If you are a regular user of diesel vehicles or generators, you may have fallen victim to contaminated diesel fuel. You may have regretted having anything to do with diesel engines because they are more expensive to buy and maintain.
However, if you have been patronizing the right diesel fuel supplier, your experience will be the exact opposite of what I just described. In this article, I want to highlight the effects of contaminated diesel fuel on your vehicles and mechanical plants.
Top Seven Effects of Contaminated Diesel Fuel
Improper combustion is nothing but a disaster to diesel engines, and it seems to be a problem in common with so many diesel engine problems. Here are the top seven effects of some contaminated diesel fuels on your engines and generators.
Hard-starting Problems:
If your diesel engine or generator is becoming hard to start, it’s time to check the quality of your fuel. You need to check the quality of fuel in your tank and be sure your cylinder has not been interacting with dirty fuel all along.
Also, diesel fuel with high water content is an invite to hard-starting. So, when next it takes so long to start your engine, check your fuel quality.
Poor fuel economy.
Contaminated diesel fuel erodes fuel economy no matter how good your engine is. However, to keep enjoying good fuel economy offered by engine manufacturers, you need to maintain consistent use of high-quality fuel.
Engine hesitation or near shutting down:
Is your engine occasionally shutting down or hesitating whenever you add more loads? That may be a result of contaminated diesel fuel. Your diesel engine is not supposed to slow down because of additional loads provided the load is within its manufacturer’s specified capacity.
However, maintaining good fueling habits as prescribed by manufacturers will keep your engine safe from unnecessary engine hesitation.
Engine pinging:
What is an engine pinging? Engine pinging is the metallic rattling sound an engine can make when accelerating. Besides hard-starting and engine hesitation, engine pinging is another sign that your engine may be running on contaminated diesel fuel.
However, engine pinging may not result in instant engine knock but may lead to it if you keep fueling your engine with adulterated fuels.
Engine power reduction:
As I mentioned earlier, improper combustion is a primary cause of problems for all diesel engines. Also, it usually results in a reduction of your engine performance as well as its power output. In case you are wondering about the causes of improper combustion, its primary root is in bad diesel fuel. However, to avoid the many problems associated with poor quality fuel, always patronize reliable diesel suppliers.
Higher emission
As I have stated several times in this article, wrong diesel fuel usually results in improper combustion, and this will invariably result in a faulty injection system.
As a result, higher emission becomes a problem not only to the engine owner but also to the society at large. However, to keep our environment safe, make sure you always use clean and high-quality fuel for your engines.
Consistent alert to check engine:
Imagine getting alerted to check your engine when you are in the middle of a long journey. Scared right? Well, this sometimes has to do with the low-quality fuel that is disrupting the efficient functioning of your engine.
How to Prevent Diesel Fuel Damage
contaminated diesel fuel could cause a lot of damage to your vehicles and generators, but the good news is that the problems are preventable. Let us look at a few ways in which we could curb diesel fuel-related problems in your engine.
Patronize reliable diesel supplier: The starting point is to always buy your diesel from trusted suppliers such as Diesel Nigeria, a platform run by Tank Farm and Petroleum Products Marketing Limited. Also, if you choose to buy from filling stations, make sure you reliable and trusted brands.
Diesel Specification Conformity: To avoid unnecessary problems, check the manufacturer’s manual for the diesel specification for your engine. However, failure to conform may result in endless engine problems that you never expected.
Replace Bad Diesel Fuel Immediately: The cost implication of trying to use up your current stock of wrong fuel may be higher than your current assumptions. For instance, if the contaminated diesel results in knocking your factory generator, you are likely going to suffer huge losses from production shutdown
Be Consistent with Routine Maintenance: If you are consistent with routine maintenance, it will be easy for your mechanic to detect bad diesel duel problem in time. Also, it will prevent severe damage that may result from prolonged contaminated diesel fuel usage.
Additionally, make use of qualified diesel engine professionals when carrying out routine maintenance on your generators.
Do you mind reading my article on recycled diesel oil?