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I found out the other day that I have algae in my diesel - I'd never heard of this issue before. Apparently it happens rarely, it looks like your tank has black soot in it. When it gets bad the entire fuel can turn into black sludge and damage the engine.
Mine was not bad yet so I wanted to go buy stuff to get rid of it immediately.
Well I had a hell of a time getting some! I went to a bunch of car parts places and some people thought I was making things up about the algae and the rest had no idea what I was talking about.
I ended up going to a marine store and bought their product, racor biocide, comes in a small 16 oz bottle. It was $30 bucks but I can now deal with 1200 gallons of diesel with algae.
So I did some calculations and the basic shock treatment for about 16 gallons (smallest dose possible) should work some wonders on the 10 gallon tank of the TDI.
A follow up treatment the next week and the week after is required, but that should be that.
Before doing any of this I decided that I needed to clean out as much of the algae as possible, I also had to clean my lift pump which was clogged.
I first pumped out all the Diesel into two large white buckets I picked up for free from the grocery stores near my place. I had to wash them well but it was worth it.
I used plastic to protect my upholstery and it was a really good idea.
I used a pump and got 99% of the fuel out.
My lift pump is model 1J0 919 050.
This lift pump is easy to disassemble.
To disassemble, remove the 4 torx 20 screws on the back.
Using a plastic scraper carefully pry off the 4 tabs at the top of the canister (3 on the side & 1 on the back).
Then pull down and rotate to the side, where the thin tube on the outside is located, to slide it off.
Now the pump is disassembled. Notice that there is only one large filter at the bottom instead of the double filter some other models have.
See the sludge in the bottom of the canister. The check valve is on the bottom of the canister, and by running water through from the outside in, it's easy to see if it's plugged.
Here is a view of the algae deposits in my tank which caused the clogging to begin with. I wiped the interior of the tank down with paper towels to get rid of as much of it as possible.
As of today I must say it's a success, my lift pump is working great again and my fuel looks good.
I'll have to change my fuel filter after a few tanks once any leftover algae is in the filter and I won't be not plugging the new filter.
Mine was not bad yet so I wanted to go buy stuff to get rid of it immediately.
Well I had a hell of a time getting some! I went to a bunch of car parts places and some people thought I was making things up about the algae and the rest had no idea what I was talking about.
I ended up going to a marine store and bought their product, racor biocide, comes in a small 16 oz bottle. It was $30 bucks but I can now deal with 1200 gallons of diesel with algae.
So I did some calculations and the basic shock treatment for about 16 gallons (smallest dose possible) should work some wonders on the 10 gallon tank of the TDI.
A follow up treatment the next week and the week after is required, but that should be that.
Before doing any of this I decided that I needed to clean out as much of the algae as possible, I also had to clean my lift pump which was clogged.
I first pumped out all the Diesel into two large white buckets I picked up for free from the grocery stores near my place. I had to wash them well but it was worth it.
I used plastic to protect my upholstery and it was a really good idea.
I used a pump and got 99% of the fuel out.
My lift pump is model 1J0 919 050.
This lift pump is easy to disassemble.
To disassemble, remove the 4 torx 20 screws on the back.
Using a plastic scraper carefully pry off the 4 tabs at the top of the canister (3 on the side & 1 on the back).
Then pull down and rotate to the side, where the thin tube on the outside is located, to slide it off.
Now the pump is disassembled. Notice that there is only one large filter at the bottom instead of the double filter some other models have.
See the sludge in the bottom of the canister. The check valve is on the bottom of the canister, and by running water through from the outside in, it's easy to see if it's plugged.
Here is a view of the algae deposits in my tank which caused the clogging to begin with. I wiped the interior of the tank down with paper towels to get rid of as much of it as possible.
As of today I must say it's a success, my lift pump is working great again and my fuel looks good.
I'll have to change my fuel filter after a few tanks once any leftover algae is in the filter and I won't be not plugging the new filter.
If it's smoken it ain't broken
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