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ATF question

5K views 23 replies 11 participants last post by  mstarkey 
#1 ·
i was talking to my diesel shop forman buddy
about the fuel i been making (we discuss it often)
and i was telling him im about to get 50 gal of ATF.

he cautioned against using ATF
he said theres a bunch of fairly agressive cleaning agents in ATF
that keep the solenoids inside the tranny clean and operateing properly
he said that might not have enoughf lubricity and also may attack fuel system o-rings.
but heck as far as that goes he is seeing evidence that
USLD is attacking o-rings on the older trucks
as the newer brews of USLD are forulated for the PDF trucks
and arnt too friendly to the older trucks.

any thoughts on using ATF ???

david
 
#2 ·
For years alternative diesel fuels advocates (even the ever so greenies) have advocated blending ATF in to their fuel blends, and have raved about its improvements made in their engine performance. Also, ATF requires half as much gasoline to thin, so over all ATF is the cat's meow when it comes to alternative diesel fuels.
 
#4 ·
I have only used a tankfull and like it much more than WMO. It doesn't have the water that Wmo has, easier to mix. Burns alot better also. It's an ongoing experiment. Mike
 
#5 ·
I have been using WATF on and off for quite a few years and have been using it as my ONLY source of fuel for the last 18 months
There are plusses and minuses for it.
It is easier to blend at 5% Gasoline / summer and 10% Gasoline / winter.
I get mine already in drums and I use a rotary pump through a 10 micron filter to my Upflow which has a 5 micron filter.

The downside with WATF is that it comes from grenaded transmissions [ not regular oil changes ] so it is full of junk.
most of these particles are lighter [ or the same weight ] as the ATF so a centrifuge doesn't help too much, you need a micron rated filter.

The Auto-ignition temp of ATF is low at 250c [ Diesel is 210c ] so it burns quite well , but the downside is the flash point is quite high at 210c [ Diesel is 62c ] so it won't burn at all until it reaches this temp.

This results in carbon deposits around the "fire ring" where the injector screws into the head [ the coldest part behind the spray pattern ] which can block the spray from the glow plug causing difficult starting.

Every couple of months I pull the injectors and clean the head [ with a hand held 7.5mm drill bit ] and she's as good as new, its a 1 hour job for me so I live with it as a trade off for free fuel.

Remember "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch"
 
#7 ·
Ive been running a blend of around 20% for 3 years, no problems at all. I need to change some glow plugs here soon so we will see what a year of wmo/watf/bio looks like. I do also have a water/meth kit on the Ex that has been off and on for the year so it should be real intersting what they look like. I have been pushing closer to the 50% mark this past 2 months. But no problems with it at all.
 
#8 ·
humm,i had 5 gal of D2 in a barrel
i added 4 gal of wmo just because it was easyer than puttting it in storage
i added 35 gal ATF
and it took 17 gal of RUG to get viscosity right.
still trying to figure out why it took so much RUG..

it's been setteling with the RUG for 5 days now.
im going to re check viscosity and filter it.
 
#14 ·
it's a little peppier,you say it's rich
well i took a plastic cylinder about an inch around a 4 inches tall
drilled a 1 CM hole on the bottom
tested it with D2,then made my blend the same

this should be fairly accurate right ??
thats why im wondering of california fuel is the same as else where
 
#21 ·
If ATF is put through a serious filtering process... say down to 5 or 1 Micron... Can it be just slightly blended into any diesel motor?

Assuming none of the motors I'm talking about have DPFs or CATs should you stay away from newer/CR motors??

I'm thinking in the ball park of 90D2/10ATF and maybe increase as the temps come back up..

Guess I need to update the sig, but I'm not specifically talking about my 6.4 but sure would enjoy it if I...
 
#22 ·
I have a 96 F250 that I have run 100% used ATF through for about2years straight. Other than a little smoke on start up it has run great. I started mixing about 5 years ago. Started with just 20% ATF 80% Diesel. Ran great at that mix also. During the winter I will leave straight diesel in the front tank for start up and shutdown. I have found that mixing hydrolic fluid with used ATF filtered down through 1 micron filter make the engine quiter and smoother running at lower speeds. At higher speeds or rpms its still a loud engine. So over the last 5 years no new injectors or glow plugs. Oh and also since I am a diesel tech I do an injector cleaning with BG product once a year to be safe.
 
#23 ·
i ran 100% atf in my last truck for 2 years and 20k miles. had zero problems, idled better as well. i ran it all winter as well with no fuel additives, figured if the atf gelled i had bigger problems anyway. even on a -30 degree day with the truck plugged in it started just fine.
 
#24 ·
I started with using new ATF but now I only use used ATF. I took about 40 gallons of hydrolic fluid once from some heavy equipment I was working on and my truck never ran better. Almost sounded like a chevy 6.6. I mixed it 50/50 with diesel. The shop I work at doesnt work on heavy equipment anymore so I dont have access to it anymore. I just bought a 2002 7.3l. What are the effects of running red trans fluid through it. Will it make it go into limp mode?
 
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