one for 'real men' - freezing diesel old tips

[Tom D]

last year in that cold snap around christmas time I had to take a blowtorch to the fuel lines on the chipper, it started fine after that.

[Mesterh]

Kerosene also helps clean the pump, injectors etc as it is a solvent as far as I know. You can also add acetone which gives better mpg and I think it does something to any water in the tank which helps.

 

How vague is that for you!

[blazer]

Kerosene also helps clean the pump, injectors etc as it is a solvent as far as I know. You can also add acetone which gives better mpg and I think it does something to any water in the tank which helps.

 

How vague is that for you!

 

About as technical as I can cope with after a long day - many thanks:thumbup1:

[Old WoodChip]

I had a Merc van (307) and the manual said in winter add paraffin to the diesel to stop it waxing/freezing, about then they were bringing out fuel with additive so no need to worry about it freezing, but it did work. Have you seen the price of paraffin these days? in Aberystwyth I seen 4 litre for £10........ in hardware shop near me same container was £5. But I can remember it half a crown a gallon......... :-)

 

I remember one winter under a ford transit with a hair drier trying to warm it enough to start, it was bloody cold! I lost a few days work then but never since.

[robbo 110]

the lithuanian that works in the yard has some methods that work in colder temps than we will ever get...... parrafin or petrol added tho the derv, he lags all fuel pipes same as you would household water pipes, small bits of ply to stop the wind blowing underneath the motor too much, only the last few years have they had access too tank heaters etc, he loves it that he can now circulate warm coolant around his engine all night long!!!

[Billy]

10% petrol added to a tank of fuel will sort out any jelling issues, I ran several vehicles on vegetable oil through the snow like that with no problems. Also websites like diesel veg sell 12v heater kits that strap around filters and warm them up before start up. Just petrol usually sorts it though.

 

 

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[PeteB]

A couple of LDV trucks I ran years ago had the hot water going through the filter housing before it went back into the radiator too. Another truck I had also used a "liquidiser" to smash up the waxing fuel to make it more fluid.

[b101uk]

If you read your Unimog operators manual it goes into detail about the adding of petrol or better still kero to diesel to stop waxing/altering of CFPP.

 

With summer DERV/red anything beneath ~ –5C you are into the waxing point, with winter fuels, anything below –13C for red diesel and –15C for DERV you are into waxing territory.

 

Note that obviously mixing quantities of winter and summer fuels razes the temperature that waxing takes place.

 

Most commercial vehicle places sell fuel additive/catalist to stop waxing which are added in much smaller quantities (<1L per ~500L of fuel) than petrol/kero, however it needs adding before waxing takes place where as petrol/kero can be added post waxing provided the tank is agitated and fuel is bleed threw it would be then ok.

 

Also if you have a start pilot (hand pump and reservoir that fills like a gas cigarette lighter from a similar can) you can get the refills from most Merc mog/truck agents which aids cold starting much like easy-start but in a much more measured way, NOTE: if start-pilot etc is used you MUST NOT use hot-raging, a gas blowlamp or a electric heat-gun to heat engine intake air with large rubber pipe removed post air-filter.

[GardenKit]

Bit late spotting this thread but I will butt in anyway. I was trained as an Ag fitter and in the late 70,s had a very cold spell when all the tractors wouldnt start because we were still on summer diesel. The diesel starts to gell and there is nothing to do but warm it up to reverse the gelling process. Only when the gell has dissolved can you consider treating the fuel to prevent it happening again. We did use petrol (although there are proper additives available), and it did work but there is a safety issue and the petrol lowers the diesels lubricating ability so pumps may wear faster. Also the solvents in petrol will damage seals in fuel systems. Just about OK to use in old generation rotary or inline pumps with injectors but I would not use it in modern common rail diesels. Make sure you have winter grade diesel in your tanks and the problem should not arise. Hope this helps