Just lost an injector ($1,000 incl. labour) on a CAT C15 with 470,000 mi. The CAT technician said such failures are often caused by poor quality fuel, when water and sediments get in. He recommended buying fuel only at busy truck stops where diesel doesn't stay in the underground tanks for long. Anyone has an opinion on what truck stop chain sells better diesel fuel?

Flying J? Petro? TA? Pilot? Any comments would be appreciated.

I need to stop fueling at Petro-Canada ...

 

All those truck stops are busy. I am sure most if not all the above get multiple deliveries a day. Probably much of the fuel comes from the same refineries in the area. I think the only difference you will find is how it is formulated for weather and region.

Was this engine not under warranty? How years/miles does Caterpillar warranty their engines?

 

Do you know what size your filters are?

Do you know what size your filters are supposed to be?

That is a big thing for keeping debris out of your injectors.

Diesel is Diesel is diesel.

Look at how new a facility is, not how busy it is! New facilities have fiberglass tanks, or steel tanks with fiberglass linings. Decent facilities change the filters at the tanks and at the dispensers on a regular basis. Newer facilities generally have better filtration systems in place.

 

I rarely fuel at the truckstops anymore. Mostly at the small stations. I particularly like Gulf diesel. Use only CAT filters, and have a fuel/water separator. Other than that, it's just a luck of the draw....You could get water in a fuel, or similar problems, practically anywhere. BTW. $1000 seems to be steep....

 

This is a 2004 International with a CAT and I got it used in 2007. So the warranty expired in January 2010. The original warranty was for 3 years, I think, and then I had the extended one, that didn't cover 99.9% of problems (as is often the case with extended warranties).

 

That's a great point, thanks. I didn't know they had fiberglass tanks in newer truck stops! My filters are what CAT recommends - I'm using a huge water/fuel separator which is also my primary fuel filter near the windshield and then there's #2 at the bottom, near the wheel. Lately, I've been experimenting with replacing them every 10,000 miles, while the service is done every 20,000 miles.

 

That's a CAT dealer prices for you. I don't know a small shop that works on CAT engines. If I had a Detroit or Cummins, the work would probably be cheaper.

 

Cat injector is around $400 over the counter

 

Are you talking about a NEW injector? Purchased at a dealer? This is the first time this happened to me, so naturally next time I'd like to save some money ... Where can you get them at this low price? Thanks.

 

I read somewhere that CAT doesn't want you to pre-fill the fuel filters for fear of getting dirt in there.