Gell'n

[ShadowsPapa]

Funny have had diesels my whole life swear by Cummins, never had a gel issue once it was plugged in and cycled the plugs, been through many of cold snaps in the winter just fine, never has it gelled after truck has been running and warm, usually do t plug in unless it’s going negative

Drive I35 or I80 here and see all of the highway helpers helping people with diesel pickups and even the big guys. I've seen a friend with VW have winter issues.
Plugging in the engine doesn't do anything for the tank, lines and other stuff back a ways.
You get the winds like we have (20, 30, 40 mph) blowing -20 degree air and next thing you know that previously warm fuel line is back to below 0 again.
It's always windy here. (NOT talking wind chill which has no impact on non-animal things) but couple highway speeds with the wind and you have very cold air blowing across things cooling them back down.
Our antennas end up with huge layers of ice on them as the cold air freezes the rain as we drive.

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[Rusty PW]

Funny have had diesels my whole life swear by Cummins, never had a gel issue once it was plugged in and cycled the plugs, been through many of cold snaps in the winter just fine, never has it gelled after truck has been running and warm, usually do t plug in unless it’s going negative

Had the fuel in my Cummins powered motorhome gel on me. That was a fun experience. Block heaters and glow plugs have nothing to do with the fuel gelling.

 

[jensjer]

Last diesel I had you could add a gallon of regular gas to a tank full of fuel to help keep it flowing in winter.
[/QUOT

Had the fuel in my Cummins powered motorhome gel on me. That was a fun experience. Block heaters and glow plugs have nothing to do with the fuel gelling.

It's an expensive fix...

 

[Rusty PW]

It's an expensive fix...

Can be. Depends on how bad it's gelled.
Drain the fuel system, clean injectors, fuel pump etc.
Leave it sit in a warm garage over night to warm the fuel system up.

I got lucky. I dumped a couple of bottles of Diesel 911 into the 125 gal fuel tank. I keep a bottle in my garage. Cold weather like this. I use Diesel Fuel Supplement.

 

[lppd45]

Kind of ironic that this is one the first things I saw tonight. Wife left for work around 2230 and the VW jelled along the way. I was able to switch her as she wasn't too far from home. It's only the second time in over 3 decades that I've had an issue with this. And as others have said it's not an issue with engine temp or a block heater. The fuel gels in the lines from the tank. Surprised me tonight as we had been out earlier and the car had an almost full tank of diesel.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

And here I thought this was going to be a thread on solutions for tired, sore feet.........

 

[Blade1668]

Last diesel I had you could add a gallon of regular gas to a tank full of fuel to help keep it flowing in winter.

One I drove many moons ago I'd put 5 gallon of gasoline in tank with the diesel fuel.... oh, it was a multi-fuel engine.... M35a2 2.5 ton truck it would pick up a few more mph too.

 

[azmojave]

I always used this stuff when I traveled in the cold, and never gelled. You’ll find it at any truck stop.

 

[Jakeyou]

Most of had some summer diesel left in the tank. There are two grades of diesel, known as winter grade diesel and summer grade diesel and it's worth knowing the difference between the two. Winter grade diesel is formulated to contain an additive that prevents wax crystals forming at low temperatures, which means it will resist gelling in extremely cold temperatures.

 

[RudeJeepin]

You all might enjoy this, maybe even learn a little.

 

[PyrPatriot]

Block heaters don't prevent fuel gelling.
You can have it all warmed up and drive along the interstate and have that problem.

They shut down all the public buses here past 8pm because buses were breaking down due to the cold. I think all the buses are either electric or deisel here now

 

[Elff]

I had this happen at my house in the copper line between my outside Oil tank and the house.
Fortunately it happened mid afternoon and the stores were still open. I ran to Home Depot, got some heat Trace, removed the insulation on the copper line. installed the heat trace, reinstalled the insulation and after waiting about 30 minutes was able to bleed the air and water [From condensation] out of the line and get heat back into my house.
First time this has happened since I bought the house in 2005. It's just that F-Ing cold this week

 

[Snowcavemike]

Who's Gell'n Bro's Duramax just did -7º

It got down to 51 degrees last night. Thought about plugging in

 

[Koolcarguy]

Who's Gell'n Bro's Duramax just did -7º

Easy problem to fix put some additive in your fuel. My 21 Jt diesel did fine and we had temps in the -40 to -55 in Cheyenne no gell and started after being at the shop outside 9 hours no plugged in.

 

[Rusty PW]

It got down to 51 degrees last night. Thought about plugging in

Sounds like you might need some anti-gel......





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