[Vwdiesel] How many of you froze up?

[Lee Hillsgrove]

  I may have had a fleeting fuel gelling incident the morning before last.
It was only about -12F (it has been as low as -22F recently) and I have had
no problems at colder temps with the same tank of fuel, which seems odd. I
started my '98 TDI and let it run for only a few minutes while I went back
in the house, then drove down my road to the main road. It's a few miles and
mostly down hill. I pulled onto the main road in 2nd gear, hit 3rd and
thought to myself that the car was acting a little doggy, then shifted to
4th. At this point, the engine dropped to idle power for a few seconds, long
enough to start slowing down, before it shook a little, then started pulling
again. 5th was a little shaky on the power delivery, but it straightened out
within a mile or so and gave no problems after that. I'm thinking that the
fuel began to catch in the filter housing but the return fuel from the pump
melted it before it could cause too much by way of problems. The fact that
it did not bother at even colder temps has me puzzled, though. Maybe my MAF
sensor got some frost on it or something like that - who knows.

 Owner's manual or not, I wouldn't put gasoline in the tank unless no other
additive was available AND I was already starting to gel. Also, if you do
have to resort to gas or kerosene, please put some 2-stroke oil in there
with it! Your injection pump will thank you.    :-))

  Lee
  Oo-v-oO
  PP-ASEL
  KB1GNI