Caramel Diesel Bug

[westernman]

The guy who has just done a full service on my engine tells me the black sludge in the bottom of the Racor prefilters is the Caramel Diesel Bug.

He tells me that there is not an additive in France which will touch it, but there is some American stuff which will do the job.

What might it be?

The attack is not particularly severe, so a dose of the right stuff might do the job.

I hope so as there is no easy access to the tank (apart from the end which goes to the engine and the fuel filler on the deck - some way from the tank itself), so not much chance of cleaning the tank in anyway.

So what is this magic American additive?

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[ms1]

Sorry I dont know the answer to your question ... but..
Before you start with additives, might you be able to 'hoover' round the bottom of the tank with a suction pump and get some of the muck out (and presumably some water) .... ?

 

[Topcat47]

Roger that. If it's in the filter bowl, it's in the tank. Starbrite do a biocide that kills of the bugs but does nothing for the sludge. A clean tank is the only answer.

 

[westernman]

The tank has very poor access. I guess with a flexible tube a should be able to reach the tank bottom via the fill pipe. I should be able to suck up the bottom layer from the tank - presumably this is where the sludge is going to collect.

Would it be true to say, that I am not going to see much in the filters unless the sea is rough enough to stir everything up?

Any particular biocide to recommend?

My engine guy said all the stuff available in the French swindleries is a waste of time - but some American stuff is the bees nees.

Would it be best to add biocide now - the tanks are almost empty, suck up as much of the gunge as possible and then fill to the top with fresh diesel?

 

[ms1]

can you remove the tank gauge sender unit. I have had good result with this, a metre of 10mm plastic pipe and various widths of hose connected to a hand suction pump. Catch the result in a used 5L fuel plastic mineral water bottle.
Vigorous pumping removed loads of muck.
Sorry dont know about American bio treatment. Actually I would have thought the Europeans would lead in this field as huge proportion of American boats are gasoline not diesel.