Cold Weather Question

[MHarryE]

Wanted to use my RTV900XT yesterday and we broke zero for the first time in over a week. However having the temperatures as cold as -42F, it had a good cold soak and wouldn't start. With it being up to +6F yesterday, my wife and I wanted to do some work today and tried again even though it was -7F. Three clicks of the glow plugs, crank it over, and its off and running. Its running #2 diesel cut with Howes, no other anti-gel. Engine is filled with 5W-40 synthetic diesel oil.

 

[LouNY]

Okay, lots of good advice here. I'm going to touch on one thing I haven't seen mentioned and I think when done I'll copy and paste to some other threads.
In sub zero temperatures cut down on the exposure to the outside air for your equipment,
put a plastic trash bag in front of your grill to stop the air flow, wrap a bungee cord around to hold it in place, as it warms up you can give it some air if needed, just slid your cover down a bit.
Get a small tarp and more bungee cords wrap it around the hoods on your tractor under the engine and on both sides.
When you get to using it open up the front to get a little air in, watch your temperature gauges unless you are working
your engine hard it will need very little air, the heat that you trap will warm your fuel lines and filter.
If its making heat then you can open up the rear a bit and let some come back to your feet, it will be like the old heat housers
we used to put on and a few of use still do at times.
Let these diesel run warm they will work better and last longer, note I said warm not to hot :thumbsup:

 

[Jerry/MT]

This is all pretty interesting to me, but it appears that you are all more worried about him getting started than in keeping him running. They may be different issues - at least they are for me.

It was -22F last night. It's about -8F now. Yesterday was about the same, tomorrow will be only slightly better. I wanted to run my new (70 hrs) JD 3039R this afternoon, so I plugged in the transmission and engine block heaters for a few hours, and she started like a champ. I moved less than 20 yds and she died when I tried to feed a bit more fuel. I restarted and the same thing happened. I did this multiple times, but each time I got it going, I tried to creep it a little closer to its stall rather than back into the timber where I had wanted to go initially. I got there, but barely.

So, why is my new tractor dying on me? I suspect the fuel is gelling on me. I have winter fuel in there - about half a tank.

If I put an additive in there, will it somehow work its way into the fuel lines?

This isn't a big deal in so far as there is no snow to move, or truck to pull out of a ditch but that can change. What's the best way to keep a tractor running well below zero F? Isn't this going to be an issue for the OP too?

Jelling is only one issue that can cause restricted fuel delivery. Ice accreting on the filter(s), the tank outlet strainer or freezing in the fuel lines is just as probable.

Water condensation in the fuel tank is unavoidable especially in humid climates but can be minimized by trying to keep the fuel tank as full as possible. Main fuel filters and water separators (where installed) have drain fittings on them. How many of you drain them regularly? Many fuel treatments help the water to collect and slide off the filer so it can be drained but if you don't drain the filter housing it will freeze up in cold temperature and restrict the fuel flow. Treating for fuel jelling won't help ice blockages. If you have a metal filter canister you can use a heat gun or your wife's blow dryer to melt the ice in the filter or on the tank strainer or fuel lines. then drain the filter to get the water out, collecting it in a clear container so you can see how much is in there. Do that at every following start up until you don't have any more water come out.

 

[mike69440]

Wanted to use my RTV900XT yesterday and we broke zero for the first time in over a week. However having the temperatures as cold as -42F, it had a good cold soak and wouldn't start. With it being up to +6F yesterday, my wife and I wanted to do some work today and tried again even though it was -7F. Three clicks of the glow plugs, crank it over, and its off and running. Its running #2 diesel cut with Howes, no other anti-gel. Engine is filled with 5W-40 synthetic diesel oil.

One thing we found out on the RTV900 is when it is really cold, do 10 clicks, crank it a few times, if it does not start give it another 7-10 clicks and crank. no more than 10 second per crank.

 

[jbrumberg]

I am lazy and just requoted myself. Some of my post is relevant.

One should use #1 fuel in temperatures below 40F. It reads to me like gelled fuel. Cold hydraulics may be compounding the engine load. I was operating my TC29DA yesterday in 0F - 4F temperatures removing "Grayson's" gift of snow (9"). For a lot of reasons (and a sad story) I have had a recent fuel/water challenge. In warmer weather I use PowerService White Bottle year round as recommended. Recently I have been using PowerService 911 as recommended. I suspected my last diesel fill up was #2 (source of challenge). Prior to this storm I refilled the jerrycan with 4.5G of #1 plus a double load of the PowerService additives. The tractor took almost the full 4.5G's. I used the engine block heater and a fuel/hydraulic filter heater and preheated both for 3 hours. Tractor started perfectly and then as the old fuel mix/fuel filter gelling gave me the same "fits" as yours. After 10 - 15 minutes of lugging and rough idling everything went operational. I checked the remaining fuel in the jerrycan this PM, the temperature was 0F/1F, and the fuel was liquid.

I generally go to the high volume stations where I see school buses and commercial vehicles getting their diesel fuel. My primary fuel source will be adding more kerosene with her next diesel fuel delivery. The stations around here "doctor" the fuel mix supplied from the distributor.

I started using a "Mister Filter" again as well.