Frozen Diesel woes...

My old patrol was doing fine the last five weeks. It was starting, albeit roughly, at temperatures down to -30 C. But one night it dropped to about -37. The next morning it would not start. Two days later it started after I poured some hot water on the fuel filter.

Now, after two more nights below -30 it won't start. I am making arrangements to move it to a warm car warehouse which is kept around 20c. Perhaps after a day or two in there it will start again.

But my question is about the fuel filter: normally the priming pump on the top of the filter is easy to push in; but it is absolutely rigid. I am assuming the fuel gelled and clogged the filter. Will it be necessary to replace the filter or will the filter clear up after it warms? Would it be best practice to replace the filter anyway?

I have been buying winter diesel and I was adding some anti-gel to the fuel too; but I really don't know exactly to what temperature the winter diesel and anti-gel additive lowered the clouding and congeal point.

Let's just hope that it is only the cold which is the problem and I did not ruin the injection pump.

I will rent space in this warm warehouse for at least the next month.

Is there some definitive test that will determine whether the fuel is flowing?

I will see what happens after it warms up a day or two in the warm warehouse for even if clogged fuel lines are not the problem there is no way one can do repairs when the daytime high is below -20.

This morning I checked to see if there was power to the fuel cut off solenoid; that tested positive as the meter showed power going to the solenoid. But perhaps the solenoid has failed and is not allowing fuel to flow? I did not remove the solenoid - it was -22 when I was testing the power and one can feel the cold being sucked out of anything touching metal outside.

As bad as it sounds given the age of my old machine I am surprised it started and ran well at -25 to -30!

The manual transmission was really stiff too and a couple of days I could only get it to shift smoothly by double clutching; I suppose the prudent thing to do is to take a taxi until the temperatures are consistently no lower than -20.

I had a leak into the cab of anti-freeze - the heater core developed a crack - which is not surprising given the temperature change from start to shut off. I paid the guys here to replace the heater core. The old one was mouldy, full of dust and old leaves etc.; with the new one the air temperature coming out was so hot it was uncomfortable on the bare hands and the air forced out by the fan was like a gale force wind compared to the gentle breeze of the old heater core - I suppose it was so clogged with dust air could not flow. Anyway, for the replacement heater core to be installed it cost 300 dollars, including all the labour - does that sound like a good deal ;) ?

MT

Bloody hell. We are you to get temps like that? When I lived in Canada the cars there had a heater in them which was plugged into the mains to stop the engines from freezing.

They are crazy low temperatures that we are not used to.....we normally only see winter blends of fuel if we go to the alpine areas for skiing.

In everything that I have read, it just says to either heat up the engine components or the car till it starts ... from that I take it that the wax or gelling dissolves back into the diesel fuel once it warms up

Mic

Whoa that's cold, we don't have temps like that here but I would change the filter for sure and keep a heater in the engine compartment at night when it's cold.

I know that in Antartica, the vehicles are parked over a heated pad on the concrete. And, as Mic said, they are also have a heater for the engine bay that plugs in to the mains....You should have no trouble getting these items if your winter temps are regularly that low.

I used to live in Queenstown, in New Zealand, where the coldest I ever experienced was only -16c. We never had to add anything to the fuel but did to the coolant (anti-freeze).

If you keep your fuel tank and motor heated, you shouldn't have any problems with the vehicle sitting over night, unless you have to park it out in the weather with the engine off.

I am in north western Kazakhstan and I have never seen anyone with a plug in block heater like I would see on many cars in Canada where I am from. Most people have auto-starts for the engine; but my old car's glow plug relays all all broken and I have to manually fire them - I made a few posts about that here on the forum. There are no external power outlets on the apartment buildings here.

Perhaps for next winter I will order in some engine and fuel line heaters.

It is in a warm garage now; I rented space for four days; so, maybe it will go, depending on how the fuel filter heals. Though if it starts I may just put a new filter on it anyway just to be sure. I wonder if the blockage will clear even after it warms or if this filter is permanently damaged?

I may just wait out February and keep it in storage until the temperature is safe. March is not usually below -20. The last two years here it has been below -45; this winter has never been that cold yet (this winter is surprisingly warm for this area of the world, which is practically Siberia!)

Thanks.

MT

Hi Paul!
Nice to hear that you throll still running good!

We also had 2 weeks with -17/-27 on the south KZ, but your – 37 is much stronger!
I’m too using a kettle of hot water, for waking up my shorty after very cold night, when antigel (some breaking fluid can help as antigel) not working good.
Now I began to add some 2tacts motor oil in to fuel (1 l of oil for 100 l of fuel), engine works a little bit smoother.

Be careful with hand pump on the top of fuel filter, if you will break the diaphragm it will be hard to find new or repair it.

I will change my fuel filter when will be permanently 0 or +1. I always changing it before and after winter.

Be careful and have a lot of fun here!

It is good to hear that I am not the only one resorting to the hot water on the filter; I am sure some of my neighbours thought I was crazy.

I have not added motor oil to the fuel before.

When it would not start I thought I should pour some more of the antigel (I have been using this one: http://catalog.onliner.by/higear/hg3421/) in the fuel tank; but, alas, the anti-gel was gelled and came out of the can and into my funnel as a thick blob!

I'll watch the priming pump; the black plastic knob snapped off, but only the top part; I don't think it will affect the pumping action though.

I may try and start it later tonight - it has been in the warm box for almost 20 hours now.

Maybe there is water in the fuel or I should have drained the water from the fuel filter - is it common to get bad fuel here?

MT

Yap, some of my neighbors are giggling too, when they see how I go to parking with boiling kettle.

I use liqui-moly antigel, and when I left it in the trunk for a cold night it froze too.

2 tacts oil should protect main fuel pump from "dry" fuel, when you use antigel.

Yap, our fuel is b@llsh!t! But KazMunaiGaz is acceptable because they are national producer. So I can recommend it.

Once I drain 200 ml of rusted water from filter. So its not bad idea to check it.

Cheers!

PS. Come in to Almaty in the summer vacation! Let's make a little forum's meet up!

PPS. Don't forget to charge battery also, in the end of the cold winter it is already discharged.