity. Its not that i don't love what i do. Its what i do is a dirty, sweat dripping, bloody job! If i could find a job turning wrenches in an air conditioned building with no oil or fuel around and be able to fabricate without the fumes from the torch burning rubber or paint. If the grinder didn't plug my sinuses. I would have a perfect job! Diesel repair is what i know.

Trucking is what you know!

Being a broker to you would be as easy as me being the service wrighter.

I do the service wright er job on a daily basis when needed we all share the responsibility in our shop. We want our customers to have a personal relationship with our mechanics. We don't have you sign in and you never get to see what goes on behind the counter. We talk to you and get a feel for the problem and it helps us help you.

If i can do the service wright er job because i know about diesel repairs then i highly believe you can be a broker. You have the advantage of dealing with them everyday and you know all the tricks to every type of load you just half to have the ambition to make a change for the better. You can even broker from your truck you drive know for an extra income!
Being a broker will help you with your own loads, you wont half to run as many miles each week for the same income, you can even make so much money once you get started that you can retire and hire someone to run it for you on your computer. Its a win win situation all the way around all you half to do is just do it.
I have found a company that will give you all the necessary tools and training to become the most successful broker in the industry
freight broker boot camp Click Here!
You should check it out! I know if I had this kind of opportunity I would definitely check into it!

truck shocks

2009-05-26T17:52:00.003-05:00

Here is a few tips on shocks and when to change them

Truck shocks are a very important item if you plan on keeping your truck for a very long time.
I know allot of you truckers neglect your shocks. Your shocks are a very important item in maintaining your truck from falling apart. Truck shocks keep your hood, dash, doors, switches, and everything else from rattling apart. I have seen trucks that do keep good shocks and trucks that don't and i can tell when i ck them over and test drive them.

I prefer gas shocks. Their close to the same price and my drivers always comment on how much better they drive and handle. I haven't as many truck drivers comment on fluid shocks.

The average mileage that I find fluid shocks leaking or when I find a gas shock is around 300,000. Some last longer but I recommend 300,000 because every time I change them on my customers that keep track of their repair bills. They always call me up and say they cant believe how much better it rides. That its a new truck again!

I know you don't want to spend no more than you half to but i would rather put a set of shocks on than repair a cracked hood, dash repair, wiring,switches,or kingpins from your front end shaking all day. Not to mention your back. OUCH

trucker repair cost saving tips: Here is a cheat sheet to pass your next CDL test

2009-05-14T19:50:00.000-05:00

trucker repair cost saving tips: Here is a cheat sheet to pass your next CDL test

Here is a cheat sheet to pass your next CDL test

2009-05-08T17:42:00.005-05:00

I have found a web page that will give you all the tests and answers!

You truckers can skip studding all those road rule books!
You truckers can up grade to doubles, triples, hazardous, or passenger vehicle
I don't know about you truckers but every time I have to take that dreaded CDL test I barley pass the computer tests. The questions are not worded as I would assume the situation is. The answers sometimes don't seem as they would be the most logical and the Numbers are sometimes irrelevant if your not a mechanic doing the repairs!

I have found a website for you truckers that has all the tests and answers click here to take the easy way out on your next CDL test.

This web sight is a powerful tool in my book!

My boss has just failed it twice in a row and is not to happy! He is studying it now!

How embarrassing would it be if A trucker had to tell dispatch that you failed the test and cant haul a load until you can retake the test again.

I know i don't want to have to tell a trucker that i cant test drive his truck because i don't have a license for it how would that make me look in your eyes?

How you truckers can get an extra 100,000 miles out of your closeed tread drive tires with out a premature blow out.

2009-05-08T16:54:00.008-05:00

I have been seeing something over the last 5 to 10 years that is becoming a issue of mine on closed side tread drive tires and is getting lots worse.

Closed side tread tires is a awesome over the road drive tread for you Diesel truckers. Its a very high mileage tire that wears very well. I rarely see a open tread on any diesel truck that is over the road these days. But I have an issue that I have been seeing more and more. Especially when behind an automated transmission.

These closed side Diesel truck tires are blowing out and having ten 32nds or more tread on them!

These blow outs are because of embedded rocks!

Hear me out and get an extra year or so out of most of these tires!

I don't like changing tires, patching tires or trying to find a good used tire to match the tread depth of the tire next to it! Especially if I have told the driver about this a year before and have reminded him at services since! I don't like doing anything that has to do with tires. They are hard work and no one wants to pay $74 an hour for this service. I do do a fair amount of truck tire repair tho more than I like but it is a service that I provide to my diesel truckers because they want it done right and have no out of round tires like they have had from the tire repair shops that hire young kids and don't show them how to properly clean the buildup off of the rim, how to seat the bead, be centered, how to keep the bead lubricated until you have it full of air and still lubed while you put the first hundred miles on it. This is especially critical on front ends and drive tires! I mean what trucker wants their hood and dash shaking and falling apart? Not to mention the front end parts on your truck wearing out. I will discuss how to make sure your tire guy does this correctly another day.

Here's the issue with these tires. Who ever worries about their tires having the cords being exposed to the elements and being chewed on by rocks and blowing out when they are relatively new?
This is a issue that no one that i know of worries about.
I have found after checking into this that you half to clean all the marble size rocks out of your tread at least once a year. I recommend twice a year. It takes about an hour to do all 8 drives. I ck my customers truck tires during service intervals I will pick a few deep ones out and see how far they have dug in. I have found that when the tires are over half tread is when this is very critical! The rocks get embedded between the lugs and work their way to the cords and chew on them tel either you have a blow out or the tire wears down far enough that it finally spits the rock out after a couple hundred thousand miles. By the time the tire finally gets rid of the rocks the damage has already been done. The casing is ruined in my opinion. the cords are busted up and have been exposed to the elements and made fragile.

I have found in my studies that diesel trucks with automated trans are having this issue much worse! Its something about how smoothly they shift and torque up. It makes the rock dig and dig deep on these diesel truck tires. Not all tires do this but I would say half of them do.

Take a look at your newer diesel truck dual drive tires and if you see a few to several rocks in them. Dig them out and ck to see if they are starting a hole.

Lets get some life out of them expensive drive tires.

You may think I am crazy for recommending digging the rocks out of your diesel truck tires but after you have a blow out or 2, and noticing you still have quarter tread left. then you start checking the tires you notice chunks of rubber missing down to the rusty cords. You will have seen where a rock has been living for a couple years. Then all you can do by then is get the credit card, com ck or however you pay for those expensive new diesel truck drive tires a year before you were ready to. ouch!!!

Take a mechanics word on this I am one of the guys that sees this issue weekly and I am addressing it to you diesel truckers on how to save allot of bucks a year on your repair bills!

How you truckers can save $500 on your airconditioner repair bill this spring or summer !

2009-05-03T12:36:00.013-05:00

Its that time of year again when you will raise that hood on your truck and turn those water valves off to get the maximum efficiency out of your air-conditioner.

You turned the valves off and your air conditioner is still hardly working at all. Your thinking not again, every time you have it worked on it cost at least $500 to $1200 and its only been a year or 2!

I. am going to give you a Quick lesson that anyone can do. how to know if your air conditioner is working properly and if the system is at full charge and a simple cheap way ck to find a leak

pay attention i am going to move along fast but in order!

This is what you can do to save you money and and speed up my repairs on your truck because I work at a hourly shop not a commission shop I do it the best I can the first time even if its going take longer or shorter than book time I don't care how long the book says it takes . I know how long it takes me to do it right. Every truck has its own personality and has different requirements.

I will give a tip on how to pay less on repairs at shops on your air conditioner.

Don't ask for a quote!
If you trust taking it there then you should trust them to do their best to keep it cheap as possible. Tell them to keep it as cheap as possible all shops have diff procedures but will do their best if you ask. A quote takes time to prepare for you and it gets marked up to make sure all expenses are covered . We never bill less even if we have less time in it to cover our expenses of giving you the quote. The only way its ever less is if That was not the repairs needed!

First you need to determine a few things
Is the compressor running?
If not is it electrical or empty?
If so is it running all the time or cycling under full capacity?

I have took the time to find a few cheap products that i have used and know of others that have used. I have listed them on my blog. These products are cheap and will work just fine for no more than you will use them. They are simple but to the point. I will not confuse you with the more complicated machinery.

Next you need to start the truck turn the blowers on hi and see how the system is operating. If the compressor is running you will have to make sure the system is full. To do this you will need to look at the sight glass on the drier you can follow the lines to find the drier ( It looks like a 40 ounce can Usually on pass side or the fire wall) that is used and on most all trucks there is a sight glass on the drier you need to have only some bubbles going thru it. A perfect system the compressor will stay running all the time and the glass will clear up then when the engine fan kicks on the glass will go to bubbles until aft the fan kicks off any where from 30 sec to 180 seconds depending if its on a timer but that don't matter here.

If its low go to any auto store and get a cheap can of freon and the cheapest thing they have to install it. I have found some links to very good products you can purchase to save a cupple hundred bucks. I Recommend the one with the plastic handle that just pierces the can and has a short hose with a coupler to hook to the low side coupler. This is the small blue one. Don't worry if it dont have a gauge if your truck has a sight glass.You hook it up to the truck running and fill the system tel the bubbles just go away stop its full.

Once the system is full. a normal truck holds around 3 lbs some Pete's and other large sleeper trucks hold up to 5 lbs these will have a tag and say it. Don't over fill to think that will help. It will actually make it almost a heater!

If it took less than one lb of freon and has been a year since you have had it worked on I wouldn't even take it to a shop! Your done! Wow I just saved you a couple hundred dollars by the time they put the machine charge, shop expenses,ect, ect.

If it took more than one can get your Windex bottle out pour at least half out and go inside a restroom somewhere and put a couple tablespoons of hand soap in it, fill it up three quarters full, shake it, go back to your truck, shut it off, and soap the whole system down every hose, fitting, valve,the condenser in front of radiator. Start at the ac compressor on the engine and follow the hoses and soap it all until you find it bubbling somewhere and there is the leak ! I use this exact mixture or at least soap to find a leak it is more reliable than any thousand dollar leak detector I have ever used I Quit buying them they all seem to quit working in less than a year and they are not cheap and their unreliable! I will demo any of them but i still rely on lots of soapy water in a squirt bottle. Bubbles don't lie!

When you take it to the shop you can show them what you need have the service wright er check on parts before they start and that will save you a couple hundred dollars for a mechanic to do the same thing then he don't half to track you down or your company give a quote ect ect. Then if they don't have the part they will half to order it, and then you will get 2 repair bills, Two trips to the shop, and allot of extra time charged to the ticket ect ect.If its a hassle your going get charged for it.

If you can do that with less than 30 bucks worth of auto supplies that you can get almost anywhere It will take you 30 min and save you up to $500 bucks real easy. Especially if its not a dealership that charges flat rate!

Also make sure Your heater valves are shut off make sure they are not flowing hot water to the cab This will sometimes raise the dash temp 20 deg If they don't shut off!

Check your cab filter anyone at a truck stop shop will show you where it is, if it has one. I have charged many of truckers to change a cab filter a machine fee ect ect and at least a minimum half hour and it was just a dirty ten dollar filter and he payed me couple hundred dollars to the shop to do it
.
If your system has psi in it but the compressor on the engine wont engage turn the motor off turn the key back on check the fuses turn blower on low so its not making a lot of noise. Check over the wiring on the switches you soaped down earlier and you will hear the clutch on the compressor snap if you touch a bad spot or you may find a broken wire you can repair.

If still no problem found Take it to a good shop and let them figure it out.you will need Their knowledge and tools. You did good and that's all you can do to save a couple hundred. It could be a switch which would b cheap. It may need a complete system overhaul and going to cost over a grand, But you did good by just trying a cheap simple procedure. Next time do it for a fellow trucker and maybe get a tip, or charge him for diagnostics if you find the leak, You did save him a couple hundred bucks.

Brouse the products i have listed and see what ones you like best and they will ship them wherever you want i have only listed the cheapest and simplest products you can buy.

When to tune up a detroit diesel from my expriances of having seen inside hundreds.

2009-05-02T07:26:00.011-05:00

I have had the experience of having the heads off and been inside engines that have had up to and over 2 million miles on one engine. I know this because I have a few customers that I do their every repair on and that is their actual mileage from my maintenance tips and repairs and these trucks are clean and running coast to coast on a daily basis and have a minimum repair on the road like lights or an alternator. They say that my repair advice is the best most honest cost effective diesel repair That they have ever found. That is what i take pride in and i will always tell you what is wrong with your truck you might not like it but its my job and you can fix it or go on down the road the choice is yours its your truck.

My repairs when i take on a truck I want them for every service if possible. Some I only see every 2 or 3 services it depends in the age of truck and drivers expectations of the truck. I will go over the truck with my eyes and hands and I will know if and what is not going to make it at least 20,000 to the next service like drive line, belts, breaks, slack adjusters, seals, ect.

I have took on accounts like ADM and a Un named union car hauling companies and performed all their maintenance and the only bad review is the first couple services that I pick on the truck and request a list of repairs and after that they say my repair costs according to their other terminals I average thousands less in repairs a year on each truck with almost 0 road repairs. These companies have sent their supervisors and Foreman's to check these trucks over to see which ones to trade off since they are asuming they are raggs by what their repair bills are and they are amazed and say they are some of the best trucks in their whole fleet and they want to keep all of them in their fleet and usually give bonuses to the supervisors and drivers like more trucks, bigger plant operations and more bonuses like better fuel milage incentives. That's enuf about me i am just trying to give some examples of how much trust my customers have in me my crew and my procedures.

When to tune up a Detroit diesel? I am going to talk about a Detroit because it is the one diesel engine that valve adjustment is most critical to not have engine failure! A Detroit diesel has one of the smallest longest valve stem which makes it the most fragile of all diesels. I have ran the overhead on hundreds of these at every mileage range you can imagine. A Detroit diesel has the tightest intake valve setting of .008 where most other diesel engine's are in the teens. A Detroit diesels valves are one of the worst for the valve to wear up into the head and the valve get tight since the valve head is so small compared to others.

Here's a tip for you truckers from experience every Detroit diesel that I have disassembled that dropped a valve there was 0 valve lash on all other cyls and they were all very tight to the point that the valve doesn't seat tightly. My opinion of why it dropped a valve is from neglect around 99percent of the time. The other times I find a Detroit diesel with dropped valve I find markings in the carbon build up on the top of the piston from worn out rings and has been burning lots of oil. That's how close everything gets inside. Its also shows how fragile the valve is that if carbon starts touching the valves it makes the valve head wobble. Any at all for a very short time the head just pops off It usualy dropes a valve from this when when the jakes are on is what the truck driver has told me. I have fixed motors that others have overhauled their self and dropped valves aft 3 sec of running from having the cam timing off and there was the smallest marks on the tops piston and it dropped 3 cyls in 3 sec the owner couldn't believe how fragile they were and wished i would have done the work instead of their self to save a buck.

So how often you want to know? I recommend running the overhead on a Detroit diesel The first time at 100,000 and every 300,000 to 500,000 aft that depending on what the driving conditions are and how much you idle. If you have your foot on the floor all day hauling rock with a Allison I recommend the lowest. If you are over the road and have a gen pack of some kind you can push it to the max. If you idle every night I would recommend somewhere in the middle. If you have a valve job or a new head on your Detroit diesel you need to start this procedure all over!

I will recommend any time you have the valve cover off to set the valves and inj on a Detroit diesel! This procedure will ensure that you will have done everything you could possably do to ensure you never drop a valve and you will get the most mileage with the best fuel milage you passably can out of your Detroit diesel engine.

I have had claims of receiving up to 1 mpg better mileage after a tune up. That should be enuf reason right there to never neglect your overhead on your Detroit diesel engine.

Lucas oil additive is it worth it and what does it do on the inside.

2009-05-01T18:32:00.006-05:00

I am sure all you truckers out there have seen all those gallons of Lucas oil additive and want to take the best care you can of or your diesel engine to achieve the highest mileage out of those bearings and moving parts right? I mean who wants to spin a rod or main bearing.

Here's a tip from my actual experiences with Lucas oil in the diesel engine with my hands and eyes.

This tip is going to shock all you truckers!

In my years of experience and seeing hundreds if not thousands of bearings, rings,camshafts, and gears I have been able to tell if a motor of over 600,000 miles has had Lucas oil in it on a regular basis.

You truckers are probably thinking i am crazy right How can i do that. But I prove it every time to truckers and my collages and have not been wrong once in years when a motor gets tore down and i start checking over the parts to make a list of parts needed I always check the bearings to determine if and how much polishing I am going to have to do the crankshaft.

You should see the truckers or owner operators Expression when I have a bearing in my hand and know no history of the truck and I say to the truck driver you use Lucas oil don't you?
Its a look of shock and I always get the reply how did you know that?
So I hold the bearing out and show the driver the wash out on it and I always get the same reply again. That's what it does I thought it was supposed to help the bearings out. But the bearing is the prof. It has a groove in is and you can see how the diff types of metal on it look it almost looks like its is kind of a flaky material. like the bearing is pealing instead of wearing. The metal looks gummy and rolled up it will have small holes all over. If it has had 2 gallon treatments at services of Lucas it will have a large washout in it.

What is the one thing all engine manufactures say about high oil psi? They give you a PSI range and say do not raise the oil psi it will wash out the bearings over time. Cummins said it thousands of times back in the day when people were comparing small cams to the other engines like cat, Detroit, mack, oil psi to cummins they said it had plenty of oil psi and it would wash the bearings if you raise the PSI every type of engine manufacture in the world will tell you this about their motor still today especially. I do say that I do have a harder time determining if a cummins has had Lucas oil in it because they run a lower oil PSI. But i still find the material having the rolling pealing and flaking material look in it and the bearings are a darker color.

They call it liquid ball bearings who in their right mind would want ball bearings in a oil suspension reciprocating parts engine. If the manufactures wanted that they would of made the engine with ball bearings not smooth type bearing they paid money and done the research and testing and have decided on the quality and grade of oil that will last the best for the most engine life. Its these sticky ball bearings that are rolling around and around your crankshaft,camshaft and lifter rollers and pealing away the good material in the bearing and washing them out .

Turn your outside faucet on and let it leave a Small hole in the dirt and that's how the hole in the bearing looks at first these holes in the bearings I thought they were just bad bearings at first but I came to find out after years of asking the drivers what kind of oil they run I found the mystery bearing termite was Lucas not bad bearings and you can see how it just eats at it like a termite until the puddle of oil that's in it spinning at a phenomenal rate of speed in this hole. It wears and works its way out at an angle to the side and blows out the side of the bearing leaving a river trail for the oil to escape.This means this bearing journal is not getting lubricated properly and I am going to half to get the emery cloth out and polish the journals that had the bearings with the river trail to clean up all the scratches and get the excess bearing material off of the crankshaft since that journal didn't get lubricated well and had material exchange. Then i have to clean all that emery cloth material grindings out of the oil passages in the crankshaft so it don't scratch up the new bearings. This means it is going to take me longer to change out your diesel engines bearing and is going to cost you more in the end!

Lucas is a very thick oil and is sold to help your engine have a dry start up right? Well that's the only way that they can legally sell it for an engine is my opinion. Because I have torn down motors that have sit for months with no oil pan and no oil in it waiting for the driver or company to decide if they want to fix it or sell it to salvage yards. When they decide to fix it after 3 or 4 months of not finding any one who will pay them what they would like and if they decide to fix it I will pull the motor the rest of the way down.If its not a motor replacement needed. I will have oil running out of the crankshaft and every where else during disassemble. I have not yet found one dry bearing that needed Lucas or any thing else to lube it during start up! Unless it was a old two stroke that someone dug out of a fence row or the engine was submerged! Actually if i can i prefer to give it a quick 3 second start without oil in it to sling the oil out so its not running down to my arm pits! and the oil still comes running out everywhere and getting all over me everywhere! The diesel engines have so much oil capacity in the passages in the block the engine would probably drip for at least a year. its un believable how long they can sit and not ever have a dry bearing if the oil pan is on especially.

So answer this how many of you truckers take a 6 month vacation between start ups and need to run Lucas? I bet not one in a hundred thousand truckers need to use Lucas in a diesel engine. We will sell it if you truckers want to buy it. But we will never recommend it if you ask.

My personal opinion as a mechanic i say that if you think you half to run it in the engine put a small blob in the fuel tank before fill ups and run it thru the fuel system that's where I believe the lubrication is needed most.

So my tip to all you people wanting to run Lucas in an engine I say no it creates me more work and you more money and less bearing life. Keep it in the fuel, wheel hubs, transmissions, rear ends, and other rotating parts that actually have ball bearings roller bearings and gears in them to run them cooler longer.

A money saving tip on bio diesel and advantages and disadvantages for you truckers.

2009-04-30T18:00:00.003-05:00

This is a veteran mechanics experiences of bio diesel for you truckers.

Is it worth the money you save?

That's what everyone wants to know. Bio diesel is very excellent for a strong economy its cheaper, even tho it costs more to produce it than petrolium. It uses our resources available in the area, it helps our farming community, it lessens our requirement of foren oil. Those are some of the advantages of using bio diesel.
But you truckers i am sure you have had some other experiences with it. just imagine most of you only own one or a couple trucks.

Me and my crew have to maintain hundreds of our own customers and millions that drive threw the heart of America and break down. My experiences with bio diesel is a different than yours because i have to fix them if they break and bio diesel is not one of my favorites. So i am going to give you truckers a money saving tip to save me a road service call so i can stay in the shop and do major repairs and not have to work along the side of very dangerous highways.

Fuel filters if you truckers are going to run bio diesel carry at least 2 extra filters and a couple bottles of algae preventive treatment! I know you truckers are thinking i don't really want to get fuel everywhere on you and you don't have any accessible fuel to fill the filters anyway right. Well here's the trick you don't need any fuel to fill the filters. Sounds crazy right? That's what the algae additive is for. Bear with me for a second and i will explain. There are so many types of bio diesel from soy diesel to what i call fat diesel and there are many types in between. Your probably wondering which one are you running right! Unless you have a fuel pump at home and they are delivering it right to your house it could b any of them and if you are doing that than i bet you have had some very bad experiences with it!

Bio diesel has been starting a new type of mold that grows on the walls of your fuel tank! If you keep it agitated and kept cold it is kept to a minimum. That's why the fuel stations have no problem with it only the truckers! I have dad to get trucks running that became so plugged up by this that there was a chunk of mold 2 foot long and 4 inches thick growing in a tank after sitting for only 2 summer months! This mold does not grow in all tanks and sometimes you only have a small concentration of it and you never know it and it cleans itself up and disappears and other times it grows vigorously until you start having problems its like a fuel flu virus. and has to be treated like a cold and put on medication and you have to drive it through it tell it clear es up.

Winter time that's the other concern right. my suggestion from my experiences with winter bio is DON'T DO IT!!! If its going to get below 40 during the next week anywhere that you are traveling don't use bio run it out of the system and carry extra filters maybe 3 or 4 and a case of additive just in case! Here's some very important reasons why.

Number one if you have been running it all summer you may have some buildup in your tank and the first time your fuel temp in your tank goes below freezing like when you fuel up it will kill all that stuff in your tank and start breaking up and plugging filters some trucks worse than others.

Number 2 reason is that most all types of bio diesel will separate when below 30 deg it turns to a white fatty or grey cream in the bottom of your tank ! That's why you don't want it in a above ground storage tank at home.

And number 3 It can get dang cold in that truck waiting for a service truck to get there! Especial if it happens at night in the middle of no where !

I have went to farmers and truckers homes and got a trucks and tractors running that was gummed up with this bio diesel and they tell me about how they had extra after fall harvest of a high concentrated non road bio fuel and i will take them to their storage tank to ck it. Turn the nozzle on and circulate the fuel and it has just come out fat no fuel! I show them how to agitate it with air and their pump so when they decide to use it it when it warms up it wont gum up the whole fuel system and they will be calling me out again.

So if you truckers are going to be running bio diesel here's a few tips to remember.

1 carry a couple extra fuel filters and a filter wrench just in case. It never hurts to Carry more than one I have been on and have sent other mechanics to fetch a truck and it only needed filters. And just because you may have just changed it don't mean its not plugged again. I have known truckers that have had to change them daily tel it clears up. not that they wanted to but can you imagine how many hundred dollars this will save you if this happens to you truckers in 1 to 4 weeks of treating this issue. believe me aft about the second one in a week you are probably getting crabby!

2 carry enough additive to fill the filters. this wont hurt a thing i have filled hundreds like this on the road. This is how you also ungel a jelled up fuel system in the winter but i will do that tip later this fall.The last thing you want all over you on the road in your truck is that stinking fuel on your hands right. So you fill the filters with additive to the top. Your engine wont even studder by the time it gets to the injectors it is very diluted and will probably help clean them up. give them a better spray pattern and better atomization.

3 If its going to get cold GET IT OUT! Especially If you truckers are going to drive north in the winter don't even think about it that's always a road service call then a tow bill then a repair bill cha ching cha ching that card gets hot after so many times used in one day OUCH!

4 if your storing it at home circulate real good and check it before you use it.

If you truckers follow these tips you wont have any problems or road service calls from using bio diesel. This little tip could save you hundreds maybe thousands If you would happen to get a mold issue from bio diesel

This i can guarantee from my 16 years of diesel mechanic repairs