Question about diesel and winter temperatures.

[buddha]

I bought a 94 GQ patrol with an aftermarket DTS turbo on it late last year .Its been great.
But this week we have had minus temperatures all week long in the morning and it has not been starting like normal. I understand its the cold and i expect it, but being diesel i assume the fuel is freezing a bit and just takes a bit longer to start.
Does this damage the engine at all, and since we;re in the minuses now almost every night should an additive be added cause im pretty sure the petrol stations dont add any kind of alpine mix like at the snow?

[+dj_hansen+]

Cant remember the icing point for regular diesel... but grab a bottle of chemtech diesel power, it has an anti freeze agent in it (i rang up and they guaranteed it, if its worth anything over the phone anyway), its will also clean up your tank/fuel lines, and seems to work pretty good.


IIRC bout $6 for 250ml that lasts for ages.

[cuzza]

Have you tried giving it a few glows mate just to get the glow plugs really hot?

[buddha]

have been letting the plugs glow for about a minute before i start it.
Is it more benificial to do it a few times rather than 1 longer one?

[+dj_hansen+]

have been letting the plugs glow for about a minute before i start it.
Is it more benificial to do it a few times rather than 1 longer one?

Should really only leave them to glow once, repeatadly glowing them can burn them out. They are at their optimal temperature right after the glow relay cuts out. It is probably safe enough to glow once, leave for say 20 seconds and then glow again, you will probably hear the relay click off straight away.

[bogged]

I would think fuel freezing could be an issue...

[Butt Craic]

We have used kero up here in the snowfields a couple of times to help get people out of trouble but I'm not sure how good that is for your engine longer term.

[GQ Bear]

A mate of mine works in Russia on oil pipelines where temperatures reach upto -40degC in winter. This is when they work as river's freeze upstream making it easier to drill under them and ford them instead of building bridges. Frozen ground under river beds is more stable for drilling too.

Their vehicles are left running 24/7 and if parked they put small kero heatersunder sump, g/box, diffs, ect. Even when stopping for a chat, etc. they'll only slow to about 5km/h as uni's, wheel bearings, etc. freeze up and need to be 'cracked' before moving once stationary.

I know it has nothing to do with Canberra's current cold snap, but i thought i'd share it anyway.

[tweak'e]

first thing would be to check the glow plugs. you could have dropped one which under warm conditions isn't noticable.
i had lost 3 out of 4 glow plugs on my toyo and didn't notice till some frosty mornings.

unless you don't use much fuel you proberly allready have winter fuel in your tanks. depends on the mix a bit but if it runs fine after starting then i doubt its fuel issue.

also decent oil and a good well charged battery helps a lot.

[DR Frankenstine]

Sounds to me like your glowing for to long. If your leaving the ignition on thinking it is glowing its not GQ's glow relay will shut off after about 15-20 secs then after start up cycle on and off for another minute or so.

[albundy]

Lving in south island of NZ and do plenty of backcountry, high altitude snow trips in winter. Usually throw a liter of kero in with the diesel when in negetative temps. But then I always carry a liter of metho in case of getting water in th fuel and I've done it
Al

[pongo]

Add some ulp in the tank if your worried about frezzing diesel. Its possible to add up to 20% without doing damage.

Pople wont agree with this but my fuel contains 20%ulp atm

Cheers

[canuck]

Having run my truck here in Canada in -22C weather - yes with winter diesel - I am pretty sure that your problem is a bad glow plug(s) or glow plug relay. At the temps you have there, diesel will not freeze. At below -15C you might get some gelling and waxing.

Just get out your tester and start eliminating backward from each glow plug, to wire, to the relay. Often we don't get winter diesel here until we have had many days of well below zero weather. She always starts on the first crank, whether it is -2 or -20. If it gets below -10, I usually plug the coolant heater in. However, if i am out and about she has to start cold. The worst I had was last fall it quickly dropped below zero and I had half a tank of B40 in her. Of course it waxed up and plugged the fuel filter. All I did was fill her up with regular diesel (still summer grade still) run her for a bit and then put in a new fuel filter.