PSA: I thought those aftermarket fuel additives were a total scam until my old 7.3 started acting up

For years I laughed at the bottles of 'diesel performance' stuff on the parts store shelf. Figured it was just snake oil for people who didn't know how to maintain their rigs. Then my '99 F-250 with the Powerstroke began having these weird, random power losses, especially on cold mornings here in Spokane. It wasn't throwing a clear code, just acting sluggish. A guy at the truck stop, who looked like he'd seen a few things, told me to try a bottle of Hot Shot's Secret Diesel Extreme. I was desperate, so I dumped it in. Two tanks later, the rough idle smoothed out and the power came back. I guess the injectors were just gunked up after 250k miles. Still feels weird that a $25 bottle of liquid actually did something. Has anyone else had a legit fix from an additive they swore they'd never use?

2 comments

2 Comments

seth_martinez218d ago

Honestly, that stuff is still mostly a band-aid. A good fuel filter change and running quality diesel usually fixes those issues for good.

wren_walker628d ago

My old truck had the same issue for years. Seth_martinez21 is right about the basics, but I see people skip simple fixes for fancy solutions all the time now. It's like we're trained to look for the complicated answer first.