If the fuel in the tank has gelled, add the entire contents of Diesel Winter Rescue (32 ounces) to every 40 gallons of fuel in the tank (s). Remove the fuel filters and fill them with a 50/50 mixture of Diesel Winter Rescue and diesel fuel. Start your engine after reinstalling the fuel filters. Allow your engine to idle for a few minutes to warm up the fuel system and clear any gelled masses.
Gelled Fuel in Fuel Lines or Fuel Filters:
Remove the engine’s fuel filters and fill with the same 1:1 combination of Diesel Winter Rescue and conventional diesel fuel if your fuel is liquid in the fuel tank(s) but your engine won’t start. Reinstall the fuel filters, start the engine, and let it warm up completely.
How Do Hot Shot’s Diesel Winter Products Work?
Hot Shot’s Diesel Winter Rescue is a fully developed emergency product that contains a military-grade de-icer as well as a lubricity additive for diesel fuel. It’s designed to re-liquefy gelled fuel and de-ice frozen fuel filters, restoring diesel fuel flow to the engine and allowing the vehicle to resume normal operation. Having products like Diesel Winter Rescue in your vehicle during the winter months, when gelling is most likely, is a good idea.
How do you fix gelled diesel?
If the cold weather catches you off guard, your diesel-powered rig or light vehicle may be difficult to start or not start at all.
This happens because diesel fuel thickens inside filters and fuel lines, clogging your truck’s fuel system by forming a gel. For a truck owner/operator or anyone trying to travel and gets trapped on a dark and lonely highway in the middle of nowhere, this may be a very costly cost. Depending on the severity and location, emergency call outs to defrost a gelled system can cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars.
Emergency CleanBoost Diesel Rescue De-GelTM was created with one goal in mind: to get you out of an emergency situation and back on the road as quickly as possible. Continue reading.
Product Details
In cold temperatures, use to liquefy frozen or gelled diesel gasoline caused by wax production or ice crystals. Quick-Thaw will completely thaw the whole fuel system in roughly 20 minutes if applied according to the guidelines. Excellent for diesel cars operating in colder locations, where wax crystals found in low- and ultra-low sulfur diesel fuels can cause filter blockage.
A bottle of Quick-Thaw should be kept on hand in every diesel truck for emergency cold weather rescue treatment.
Will a diesel run with gelled fuel?
You may ask if diesel can gel while driving if you use your diesel vehicle in the winter.
One of the issues of diesel fuel, as you may know, is that it does not enjoy cold temperatures. Diesel can transform from a liquid that flows readily into a goopy mess that is bad for your engine if it gets cold enough.
Here’s all you need to know about gelling and how to avoid it as the temperature drops.
What Causes Diesel Fuel Gelling?
It all boils down to the temperature. Diesel fuel thickens as the temperature drops, just like motor oil or other viscous fluids. Diesel’s waxy ingredient, known as paraffin, begins to crystallize, resulting in sludgy, hazy fuel in your tank. Once the temperature dips below 32°F, diesel gels, making it difficult to flow through your fuel pump, fuel lines, filters, and injectors.
Can Diesel Gel While Driving?
Yes. The fact that the engine is running and the car is moving smoothly does not guarantee that the fuel will not gel. Despite the fact that the engine warms up as you drive, the gasoline tank is far away from the engine and remains cold. Even when driving along the road, this might cause diesel gasoline to gel.
Symptoms of Diesel Fuel Gelling
You may not be able to start the engine if it is too cold. Even if your vehicle starts finally, it may have had difficulty turning over. Gelling diesel fuel can cause sluggish performance and poor acceleration while you’re driving, so if it’s chilly and you’re having these problems, it’s possible your diesel fuel is gelling as you drive.
How Do you Prevent Diesel Fuel Gelling?
Fortunately, preventing diesel fuel from gelling is simple. Anti-gel additives can be added to your fuel every time you refuel to prevent gelling. It’s a quick and low-cost solution to an inconvenient and perhaps costly problem. If your diesel gels, getting your vehicle somewhere warm should solve the problem, but because your vehicle’s engine isn’t designed to run without a constant supply of fuel, there’s always the risk of damaging components inside your fuel system.
If you drive a diesel car at temperatures below freezing, your best bet is to use an anti-gel additive every time you fill the tank to prevent the fuel from gelling in the first place.
Check out NAPA Online for a complete list of diesel care supplies, or visit one of our 17,000 NAPA AutoCare facilities for routine maintenance and repairs. Consult a trained specialist at your local NAPA AUTO PARTS shop for further information on how to avoid diesel fuel gelling.
Can gelled diesel damage injectors?
The gelling, on the other hand, might not be enough to damage an injector. In other words, it gelled, and you didn’t try to run it again until it ungelled. However, if the fuel leading to the injectors has gelled up and the FICM is driving them, the injectors will be starving for fuel. It’s the same as if you were in a low (or no) pressure situation.
What causes diesel fuel gelling?
Temperature effects on paraffin, a component of diesel fuel, are the most common source of gelling difficulties. When paraffin waxes are burned in an engine, they produce more power. Diesel, on the other hand, will begin to harden as the temperature drops.
What happens if my diesel gels?
Wax particles form in the gasoline, which causes it to gel. The diesel comes to a complete halt. The main problem with this is that the fuel cannot flow correctly through the engine and fuel lines. Not only will the equipment be rendered useless, but the gasoline lines and engine may be destroyed as well.
At what temperature does diesel fuel start to jail?
When the temperature of diesel fuel drops, the paraffin that is normally contained in it begins to harden. The wax in liquid form will solidify at 32 degrees, clouding the fuel tank. It will ultimately start to gel at 10-15 degrees and block the tank and fuel filters.
How warm does it need to be for diesel to Ungel?
In diesel fuel, a similar process occurs when the fuel crystallizes during cold weather. Gelling begins to occur when the temperature approaches 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit*, which can block the fuel system (*depending on the supply and quality of fuel, gelling can occur as high as 20 degrees Fahrenheit).
How To Tell When Diesel Fuel Begins To Gel
When diesel fuel begins to gel, Berg says there are a few telling indications, the most obvious of which is a loss of power and compression when fuel fails to reach the combustion chamber. If you could see the gasoline, it would have a hazy appearance, indicating that it had already gelled. Other indicators to look for include white smoke coming from the exhaust when trying to accelerate or the engine stopping running when you are sitting idle trying to throttle. Also, if the vehicle starts but does not run continuously, this could indicate that your fuel has gelled. Gelled diesel fuel is almost always the problem, whether it’s a lack of RPMs when an engine is running or a cold winter morning when the truck won’t start at all.
How to Fix Gelled Diesel Fuel?
Many people make the mistake of grabbing a can of ether to start the combustion process when their diesel vehicle won’t start at all. However, there are certain risks with this solution, as there may not be enough fuel to ignite. Spraying too much ether and having ether spray that isn’t contained causes even more issues. The uncontained spray might ignite other hot components, causing engine damage, or too much ether in the fuel line could simply ignite air in the lines rather than gasoline, causing the diesel engine to suffer severe damage. Fortunately, there are alternatives to spraying ether that are far safer. Here are a few preventative measures to consider:
- Heat is the most effective line of defense. Avoiding frigid conditions by storing your vehicle in a climate-controlled garage or warm area. Other strategies include installing a series of heat-emitting light bulbs under the vehicle, enclosing the vehicle in a tarp with a heater blowing heat, and installing a modern-day block heater on the engine to keep the vehicle sheltered from the freezing temperatures. While building up the electric costs, the utility providers will adore you as well.
- Kerosene: With the issue of staying warm when it’s 20 degrees below zero, people might experiment with different fuel mixtures. Pouring kerosene into the fuel tank to lower the freezing point is the most typical method. To take advantage of kerosene’s lower freezing point, many people mix #1 diesel, which is a combination of kerosene and #2 diesel fuel. This mix is frequently accessible in the northern parts of the country, but in the southern parts of the country, where temperatures are normally warmer, the #1 diesel may not be available. In either instance, kerosene has drawbacks, the most notable of which being reduced fuel mileage and efficiency. If, on the other hand, the truck stops running and kerosene is chosen, it is strongly recommended to leave the engine run long enough to combine the fuels and provide a continuous flow of the mixture. Consider the time it takes for the kerosene to defrost the tank in a semi-truck when operating with hundreds of gallons of fuel in a tank. The kerosene must next melt the frozen fuel lines and clogged fuel filter. The entire line from the gasoline tank to the filter to the injectors may take an hour of idle time to defrost.
- Fuel Additives: There are now fuel additives that can provide a simple, low-cost, and no-hassle method to prevent gelling that any car owner can do themselves. “When considering an addition, Berg advises, “do your homework and analyze all of the products and promises.” “Investing a bit more time and effort to discover the greatest product is occasionally worthwhile. Additives are a means to offer an extra layer of protection to prevent the wax in diesel fuel from becoming thick, similar to wearing layers of clothing in the cold.” Many products contain alcohol, according to Berg, so look for one that provides not just proper temperature coverage but also protection for the entire system, including lubricity, cetane, water dispersion, and a success guarantee. Many preventive options are available, including some top picks being Diesel Winter Anti-Gel, which promotes coverage down to -40°F.
How to Prevent Diesel Fuel Gelling?
So, what’s the big deal about taking the effort to prevent diesel fuel from gelling? “If you contact a tow truck, you may still be stuck with a vehicle that won’t start after paying the tow cost,” Berg explains. You can save yourself the $80 and the headache in the case of a personal or light-duty car, or the $500 tow bill and missed time on the interstate in the case of a truck. Instead, taking use of the finest scientific additives could safeguard you from getting stuck in the cold for only a few dollars in preventative and an easy pour into the tank.
Emergency additions are also available for people who have failed to heed the warning, there has been no prevention, and gelling is still a possibility, or has already occurred! Diesel Winter Rescue, for example, is a formulated substance that requries gelled fuel and de-ices frozen fuel filters to restore diesel fuel flow to the engine, allowing the vehicle to resume normal operation. Diesel Winter Rescue, for example, is a good alternative to keep in your vehicle during the winter months just in case.
How do I stop my diesel from gelling?
One of the best methods to avoid fuel gelling is to keep the fuel from becoming too cold, which you can accomplish by not leaving your car outside in the cold. This technique should work in the winter if you have a heated garage or other form of climate-controlled storage facility for your vehicle. Because the fuel won’t gel while the engine is running, you can still drive the automobile in the cold. If you have to leave it outside for several hours or days at a time, you’ll need to find another technique to keep the fuel from gelling.
Can you put too much anti gel in diesel?
Is it possible to use too much anti-gel in diesel? You’ve probably added much too much high-quality diesel fuel additive. Overloading your engine can result in clogged filters, reduced engine performance, and potentially a whole new set of fuel and engine issues. If you’re losing your libido, don’t overdo it.
