I finally gave that 'diesel fuel additive for old injectors' a real shot

For years I thought those bottles were just snake oil, especially for our old farm tractors. But this spring, a buddy swore by a specific brand, Stanadyne, for his '97 John Deere that was running rough. I ran a tank through our backhoe and after about 15 hours of work, the idle smoothed out noticeably and the white smoke cleared up. I guess sometimes the simple fix actually works. What's your go-to additive for older mechanical injection systems?

3 comments

3 Comments

gray_roberts1mo ago

My uncle's old Ford 5000 had a real bad injector knock that even a rebuild kit didn't fully fix. We started mixing a quart of ATF into every other tank of diesel as a cleaner, and after a few months the noise was gone. Sounds crazy but it's a cheap old-timer trick that actually works.

lane.angela1mo ago

That Ford 5000 is a classic workhorse. Did you guys ever figure out what the ATF was actually cleaning out? I've heard it can break down varnish in the fuel system, but I wonder if it was more about lubricating the injector pump on an old mechanical system like that.

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samthompson5d ago

Wow I've heard ATF works but never tried it, my neighbor swears by Lucas injector cleaner instead!