Frozen Fuel

[Java&Whiskey]

So the temperature dropped well below freezing the past couple of days here in PDX. Unfortunately I hadn't switched over to winter diesel yet so there was still half a tank of B99 in the truck. I started it up fine but then it died as I left the driveway. Opened the hood and the fuel filter was half frozen. This was two days ago. I bought an engine block heater, put about 4 gallons of B5 diesel in it, and tried warming up the fuel filter and lines with a heater. It still wouldn't start back up or if it did I just couldn't give it gas so it died. Now I'm afraid I might of air locked it. I don't have a garage and its stuck parked on the street because my driveway is sloped. Are there solutions to this other than waiting until the weather turns? I know warmth will fix the fuel problem but how do I fix the air locking issue?

[millican]

I haven't heard of winter diesel, but I do know of the hand pump by the injection pump. That should help get the air out once the fuel thaws.

[mrbigtanker]

There is no winter blend,now on the other hand you could of had water trapped in the filter that made its way to the pump.Now with my experience there should be a small pump that you can help prime the pump and lines if not you will have to bleed it at the injectors,and that would be all of them.

[Sealik]

There is no winter blend,now on the other hand you could of had water trapped in the filter that made its way to the pump.Now with my experience there should be a small pump that you can help prime the pump and lines if not you will have to bleed it at the injectors,and that would be all of them.

 

Is that not relative to locale?

I believe 'colder climates' will run #1 Diesel (a blend with a lower viscosity),  starting in Oct.....<...right through winter.

#2 is a little thicker..?.....not conducive when temps drop below freezing...hard starting...etc.

[datsunaholic]

B99 is biodiesel, it starts to cloud up and freeze right around 32 degrees F.  B75 is the bio winter blend, but even it's only good to about 23 degrees F.  It's been in the teens around here, which is not normal for Western WA/Oregon. 

 

If you have air in the lines, only way to solve that is crack open the injector lines one by one and crank until the air is out, and it's best to do that with 2 people so you can close the line while still cranking.  Gonna be hell on the battery and starter though.

 

The Pac NW doesn't run pure #1, they at best blend a little #1 Kero into otherwise standard #2. .

[wayno]

I have never heard of such a thing as diesel freezing up, but I just buy what comes out of the diesel pump at the gas station, I don't use bio fuels, so I know little about them.

I have several gallons of veg. oil out back in the open, none of it is frozen.

 

I started my 521 diesel kingcab this morning without issues, but I used the block heater for a half hour before trying, but the last few days it started up at 26 degrees without the block heater, it just didn't like starting and missed a lot for the first half minute.

[Guest Rick-rat]

I would drain the bio-fuel and save it for later use,  fill your tank with regular diesel and not bio-fuel. replace your fuel filter and look for signs of water when you remove the filter. You will have to bleed your system now to get it to run. A good way to keep water out of your tank is to keep it full most of the time. My fuel tank on my diesel rig gets pretty warm after running for a while and the warm fuel in the tank will allow water to condensate in the tank in colder weather, Good luck

[datzenmike]

It doesn't 'freeze' but it can gel from the cold. There is a certain small amount of dissolved paraffin in the fuel. It's like bacon grease hardening in the frying pan. This temp varies but is roughly -15C or about 5F. There are additives to lower this point.

[oakrun]

So the temperature dropped well below freezing the past couple of days here in PDX. Unfortunately I hadn't switched over to winter diesel yet so there was still half a tank of B99 in the truck. I started it up fine but then it died as I left the driveway. Opened the hood and the fuel filter was half frozen. This was two days ago. I bought an engine block heater, put about 4 gallons of B5 diesel in it, and tried warming up the fuel filter and lines with a heater. It still wouldn't start back up or if it did I just couldn't give it gas so it died. Now I'm afraid I might of air locked it. I don't have a garage and its stuck parked on the street because my driveway is sloped. Are there solutions to this other than waiting until the weather turns? I know warmth will fix the fuel problem but how do I fix the air locking issue?

 Lots of people are experiencing the same problem as you are with sudden cold snaps. consider yourself fortunate in that your car died before you could get far.  some had cars die 1 mile from their house. http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=160089

[DanielC]

My understanding is B99 is 99% Biodiesel.  It is not made from petroleum, from out of the ground.  It is made from cleaned and slightly refined vegetable, and animal fats and oils.

 

I do not pour bacon grease down the drain. The grease clogs the drain.  I put bacon grease in an empty soup can, and just leave the can on the counter.  The can sits at room temperature.  Sometimes the leftover grease in the can is solid, at room temperature, sometimes it is liquid.

 

My point, if sometimes the bacon grease is solid at room temp, and sometimes it is not, you could expect B99 from who knows what source to sometimes be not possible to pump at temperatures below freezing.  or it might be from some other source, and flow fine at temperatures slightly below freezing

[JoeCool]

Off topic, I drain the pan into a small jar and cap it, put it into the fridge, and use it later by the spoonful to season vegetables! As a former technician I have seen some disasters from using biodiesel and it gelling up. Solidified in the fuel filters, bottom of the tank, hard lines, rubber lines, and in the intake. What a mess! You have to keep that stuff warm so it stays a liquid.

[Cahoon520]

Try this stuff it works great. Don't know if you can get it around where live though.http://powerservice.com/psp_product/diesel-911/

[All Diesels]

I been running biodiesel for over two years now and no problems but it will start to jell around 32 degrees.  So it is best to keep about 50% petroleum diesel when it is close to freezing and maybe more when even colder.  A couple years ago, I had one truck with B100 in it and I wanted to use but it was below freezing.  So i started it up let it run for several minutes, was running fine.  So I thought if it will idle fine, i should be able to make it to the fuel station, I got about a mile down the road and it died.  I called a friend and got 5 gals of diesel poured it in.  It started up and i made it to the Fuel station, no more problems after that.  From my reading and experience, the best thing to do in cold weather when using Biodiesel, is to mix in some diesel, the colder it gets the more diesel.  The Powerservice should help too.  

[datzenmike]

Holy necro post batman!

[tr8er]

Interesting.  I’ve been running B100 in all 5 of our diesel fleet for 13 years now.   I’ve been a huge advocate for the stuff but never considered cold weather issues.  I’ll note though that factory fuel hoses go soft after several years.  Specialty fuel lines are a great idea if you go above B25 or so.  

 

And yeah.  This is way dated.