Oil & Fuel Cold rookie mistake

[Billrog]

My bulk tank gets filled only with summer diesel & I add a jug of stanadyne for the last 15 yrs.. Yrs. ago the bulk delivery put Howes treatment in my tank when they filled it at that time even with winter fuel I had the fuel in the tank of my 580B ,at the time jell thick in a cold snap. The only place open was a garage with 1 quart of kerosene I dumped it in the tank stirred it up with a stick primed till the fuel ran and fired it up. My last experience with fuel jelling was in 1994 with my tractor. 30 or so below ( It had a block heater ) started right up ran for 10 min. and stalled. I pulled off the filler bowl and the filter was plugged solid with wax. I left that filter out in the sun all next summer to see if the sun would melt it out not a chance it stayed plugged.
My reason for summer fuel in my bulk tank is I often road my backhoe good distances in summer and winter fuel requires a lower gear on some hills, just less power in it and being dryer maybe harder on the injection pump. I'm not recommending anyone else follow my example. I know my fuel may jell again some time in a real cold snap but I'll deal with it .

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^ This is basically what I did after forgot the Stanydyne one time but never again.And I was no rookie so don't feel bad. Can happen to anyone.
Cut fuel in tank by about 50% with kerosine and added PowerService 911 for good measure. Could see globs of wax suspended in tank. Changed filter. It was a bowl and cartridge type - solid wax. Tarped machine and heated to free up fuel lines and pump.

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gg

This looks familiar. The biggest difference is the brand of space heater.

 

[nyone]

Correct. The reason that I said that is because his fuel is probably not gelled. I am in the NE in subzero temps occasionally and my ASV PT-50 has never had the fuel gel.

I use the oem block heater, which is very useful in cold temps.

If I don’t use the block heater, it will start, but take a few seconds to “catch” and idle properly. Just let it run for about ten minutes to get everything warmed up

I'm not sure how close your fuel tank is to the block heater but I'm sure its prety close to the engine correct? That could be why.

Warming things up? Meaning warming the fuel in the tank means one of two things. The fuel tank is close to the engine or you have a fuel return line to the tank. Not all equipment has this. So you may always be drawing from an ambient temp fuel tank.

 

[seville009]

I'm not sure how close your fuel tank is to the block heater but I'm sure its prety close to the engine correct? That could be why.

Warming things up? Meaning warming the fuel in the tank means one of two things. The fuel tank is close to the engine or you have a fuel return line to the tank. Not all equipment has this. So you may always be drawing from an ambient temp fuel tank.

By “warming things up”, I mean the engine oil and hydraulic oil. It’s not warming up the diesel.

If the diesel was going to gell, it would have been in that state prior to me trying to start it due to it sitting in the cold.

 

[denchen]

Many years ago, before winter and summer diesel was thought of, lorry drivers [truckers] and farmers would add parraffin [kerosine] to the diesel to stop it going waxy. How much would depend on who you spoke too, as they all had different ideas. Interesting though was back in the days, many tractors had a `pull screen` in front of the radiator. Many a time I've seen my dad doing the last of the ploughing with the radiator screen down to keep things warm and his old army coat tied over the engine, and this in the days before cabs.

 

[shadowm77]

if you use 911 i would advise you to change your filters after a while i used it once in my tractor and it turned the fuel filter to mush just my experience

 

[aircommuter]

Back in the 70s Mercedes Diesels recommended adding gasoline to #2 when winter fuel wasn’t available! I never lived in those conditions but I was in the repair business working on MB and other Diesels.
In those pictures I was trying get the rusted piston rings freed up. Kinda crude, but it didn’t work.

 

[Gdglock]

My track steer ( ASV RT-50 ) still has summer diesel and would not run more than 5 secons after starting. Been -14 F for several days.
What's my remedy?
Many thanks,
GGK 87 yo rookie

Dilute 50% with kerosene. Remove and replace fuel filter filled with 50% diesel 50% kerosene. Point a small torpedo heater near the block/fuel tank. Put a piece of old tin roofing on the opposite side of the machine so that warm air goes up through machine. Careful using a tarp, they are flammable. Block heaters do nothing for frozen/gelled/wax fuel. The 911 products added to the fuel filter Only get the machine running ,will not keep it running. Keep topping up the tank with truckstop winter diesel. Label a 5 gallon container and store it till next year. It works here in Vermont.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Back in the 70s Mercedes Diesels recommended adding gasoline to #2 when winter fuel wasn’t available! I never lived in those conditions but I was in the repair business working on MB and other Diesels.
In those pictures I was trying get the rusted piston rings freed up. Kinda crude, but it didn’t work.

Back then MB made not only the finest auto diesels in the world but the finest cars in the world.

 

[CobyRupert]

Something I always wondered about when it comes to adding/mixing additives or #1 fuel into a tractor’s tank:

What’s the gallons per minute (GPM) of the return line from the pump, or rail, back into the tank? That is, how much self mixing and circulation through the lines is going on once tractor is started?
Minuscule? In the 2-3 gallons per hour range instead of minutes?