Diesel Vehicles Freezing in the Snow

Move to WA, there is no snow here. LOL.

When I lived in the ACT and we went up to the snow line we used to put in the Alpine blend and never had problem.

TerraFirma,

Check out the info provided here on BP Web site , particularly the "Winter Diesel Problem Summary" document.

Regards

as you can tell from teh Rig Pic.. i like the snow. my car is petrol so i don't have the problem.. but comments as follows >>
as mentioned above, the use of 'alpine' diesel helps alot with the 'non-freezing' of diesel in tanks...
i think the problem only occurs when the cars are left in the snow overnight or for longer periods (say 2-3 days) of time.. which allows both the snow to come in contact with the fuel tank.. getting it colder quicker.. and hence hepliong the freezing cycle...
soution 1 - use alpine diesel
solution 2 - move to WA as mentioned above
solution 3 - buy a petrol 4by
solution 4 - don't leave your car 'in' the snow for long periods of time (atleast start it every afternoon)
solution 5 - if visiting perisher blue in nsw.. drive your car to bullocks flat and catch the skitube !..

diesel can gel in 15 minutes if it is cold enough outside. It is caused by the fuel getting cold and turning to gel. It very rarely occurrs in the fuel tank itself. It usually only occurs in the fuel lines between the tank and the engine due to the thin volume.

The solution is really simple. just fill up with Alpine diesel just before you get to the entry to the resort. You will need to have about 75% of the tank Alpine diesel so travel on a near empty tank and fill up at the last town.

I am sure that a lot of diesels are gelling up in Victoria at the moment as it is snowing down to sea level.

Plenty of snow about in Tassie today.
An old Rodeo I used to have gelled up the fuel in a small inline fuel filter I had in it but not from snow but one of Tassie's great Frosts.Vehicle was parked under a tree and about 5min on way to work she conked out.Went bac in my lunch break , fired it up and away I went

Mercedes Benz, in the operators handbook for the ML270. lists the amount of keresene that should be added to avoid this problem.

In Europe this is their solution to the problem.

Regards

Col Tigwell

Many years ago Toyota sold a diesel additive that "converted" summer mix diesel into winter mix, among other benefits. Not sure if it's still available.
When I left for the snowy I'd add it in the prescribed amounts. My 2H Troopy spent many a week in Perisher Valley (yes, it was winter) with both tanks quarter full of diesel bought in Newcastle without problems.

Geoff.

Surely there must be a simple fix to this that is used in Europe.

Europe has an extremely high % of diesel vehicles and a large portion of Europe is under snow for months on end. Do they use different fuel? What is in it that makes it work?

The thought of adding kero or petrol (they are much more volatile than diesel) would worry me if I owned a diesel. You would be changing the chemical make up of the fuel. But what would I know? Just thoughts.

What can I add to my split air con unit as it's freezing up as I type lol

Leroy

this might scare one or two of you, but in England you'd see truckers light a little fire under the truck. The more cautious would carry a little parrafin heater.

Chilly night in Perth tonight - it's 9 degrees...... Might have to turn the heater on.

I remember seeing a TV show about a guy going to all the extreme places in the world. The trip to the coldest place meant they lit a fire and heated not only the fuel tank but the diff, axle bearings, any moving part, with a flaming torch. I 'think' it was an air cooled diesel engined vehicle they were driving. Seemed to 'fire' up okay with all of this. Battery must have been pretty good too.

Tim

Karl, Goeff M & Tim
Stop telling all the Easterners about our secret state
If they all come over here we will not be able to go bush without being inundated by them

Keep it to ourselves

Yeah! all diesel owners should move to WA (the ski season is very short though!)

Why would you have reservations about adding kero to diesel, especially if Mercedes recommend it!

Another solution would be................Don't go into the alps during the snow season!
How easy is that?

Had to smile at this thread. Being an ex-pat now living in Canada I couldn't understand what the fuss about diesel was all about.

Our new home is in that part of Canada where the average winter temps are minus 25 C. and on a few days we get a little chillier at minus 40 - 50 C. With that and the altitude of some 2000m I have yet to see a diesel vehicle having problems with fuel

Diesle 4bys are very common here. I never thought about some of the problems mentioned. I might run down to the local Petro Can (petrol station) and ask them just what is in the fuel sold here in winter.

How I wish Toyota would let me import an LC or even a Troopie. Some deal they have globally about moving new vehicles from one country to another grrr.

But we get to come home each year and wander around the desert so I suppose things aren't that bad.

had the same problem with a cascade refrigeration system making 7 ton of liquid S02 (sulpher dioxide). The wax in the oil solidified in the low temp -70c evaporator which would block the refrigeration circuit...simple solution changed to an compressor oil that didnt have any wax

never even bothered to think it could happen to diesel......but I'm amazed that we (austrailia) have different diesel fuels to combat this for those areas that are affected by this condition.....wouldnt it make more sense to have ONE fuel (one refinement process) that could handle the worst expected conditions to prevail anywhere in OZ?

Is this learning curve left to trail and error?..... or are we told to never drive this car to mt hotham this when purchasing a diesel vehicle in say Darwin? if your not told by manufacturer that is a condition that can arise then i'd be asking for tow and defrost fees

I'm from Broken Hill and diesel freezing is not much of a problem here, although we do get the occasional 0 or -1 overnight

In the October hols I am planning to take the kids to Mt Buller for a look at the snow. I know that the bulk of the snow season will be over by then but do I have to worry about this (GU 4.2TD).

We will be staying at Pinnacle Valley which is just near the entrance to the National Park. Probably won't take the car up to the ski fields as the resort offers a shuttle bus, but the car could well sit still for 5 days.

Lastly, where can I get this Alpine Diesel, we will probably travel along the Murray then head south to Mansfield from Echuca.

Duncs

ah yes well Nudenut ... it seems that most of the big manufacturers have a global deal about selling different models in other countries... You can buy an LC here (Canada) but it will be second hand and 15 years old !! Funny how you can buy other Toyotas but not a troopie or an LC (new)

They have Nissan Pathfinders but no Patrol

The F150 V8 4x4 is kind of impressive but only carries half a tonne.

Then they have some really weird rules for importing any vehicle.. to begin it has to be registered for at least 6 months in the country of origin. ...then it has to meet emission standards.. and then it has to meet another standard..and so on.

Should have heard the phone conversation when chatting with Canada Customs about an idea to import a HSV Maloo ute (they had no idea what I was on about)..well you would have thought I was going to send GM out of business !! :)

oh and you are right Seeyou !!

.. I asked at the local gas station umm garage ..whatever.. diesel is diesel all the same, all year round here.. although they do add stuff to the petrol in our part of Canada in winter.

Peter