(By Greg Rourke) – Yep, winter is rapidly closing in. The whole country is cooling this week, Chicago is forecast to have a high of about 30 on Sunday.
It’s especially tough on diesel engines.
As most of you know, diesels rely on the heat of compression to ignite the fuel and air mixture. Air is compressed and a timed fuel injector sprays a mist of fuel into the cylinder and we have combustion. The key here is the fuel must be liquid when it gets to the injector, and become a mist when sprayed into the cylinder. In cold temperatures, that doesn’t always happen. Paraffin is present in diesel, and will solidify as the temps drop. This fouls fuel filters and injectors, reducing the ability to combust. When it gets cold enough, it will turn into a gel like glop with the consistency of apple butter. With biodiesel, which is up to B20 here in Illinois, fuel starts to get cloudy as warm as 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Once it gels there are products to reliquify the fuel, but it must come in contact with the gelled fuel to make it work. Just dumping it in the tank won’t do it. So you’re spinning on new fuel filters with the product mixed with good fuel, then priming the system and hoping it starts.
Planning ahead is the key. There are a couple of excellent products to help keep fuel liquid when added during a fill up. Winter blended fuel is common in winter, but smart truckers spend the few extra clams for the additive as well. In tank fuel heaters are common in extreme cold, but as they rely on engine coolant to warm the fuel you have to make sure to keep the truck running. Battery maintenance is also important, as all the metal in the engine contracts in the cold and the crankshaft is trying to spin through the peanut butter like 15W40 oil.
Okay, enough of that. Now let us all enjoy the symphony of tortured starters and some barely running diesels fogging in a three block area in diesel smoke.
Be still my beating heart!
I get a woody every time I hear a big pre-cup injected Cat engine start up, clack clack clack, but not so much 2 stroke Detroits and Cummins engines of that era.
Next to the PC Cats in the video, the direct injected 3406B in the Binder is my second best sound.
Back in the day, the NTA Cummins were major smoke shows that rivalled the PC Cats at start up.
I live in a pretty cold part of Canada and remember when I was a young driver in the mid 70\’s, after a night of idling at a truck stop.
During breakfast, a bunch of Canuck drivers were making bets on how far out of the driveway the American trucks would get after idling all night, before their fuel gelled and the truck stalled.
Most never got out of sight of the truck stop before they froze up.
Many learned that kerosene, methyl hydrate, warm clothes and boots are 3 of your best friends if you drive a truck in cold weather.