Trucks gelling up in the winter, what is the solution?

I was having a little trouble in Mitchell South Dakota. I prefilled my filter with power service 911. I normally never prefill them on this truck but had some water which turned to ice in the water separator so I didn’t want to take any chances. It cranked forever then ran bad smoked and popped like an ol 444 Cummins if you started it cold and give it the beans. I have used 2 stroke oil in the filters, ATF, howes, and nothing. Never have I seen it act like that. I was winning the fight with myself to shut it down and bleed that #### out of it when it finally started straightening up. Rattled like hell for a long time after that. True the cold air makes it rattle anyway, I’m pretty proud of this motor so it could also be a little paranoid. I do know that has made me swear off power service. I’ll whittle off a mad grizzly bear with a hand full of metal shavings in a New York City phone booth in the dead of winter sinking to the bottom of the Hudson River before I even pick up another bottle of that ####

 

911 won’t help with ice…..

lots of times ice is the problem not the fuel being jelled. Either way your sol but there 2 different problems

 

The honey colored. It’s about $25-$26 a bottle. Put it on my fleet card. TRANSFLO the receipt. Company pays for it. I don’t have to worry about downtime.

Did I say they also pay for parking? Oops….

 

You guys running south to north and back probably have it the worst with the temperature and humidity fluctuations, let alone bio diesel.

 

I’ve NEVER seen fuel return to it’s normal state once changed. But, that’s me.

So my answer is not related to days but time. As in how long is it going to take you to drain the tank, flush the lines, clean or change the filter depending on type and god forbid swap the injectors.

Do we need to pass a plate for you?

 

Fuel returns to liquid. With heat about all you’ll have to do is change the filters and wait for everything to thaw out. Get a cheap plastic tarp and a heater and keep the heat under the truck and it doesn’t take terribly long to thaw out.

When I was living in South Dakota I parked my truck at home planning to go back out. But I didn’t and a cold snap set in. Covered the engine and sides with a tarp and tossed a Nipco heater under them to warm everything up. Once it was warmed up enough to idle I changed the filters and went to work.

Draining the tanks and everything would just be a lost of wasted money.

 

I agree but when the paraffin wax plugs up the filter like this it’s time to throw away the filter.
This was taken two days after I changed it and it was draining in a heated shop.

 

The one time I had it happen.

Mechanic changed the filter. Filled with 911. And poured the rest in the tank. And another in the other tank.

Then ran back for a fuel pump relay.

I filled up the tanks. They were about half. And hit the highway. Blowing severe amounts of white smoke. Praying the cops didn't pull me over. Took a few miles to clear up.

I fueled up in Texas and landed in Wyoming.

 

I've seen plenty of times with our tractors on the farm, start in the morning with very low fuel pressure and low power. keep running it and eventually it would clear up as the fuel warmed up..

 

I would NEVER pre fill your filter with 911. That’s almost like filling them with alcohol or methanol. Not great on pumps and injectors.