Cetane Booster

[30foot_trailer]

Parts guy posting in the Service forum, hopefully you don't banish me

I've seen a lot of chatter on truck forum's about low cetane content and ULSD fuel. It appears that Ford is even recommending cetane booster for use in the new PSD and even has a product line centered around Cetane.

Anyone help me with more info on this whole cetane thing?
I'd like to learn a bit more about it, and hey, if we can sell it and make more mney doing so....it's all good, right?


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"I'm a man, I can change, if I have to, I guess..."

[BENT RIM]

ULSD in the US is supposed to carry a minimum cetane rating of 40, the same as LSD. This is a federal standard. The US has the worst diesel fuel, cetane wise, in the world. Canadian fuel is better and Mexican, better still. Most diesel fuel conditioners, usually for anti-gelling, contain cetane boosters as well. Check with your bulk oil supplier, he's probably a distributor for at least one brand since he probably uses a lot in his own fleet.

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RIM--the enhancement for that "polished turd shine"

[tcollins]

30foot_trailer:

In our area, the cetane rating averages in the low 30's. Ford recommends a minimum of 45 for all the new PSD's. With the cetane booster that Ford sells, it increases our cetane to the low 40's. Still below mins but closer. With lower cetane we tend to see much higher EGR failures. It also has a lubricity additive in it that should appeal to all the older diesels that ran on the higher sulfur content and therefore were designed to have more lubrication from the fuel. Recently, we have had a large fleet begin using the booster to see if it reduces there overall maintenance costs compared to the cost of the product. If you want to contact me, I'll let you know how there doing. This should be a good test since they record and track all maintenance on there fleet.