ULSD, Bio, and arctic cold WARNING

[Schlickenmeyer]

I just spoke to the refinery in my state, and they confirm my guess that the new

fuel has real problems with extreme cold, and the Biodiesel WILL come out of solution at around -15f and plug things, clog filters, etc.

If you live in an extreme climate, and run bio, please report your experiences, and I recommend carrying several spare fuel filters until we can get data on this.

The MN truckers Assn. is working on something to address this with the state AG dept, and other state offices. I will be calling them tomorrow to offer my help.

Until then I will be buying all my fuel in WI.

When we hit -15 to -20 next week I should have some firsthand data as well.

 

[Cattletrkr]

High of -10*F today and I didn't gel. I wonder if I have 2% wax on the bottom of my tank. That'd suck.

 

[Schlickenmeyer]

Well, the refinery diesel specialist told me -15 to -16, so we shall see on monday. I just put in an aftermarket fuel pump and filter. The filter has no heater and will gel easy at 5 microns rated. So if she starts on Monday (suposed to be -20) then I will feel better.

On the other hand they did pull their winter diesel rating from the state, and one would think -30 guarantee is a good selling point, so they must have done it for a reason. Or the lawyers got to them.



Time will tell.

 

[FFutch]

Had problems with almost my entire fleet of 3116/3126's and d-maxes yesterday. It was -10. We were using a certain % of Bio but I can't get a definate answer on the batch I got in December. It was supposed to be winter blend ULSD only. See my post in gen. Diesel... Doug

 

[Schlickenmeyer]

Yeah, I was replacing the LP with an airdog on sat with my uncle (professional wrench), mentioned this to him. He calls me on Monday morning, a friend of his has a carquest, and this guy had a massive volume of requests for fuel filters, additives, etc. Lots of diesels would not start, and quite a few of those that ran

re-waxed the filters like 10 miles later.

 

[tgordon]

I run 20% from a dealer who gaurentees it down to -20. Monday it was -9 and I could only get up to about 35-40 until the engine got warm enough to keep it from gelling in the filter. Then it ran like it was nobodys business. I run a stock filter lift pump set up so the engine heat would warm the filter, or at least thats what I keep telling myself. I havn't talked to the place I get the fuel from, but they run it in their fleet of trucks and I would like to know if they had any problems with it.