Has anyone experienced fuel gelling? I haven't met anyone that has a gelled experience. What temps would this happen at?

I'm pretty sure I don't have to worry about this given my location, but just what have others experienced?

This was just a curiousity question. This blast of cold weather just got me thinking about it. I always run DieselKleen in mine for other reasons.

Thanks in advance.

Since you didn't completely fill out the member form, nobody knows where your location is.

However, fuel is normally locally blended for expected temperature conditions. I experienced gelling once when I drove back here from New Jersey with NJ purchased fuel in the tank, and the temperature then fell to -6F. Another time, I had gelling even with local fuel, when the temperature fell to -18F.

Never experienced it myself but I use a -45C antigel anytime I'm not 100% that the fuel is the right winter blend.

Has anyone experienced fuel gelling? I haven't met anyone that has a gelled experience. What temps would this happen at?

I'm pretty sure I don't have to worry about this given my location, but just what have others experienced?

This was just a curiousity question. This blast of cold weather just got me thinking about it. I always run DieselKleen in mine for other reasons.

Thanks in advance.


Gelling sucks! You'll know it when your truck stalls and/or stumbles and then quits. You are taking preventitive measures which imho is absolutely necessary given the unknowns concerning our fuel.

Gelled once and that was more than enough! I had my '95 2500 6.5 and filled up at a station that was convenient but not the one I normally used. After leaving the pickup parked outside all night at a hotel (got snowed in near work which was 30 miles from home) I ran several errands during the day and was just going through a curve near a graveyard and the engine died with no warning whatsoever. As I recall it was around -19 and when I popped the hood even the turbo housing was pretty cool. After sitting a few minutes the engine would start but not produce enough power to move the truck. I was lucky in that I had a spare filter and was near an ag dealer that had some anti-gel. I was especially lucky in that much of the day I was out in the midst of nowhere which would not be a great place to be stuck! The 6.5 supposedly had a fuel heater also but it certainly couldn't keep up that day; having learned my lesson I use an anti-gel additive in cold weather, keep a spare filter and tools (and it isn't as easy to change the filter on the newer 6.6 diesels) and keep some "911" from power service in case all else fails!

I experienced fuel gelling at -29 C plus wind. The truck would run and drive fine, no smoke. But starting was something else, even with it plugged in the powersmoke guys said my truck started like s#!%, and the scary thing is i agreed, so now i am running stanadyne in every tank.

My 03 gelled at -10 last year, using PFS Artic fuel additive, lucky I was just running around town, since then I use Stanadyne in every tank. No problem this year with my 07 :exactly:

I'm in nj and this is my first diesel at around what temp do i need to start using antigel additives?

I'm in nj and this is my first diesel at around what temp do i need to start using antigel additives?

Read


However, fuel is normally locally blended for expected temperature conditions. I experienced gelling once when I drove back here from New Jersey with NJ purchased fuel in the tank, and the temperature then fell to -6F. Another time, I had gelling even with local fuel, when the temperature fell to -18F.

I experienced fuel gelling at -29 C plus wind. The truck would run and drive fine, no smoke. But starting was something else, even with it plugged in the powersmoke guys said my truck started like s#!%, and the scary thing is i agreed, so now i am running stanadyne in every tank.

That's pretty cold, but wind has no affect on anything except our skin.

I gelled up at -18 F last year in my 05 dmax. Luckly It happened at home.

I run Howes Diesel Treat Conditioner in my truck and have never had a gelling issue. I have been told by my buddies that all you need to do is pour a little alcohol in your tank if you have a gelling issue, but I understand it can be harmful to the engine.

I was told never to use alcohol. It emulsifies water and won't allow the water seperator to do it's job. Stanadyne or power service don't have alcohol, and from what i've seen on this forum they both work very well.

If your out in BFE alcohol in better then walking and once and a while won't hurt anything.

I was told never to use alcohol. It emulsifies water and won't allow the water seperator to do it's job. Stanadyne or power service don't have alcohol, and from what i've seen on this forum they both work very well.

Just so everyone realizes, I think Power Service 911 DOES have alcohol. For an emergency it seems FPPF is the only one that doesnt have alcohol.
ac

Has anyone experienced fuel gelling? I haven't met anyone that has a gelled experience. What temps would this happen at?

I'm pretty sure I don't have to worry about this given my location, but just what have others experienced?

This was just a curiousity question. This blast of cold weather just got me thinking about it. I always run DieselKleen in mine for other reasons.

Thanks in advance.

FPPF--get a bottle and keep it in your truck just in case you start gelling.The trick is to start using it as soon as the engine's revs aren't right--much easier and faster that way.You should be treating your diesel with any good brand of anti-gel/lubricator with every fill-up.Itoo use Howes--"You go or Howes pays the tow.''

That's pretty cold, but wind has no affect on anything except our skin.

Not true .... Wind chill means that your engine and other parts will cool off as if it was -18 outside even though your temp gauge say it is only -5 ... trust me it makes a HUGE difference !!

SO at -5 lets say it would take your engine block get down to -5 says 6 hours ... but with the wind chill of -18 it may only take hour to get your block down to -5 ... so when traveling down the road and your fuel starts getting cold .... it could get down to -5 in seconds instead of minutes and that can make all the difference in the world.

The vehicle will only get down to ambient temperature, but with wind/vehicle moving it will reach that ambient temp quicker, like said.. Windchill is only for us living creatures.

The vehicle will only get down to ambient temperature, but with wind/vehicle moving it will reach that ambient temp quicker, like said.. Windchill is only for us living creatures.

:exactly: :agreed: Kind of what I was trying to say ... but not in a longer winded fashion. :D

My truck 2003 LB7 did have a fuel gelling problem in Miineapolis last winter @ -12F. The problem was linked to the new biodiesel 2% that the state adds to reg. diesel by law. Around that time some biodiesel producers in Minnesota were supplying out of spec. fuel that had too much glycerin in it. That mistake caused a lot of diesel powered engines to act up at that time. It appears now the biodiesel is being produced within spec. requirements. As soon as the weather got warmer my problem went away. I was using Stanadyne performance formula when the gelling occured.

I had some Bio that gelled on me at 28*. About as cold as it gets here.

I got a bad tank of fuel one time and iced my filter up. I got about 10 miles down the road and wouldn't go above 2,000 rpm and spit and sputtered. I "used" Power Service" with no problems for 6 years in my 6.2. and DMax year round. Took it to a dealer close by and paid $80 for a filter change. No codes, they said same thing I thought; Iced filter.
Now I use Stanadyne. GM fuel filtering system sucks.

Gelled also, got down to -25 on my mirror temp gauge. I was using #2 diesel with power service. Maybe i should of used diesel out of the premium diesel pump . I had it towed to my dealer and they changed the fuel filter and it didnt cost me a thing because they said it was still under warranty! Did the dealer do me a favor or was it suppose to be covered under your warranty?
Later,
jas

Gelled also, got down to -25 on my mirror temp gauge. I was using #2 diesel with power service. Maybe i should of used diesel out of the premium diesel pump . I had it towed to my dealer and they changed the fuel filter and it didnt cost me a thing because they said it was still under warranty! Did the dealer do me a favor or was it suppose to be covered under your warranty?
Later,
jas

Your dealer is a keeper--did you a favor--that was maintenance.

I've used FPPF continuously in my truck year round. I typically "overtreat" slightly - recommended is 1 oz to 10 gals and I usually put 3 oz into a 25 gallon fill of my 26 gallon OEM tank and 4 oz into a 32 gallon fill of my 40 gallon in-bed aux. Last winter, it got to -26 F (static) and I happened to empty my OEM and swap to my full aux at "oh dark thirty" out in the desert on the way to my job site. Almost imediately, the engine started to falter and lose power, so I realized what was happening and swapped tanks back, which cleared it up. I knew I had a couple of gallons remaining in my OEM, and that would get me to work, but not the 45 miles back to town after work. I decided I needed to get the aux "stirred up" and mixed - so I swapped back and when it started to falter again I didn't get it shifted back quick enough and I stalled and had to coast to the shoulder. I swapped back and had to crank for a while to get it refired (this was a considerable "pucker factor" because the fuel system is "common" downstream of the 6-way valve back on the frame near the OEM tank and if I had waxed up the filter I was stuck at 5:30 AM in the dark at -26 F three miles from nowhere and didn't want to be swapping filters on the side of a desert road.) Fortunately, the warm fuel in the OEM worked its way forward and I got it refired and on to the jobsite. In mid afternoon, after sitting in the sun and at a "balmy" -11 F, I went out and poured about 5 or 6 oz of FPPF that I had in my on-board bottle into the aux tank. I cranked it up on the OEM and then swapped it over and ran it at high idle for a while until I got it mixed up, warmed up and straightened out. It ran really rough in the beginning and smoked blue - but it smoothed out and I never had any more trouble. I fill and use my tanks in alternation, so I may have gotten a "sketchy" load of fuel in that aux tank. Since then, I double up my FPPF addition in the Winter months (6 oz in the OEM and 8 oz in the aux) and haven't had any further problems, although it hasn't gotten very cold yet this year, -1 being the lowest so far.

Be aware that ULSD has a higher cloud temperature than LSD, I saw a notice posted in the local Flying J that ULSD cloud point is +10 F. They are winter blending, but since I make a 90 mile round trip out into the desert and back four days a week in the dark in both directions, I feel a lot more comfortable adding FPPF than trusting that the station has blended it correctly for very low temperatures.

Not true .... Wind chill means that your engine and other parts will cool off as if it was -18 outside even though your temp gauge say it is only -5 ... trust me it makes a HUGE difference !!

SO at -5 lets say it would take your engine block get down to -5 says 6 hours ... but with the wind chill of -18 it may only take hour to get your block down to -5 ... so when traveling down the road and your fuel starts getting cold .... it could get down to -5 in seconds instead of minutes and that can make all the difference in the world.

Every Winter we get into the "wind chill debate". It is a calculation of the evaporative chilling effect on exposed skin for people and animals - wind will increase the cooling rate to equipment but WILL NOT REDUCE THE TEMPERATURE BELOW THE AMBIENT STATIC TEMPERATURE. If it is -50 degrees, NOTHING will get colder than -50 degrees, period. Wind chill will have a damaging effect lower than ambient on exposed skin, because of evaporative cooling, and the CALCULATED wind chill number is used to gauge this. Temperature is temperature, regardless of wind speed.

Here's a training program link and a quote:

http://avc.comm.nsdlib.org/cgi-bin/wiki_grade_interface.pl?An_Introduction_To_Wind_Ch ill

In response to this use, the National Weather Service began making the Index routinely available to the media. Despite it's faults, the Wind Chill Index has come into the common vernacular. Many people seem more impressed by the Wind Chill than by the actual temperature. Wind cools because of the evaporative cooling effect of water. For people and animals, the cooling effect of wind depends entirely on the amount of exposure of skin. People of different sizes, shapes, and metabolic rates are affected differently. A well-protected person does not experience any wind chill factor, no matter what the wind speed. Although dogs and cats have insulating fur, most pets are not equipped for brutally cold conditions. Frostbite is common, especially on ears, noses, and paws. The only effect of wind on cars is to cool down the engine to the ambient air temperature more quickly than would be expected without wind. The temperature of a car engine can never be lower than the actual temperature. If the air temperature is 40 degrees F and the Wind Chill Factor is 10 F degrees, water will not freeze.

My truck gelled up and stalled when it reached -40 six years ago in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, on a trip. I didn't know anything about diesels then but I knew it wasn't getting the fuel it needed. We kept jumping out, opening up the fuel bleeder (which then made a huge sucking sound because it was full of vacuum) and then filling the fuel canister with a squirt bottle full of additive and diesel mixed. Someone mentioned the problem earlier. I filled up in Mass. then went waaaaay north and the fuel wasn't blended for that type of cold. On the way home a kid in a gas station (in Nova Scotia) told me that everything diesel had stopped running the week before when it was so cold.