Acid in fuel

DEEZUZ

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I have something melting everything in the fuel system. 'fuel' hits the floor and starts melting the concrete and smoking. Battery acid cleaner turns it all red so it's Def acid.


CCPc98u.jpg
 

DEEZUZ

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Receipt shows 2 cans of seafoam from last shop...


No way that's causing this.
 

dsberman94

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I’d ask the customer if he pissed anyone off recently. Muriatic acid eats concrete, costs less than $10, and is readily available at Lowe’s.
 

co04cobra

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I’d have to think vandalism as well. That’s some straight WOAH sh!t.
 

DEEZUZ

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Someone told me before I even showed them pictures that when sulfuric hits alumi it makes caves and hardened bubbles... Well those shelves in the HFCM suuuuuure look like that
 

TooManyToys

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It might be an "Algae" problem - it's not really algae, but it's the term associated with it. You can check with pH strips.

From one source -.

4. Your fuel pH is lower than it should be. Algae in diesel fuel produce acids that gradually skew the fuel's pH towards an acidic environment. A pH of 7.0 is neutral, so adding acid to the fuel will decrease the pH number. A fuel pH of less than 5.8 indicates a serious problem and is strong evidence that there's a microbe problem going on in the tank. Finding this out requires a pH meter, of course, so if you have one, it's another bullet in the arsenal of evidence that you can collect to determine if you've got a diesel fuel algae problem.

They may have picked up a bad load of fuel.
 
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DEEZUZ

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I'm still trying to decide how I'm even going to approach this. How do I pump the tank out and how do I handle the hazmat end of things..
 

dsberman94

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You want to do it the right way, it’s not gonna be cheap. Some sort of environmental disposal process which is expensive. And it’ll all probably have to be absorbed into a litter or pads, doubt they’ll take it in just liquid form.
 

PyroFighter

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I'm still trying to decide how I'm even going to approach this. How do I pump the tank out and how do I handle the hazmat end of things..
If the Fire Department where you live has a hazmat team give them a call. They should have the equipment to tell you exactly what the fuel consist of, and if it is indeed a type of acid they can neutralize it. This next part is a gray area and will vastly depend on how laid back the guys that show up are, but there is the potential they can dispose of it for you too.
 

DEEZUZ

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Brand new HFCM toast.
 

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tomlin

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Man it sure looks like some serious vandalism. From the pics it looks like sulfuric acid damage. Does it have that battery acid like odor? Not telling you to sniff it but it does have a very distinct smell. That's brutal damage. You may have more in disposal fees than the truck is worth? Safety Clean will often take mystery chemicals. It might be worth a call to see if they will take it. I have used Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda) to neutralize acids in the past. The thing is you don't really know for sure that it is an acid? It could be a strong base and still eat stuff up.
 

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