[Vwdiesel] Something interesting to share

[pmdolan1 at sasktel.net]

I was pretty busy yesterday, and did not get a chance to reply to 
Steve's email. 

What I strongly suspect is that the older fuel in his tank WAS at the 
limit of gelling, but one or two things happened when he filled. 

1. the fuel underground is considerably warmer than surface 
temperatures.  For instance:  it is -35C here now (-31of so F) and I 
got a wet tank the other day from local station.  Water does not exist 
as liquid at -35, so a mere 10 feet or so below, it is warm enough for 
ground water to leak in and be pumped as liquid into vehiles.  It took 
two full hours for it to cool enough to freeze in the pickup.  Won't 
print my reaction when half way to Edmonton to get kids away on their 
vacation/engagement trip!  Steve's fill would have moved the 
temperature INSTANTLY above cloud point for the old fuel and allowed 
flow. 

2. the new fuel was probably treated for seasonal conditions by the 
wholesaler.  It will contain wax crystal formation inhibitors (same 
kind of additive one pours in to aftertreat), as well as having a 
little more D1  in the D2 blend and I suspect some refiners go a 
little more with napthenics in parffinics as well (why we get less 
power and mileage - and also less tendency for wax crystals to 
precipitate)

Season's Greetings - the Dolan family

On Mon, 23 Dec 2013 02:54:17 -0500 (EST), lbaird119 at aol.com wrote:

>   Basically it's just that the fuel gets thicker with little 
> crystals.  Drive slowly and as soon as you hear the engine starting 
> to lose power, let it drop to an idle or close.  Usually it'll let 
> the blockage clear or flush through and start going again.  Just keep 
> it slower and it'll usually keep going.  More or less fuel 
> technically should make little difference as far as the actual cold's 
> effect.  It's higher in the tank so less "pull" is needed to pump the 
> fuel as well as a bit more to slosh around and break up any clusters 
> that would clog the inlet of the fuel line.  Actually, a small amount 
> of fuel should (possibly) warm up faster (from the pump) and run free 
> more easily, than a full tank.  Tanks aren't insulated though so... 
>   I'd look for any possible air leaks into the fuel line.  If the 
> hoses from the tank are wet... Also make sure all hose clamps are 
> tight.  My Rabbit went from the first thing to freeze up to hardly 
> ever needing any treatment to get the fuel to flow!  Just had a 
> couple air leaks that only really showed up when it was cold and 
> thusly pumping harder, therefore more able to pull air through those 
> slightly loose connections.  Had more power afterwards too!
>
>   My new snow tires are great!  Got the General ones.  Put them on 
> after it finally snowed (just enough to make the  ground white is 
> all.)  I have better traction on snow than I had on the de-icer 
> covered pavement, by a long shot!  Stops like I'm on dry road!
>   Thanks Doyt!!!
>     Loren
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steve Boser <greenerwheels at gmail.com>
> To: vwdiesel <vwdiesel at vwfans.com>
> Sent: Sun, Dec 22, 2013 12:46 pm
> Subject: [Vwdiesel] Something interesting to share
>
>
> Hi all
> Happy holidays! I usually don't post much, me and my 81 rabbit, get 
> along fairly eliably. But I did have an interesting experience last 
> week. Here in portland regon the winters are usually pretty mild but 
> last week the temperature got own to 14f and I forgot to fill up the 
> car the night before. So when I went to tarter her up in the morning 
> I realized I probably had about a gallon in the ank. It's about 3 
> miles to the nearest station that sells diesel, so I had some oncern 
> about that little diesel in the tank and it being so cold. It started 
> up ust fine and made it to the end of the block, but as soon as I 
> started to ccelerate I could tell the motor wasn't firing right. 
> About a mile from the ouse it started to die, I'm thinking the fuel 
> in the injector pump was ok but he tank was jelled up, I got the car 
> off the road (cussing at myself for not illing it up the night 
> before) and waited a few minutes before calling AAA. I igured I had 
> nothing to lose so I tried to s
> tart it and fired up. It got me right across the street from the gas 
> station and died gain, pulled off to the side of the road and waited 
> a bit and it started right p. 
> illed the tank and had no problems since then. 
>  won't make that mistake again, having a few gallons in the tank 
> makes a ifference in cold weather!
> Steve
>
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