NEW TO DIESEL. have questions about antigen/winter diesel

So I just bought a 2013 JSW 3 weeks ago. I live in southern california where literally we don't have a winter. The coldest it gets is maybe 30F at night. My concern is, I do take a few trips to Lake Tahoe in the winter time to snowboard. It's not uncommon to see -10F when I'm up there. I was wondering if I'm going to have problems if I drive up there, park my car for the few days I'm there and then try and drive home? The diesel I'm buying at home is definitely not winterized, so would I need to ad some type of antigel additive when I make the trip?

I'm up here in Seattle, where we get typically 1 or 2 days of "winter" per year. I keep a bottle of Power Service in the white bottle on hand for use if we're due to get temps below 20F or so.

I use Power Service mostly because it's available at my local parts store. Note the SILVER bottle is the summer formula (no anti-gel), you want the WHITE bottle (with anti-gel).

Dose your tank at the last fillup before getting to where it's cold (read the label for the correct amount). Wax crystals start forming at around 20F. It doesn't really to be an issue until it gets much colder than that. I dose at 20F, just to be safe.

Yes, if you let the car sit in a parking lot while boarding for a couple of days at -10°F, you could get gelling. Use RacerTodd's advice and you should be good.

I agree. The smart way to do it is have your tank pretty much empty when you get there and fill with local fuel in the cold location. If the price is outrageous, then fill with enough to get you around in the destination, and then away to get the balance of what you need where the price is more reasonable. (I think this way because I'm a tight wad.)

And the comments about additive all apply.

Bottom line is you are still good to go.

Cheers,

PH

Thanks for all the input

Powder Hound said:

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The above advice is good however I've never really had much jelling issues at all, even at -10f however by the time it gets that cold all the fuel here is winterized and I've usually switched over by then.

Adding some anti jell PS is a good idea, the 911 stuff can be handy if you ever get stuck in the cold but I don't think it's good for daily use.