Summer fuel at minus 42

[4x4ord]

We buy fuel by the tanker load and like to order it prior to when the winter blend is out in the fall and after summer fuel comes out in the spring. Consequently we need an additive to keep our fuel from gelling over winter. Seems like there's always a spell when it doesn't necessarily work so good. Last week the Peterbuilt quit on me. I guess I didnt put in enough additive. I must have used a bit more juice in the Ford as it seemed fine. Current temperature is only minus 22 F but the low over the next couple nights is forecast to drop down to minus 42 with windchills of minus 54*F. If my pickup wasn't sitting in the garage with a full tank of summer fuel I think I'd be filling it up with winter blend for the next couple days. Have you ever experienced the joys of gelled fuel at minus 40?

[memtb]

4x4lord, Yes we have! Our first diesel truck (1993) fuel bought 3rd week of November, from a truck-stop in Wyoming. We “assumed” it would be blended fuel. We were boondocking while hunting, and discovered our fuel was gelled at only a -20 F. This was just part of the problems we had on that trip. memtb

[ShinerBock]

ACZL wrote:
Knock on wood my '16 Freightliner Cascadia hasn't gelled, but that's on the company if it does.

Newer Class 7-8 engines come with a fuel heater on the primary and/or secondary fuel filters so the likely hood of it happening on a new truck is much lower than an older truck like the OP's.

[PA12DRVR]

About the only good thing of driving in -20 (f) or colder is how tacky the snow/ice that might be on the highways gets.

At sustained cold, both highway and in-town road snow and ice tends to slowly sublimate away, but until then, the highway gets tacky while in town the intersections just get polished....:(

[ACZL]

Knock on wood my '16 Freightliner Cascadia hasn't gelled, but that's on the company if it does. Carry either 9-1-1 or Melt Down if it does. However, Howes has come out w/ a product that's supposed to be better than 911 or Melt down in the even you gell up. IMO, looks darn good to me. Sadly, at time of this writing, I forgot the name of it.

As for pick ups, gelled up 2x w/ 2 different trucks. My '03 6.0 which we all know the filters were a PITA to change, but was surprised it did so anyways. 5 years ago, my '15 gelled up and being new to Ford's DEF system and all, I didn't know what was going on. Dealer couldn't get me in, but suggested their sister dealer (Lincoln) to have them look at it. Did so and they were the ones who told me it gelled up and wanted close to 400 bucks for diagnosing and new filters and all. Told them no way in H*** am I paying that. Was able to drive home and got my own filters for MUCH less. Anyways, root cause was about 5 gallons I bought day or 2 before from some gas station which I didn't add additive to, but filled up at regular stop before getting home and where I did add additive. Then temps dropped like a rock w/ temps below 0 and stayed there. So despite adding anti-gel, wasn't enough to counter the 5 gallons surpringly. So now at around late Nov or so, I start adding anti-gel and fuel at same stop all them time.

[garyp4951]

All of this talk reminds me of a few of my favorite shows, Highway Thru Hell, and Heavy Rescue.
You have to be pretty tuff to endure the winters up there.

[JRscooby]

Often when a driver says "fuel gelled" what is really happening is water in the fuel freezing.
My 1693, and my 12V71, I would, about Thanksgiving, leave them set overnight, then drain a few gallons out of each tank. My 3406E, when the temp was below zero, (and I had to work) I would shut the valves off on one tank. With half the volume, the return has a better chance to keep fuel warm.

[K-9_HANDLER]

Joys of jelled, yes. But warmer then -40 in the old Ford LT9000.

[ksss]

I have jelled at minus 40. It sucks and depending on where your at when it happens it can be life threatening. There are towns here this week that are completely cut off with roads closed for the second day. When bad things happen, sometimes, there is no help. Usually when they gel the filters wax up and you have to replace them. When getting fuel in bulk like that, the most common way here is to order an appropriate amount of Number 1 diesel. If your getting 1000 gallons, order 300 gallons of number 1. Most fuel wholesalers can give you the formula to get to the temp you want to be covered to. Some guys will treat to minus 20 so it will pump and then treat with Power Service by the tank when it is colder than that. This prevents having to burn high treat fuel in warmer weather which gives less power and number 1 is more expensive, at least here.

[4x4ord]

dodge guy wrote:
Shouldn’t you be in the south (southern US) by now?!!!!!

Probably..... it's about time for us to get on that program.

[RAS43]

The first winter I had my new '99 Ford 7.3l diesel the fuel jelled at -20 degrees as did my friend's '99. We had fueled at the same Conoco station. Both of us had our truck towed to Ford where they just put them inside for a day and they started up. I added an additive and had no further issues. I found out later from a friend in the fuel business that this particular station often bought fuel from sources outside of our area instead of the local refinery. The fuel was not winter blended. Never went there again.

[dodge_guy]

Shouldn’t you be in the south (southern US) by now?!!!!!

[PA12DRVR]

Back in the day, the boss says to me, wrap the tank, put in the battery heaters, and check the coolant before taking your trip.

Coolant was easy to check: - 60, good. Battery heaters, easy enough, accessible through the cab, good. Wrap the tank? "I don't wanna, I have to crawl under the truck, I'll get dirty, it's cold waaa!"

Shoulda, woulda, coulda: Would have been much easier to put the tank wrap/heater on in a relatively warm +10 on a packed snow yard, with a nice warm shop to retreat to every so often at Los Anchorage rather than building the Rube Goldberg tent over the truck and dealing with space heaters, additives, etc for the better part of a day when the fuel gelled at -35 just outside of Glenallen.

Although my commercial truck / equipment days are long past (and they were minimal to begin with) for my diesel pickup, I'm pretty aggressive about getting winter blend as soon as available...even though it's nowhere near as critical as in times past.

[4x4ord]

ShinerBock wrote:

4x4ord wrote:
^^^^ Cat C15.

What grade of oil are you using? The C15 has a HEUI pump which reliant on engine oil to pump unlike the common rail fuel pump in your truck. Cat recommends 5W30 or 5w40 for those temps because 15W is too thick.

15w40 seems to work fine so long as the truck is plugged in when it cold. It's not that often the truck gets used in weather colder than minus 10 C. When the fuel gelled the engine was warmed up to 150 degrees. Changing the filters got it started again but the fuel vacuum guage continued running in the red. I didn't take it onto the road. The job I had for it can wait for warmer weather.

[ShinerBock]

4x4ord wrote:
^^^^ Cat C15.

What grade of oil are you using? The C15 has a HEUI pump which reliant on engine oil to pump unlike the common rail fuel pump in your truck. Cat recommends 5W30 or 5w40 for those temps because 15W is too thick.