I am up here in ND, where we are experiencing a cold spell right now. It has been bellow zero for a few days now. Anyway, went out and started my truck this morning (it was plugged in all night). Truck fired right off, but after about a minute it started running real rough, then just died. I have an FP100 Airdog on the truck, and I cannot find anyone in the area with filters for it! So I put about 3/4 of a bottle of melt down in my tank, and also got the water seperator off and filled it with some melt down and straight #1. That was at around noon, and I still cannot get the truck to start! I dont have anywhere to get it indoors that wont charge me (dealership). Any suggestions? Should I try cracking a fuel line? Was thinking it could be air locked since it esentially ran out of fuel.

 

Oh yeah, my reason for not taking the fuel filter off is like I said, I cannot find a replacement in the area. My filter is really stuck on the airdog, not sure if its froze on, or what? I crancked on it with a filter wrench alot, but dont want to crush it, since its the only one I have right now! But I think the fuel goes through the water seperator first, right? So if I am putting the melt down and #1 in the sepperator, then it should be sucking through to the fuel filter, right?

 

Yes, treat it as if you ran it dry. And add some anti-gel whenever you add fuel.

 

I am running straight #2, but I am pretty heavy on the winter power service. This is my first time trying it this way, and obviously it is not going to work for the extreme cold we get up here! I normally run either 50/50 or straight 1 with additive, but wanted to see if I could get by with this mix. Thanks, I will go try cracking an injector open.

 

I had this happen lastyear.. I always carry a bottle of Diesel 911 by Power Service...

But Now I run #1 Diesel with some lube additive, power service, 2 stoke oil, whatever i have..

Put a charger on the batteries, leave it plugged in for a few hours, then crack an injector line and see if you have fuel, or a fuel pulse for that matter... If not then you might wanna look for a warm shop... (Hard to find this time of year, I know!)

 

Not necessarily. If the filter is plugged up with gelled fuel nothings going to go though it.
Try putting a tarp over the entire truck so that it touches the ground all the way around. Put a small electric heater under the truck and it will ungell in no time flat. Even the block heater for several hours might be enough if you don't have a portable heater.
I once thawed a 40' semi trailer full of frozen fertilizer that wouldn't come out with this method.

Surprised you gelled. I've been running straight #2 with Power Service for over ten years down to -35F without problem.

 

Same thing happened to me last night. -19. I had it plugged in all night and wouldn't catch at all this morning. Went out and got some 911, pulled the filter, topped it off and put the rest in the tank and still nothing. Noticed the fuel didn't seem gelled, it was runny. Cracked a couple injectors nothing. Fuel pump is reading 0, went up to 5 for a sec then back to 0. Finally built a little tent around the tank and put a heater in it. Been there for a couple hours now and still nothing. I'll leave it on for another hour or so and if it doesn't work, I'll just have to leave it alone. The block heater has the block warm enough I can feel it with my hand. I'm stumped at this point and it's not going to get above freezing here until wednesday

 

did I mention the garage is 6" too short for the truck LOL I may just have to pull the bumper off and get it in there. What a PITA!

 

Well, i got it started around 5:30 tonight. I had to crack the first three injectors before I started even getting fuel to #1. Once they were spirting fuel pretty good, I tightened them back up, and she took off. It wasnt real happy sounding though, Loped like crazy!

I was a little supprised too that it gelled! Although this was my first time trying the straight 2 with addative, I have talked to many that said it works great for them! And,even though it is really cold right now, we have had MUCH colder in the past, and I never have had troubles with 50/50 and additive.

I just shut the truck down about a half hour ago, so it was running for over five hours. I was able to pump 15 gallons of straight 1 into it, and added a pretty healthy amount of power service again. I hope I dont have any more troubles, this really set my day back! Not to mention my semi is gelled up as well, so tommorow will be full of fun too! Plus its supposed to get even colder tonight, think they are saying -25 or so!

 

Man, I didn't realise you all were that cold. Get after your fuel supplier to manage their fuel gelling point. May still have a summer blend in their tanks.

 

I wouldn't doubt that an unscrupulous supplier slipped a little bit of biodiesel into the mix...

 

Yeah, im kinda stumped over all of this myself! It has been in the -20 to -30 range with windchills in the -45 to -50 range (dont think windchill effects anything except humans, animals, etc?). While this is definately cold, we have had colder in the past, and I have never had trouble running 50/50 fuel with additive. We also have five semi's that were or currently are still gelled! The towing companies are two days behind, and you can hardly find an open stall at any shop in town! My good freind is a cummins tech at a case dealer, he said they are having guys coming in with straight #1 gelled up! Seems like crappy fuel all around to me!