ATF in Diesel Fuel

[Banjo]

I have heard from several different people over the years to add ATF to my diesel fuel to lubricate the injector pump because the low sulfer diesel nowadays has no lubricating qualities to it. So in order to preserve my tractors injector pump I have been adding ATF regularly to my fuel for the last few years.

Yesterday, I asked a guy who works at a place that rebuilds injector pumps....I asked him about putting ATF in the diesel fuel and he said the problem with it is, it settles to the bottom of the tank.
its used up first then the rest of the tank has know lubricant. He said to use Total Power or something equivalent and that it would stay mixed up well with the fuel.

So I wanted to see what you guys think? Is the ATF a waste of time and money?

 

[Caustic Burno]

I made diesel for a living for 35 years
Since the 2006 regulations I run 2 cycle outboard motor oil TC-W3


Pint goes in every fill up on everything I have made before 06 that is my truck tractors and generator

 

[Banjo]

I am glad you mentioned that CB. I was wondering about 2 cycle oil because it apparently mixes well and stays mixed in gas.....don't know why it wouldn't in diesel.

 

[Banjo]

BTW is that the same as goes in weedeaters, chainsaws, etc.? Or is that what goes in outboard boat motors....is there a difference?

 

[Caustic Burno]

BTW is that the same as goes in weedeaters, chainsaws, etc.? Or is that what goes in outboard boat motors....is there a difference?

For outboards
There is a difference there was quite a bit of testing went on for lubricants and it came out in the top as it is also ash less and smokeless.

 

[Texasmark]

Back in 1995 time line I was running 100 gal a day and every tank got a quart of ATF running a 1979 800 cu. in. Cummins Big Cam 400 hp engine with a million miles on it, one major. Other than a crack in the turbine external tubes causing a whistle and my uneducated brain thinking it was the $700 turbine, I had no problems with the engine. Was it the ATF? Who knows. I guess it didn't stay long enough in the tank to separate. TC-W3 is "2 cycle-Watercraft, 3rd addition" spec. Diesel and oil are both petroleum products, similar in composition; no reason they wouldn't combine. On TC-W3 and gasoline, I boated over 50 years and that was back when you put a quart of automotive 30 wt oil in a 6 gal portable can of gas and I never saw the oil separate from the gas once mixed then or now.