-10 F and won't start

I suppose the diesel gelled d/t cold. I added an antigel (911) that I have used in my tractor and I have a light bulb under the hood. Gunna try to start it again later. Any suggestions or comments? Also, is it common for the temperature idiot light to stay on after start when it is really cold out?

try a heat gun ,take the hose off the air cleaner and pump hot air into the engine

heatgun

that's a good idea. thanks!

The temp light can come on in colder weather because the coolant shrinks a bit and the car thinks the coolant level is too low.

Does it go off after the car warms up? Add some coolant (use proper stuff), don't overfill.

HTH

Bill

BTW, it is 5 F right now in Kansas City. I added some PS and plugged in both cars.
Crossing fingers. Should be OK though.

Bill

Why would you suspect gelled fuel? Did you get it from a station that sees very little volume? It's pretty unlikely that fuel in Montana isn't adequately winterized. Did you remove the filter and fill it with 911? Otherwise it's all in the tank, which won't help gelled fuel lines or the filter.

How's your battery? Hook up a charger on a low amperage setting overnight. Then when you need to start it, turn the amps up. If it has a "boost" setting, that may also help.

The one time this happened to me (ie. conking out on me in 6º weather,) I took an electric space heater, one of those little, fan-blowing jobs you put in your bedroom, and I put it up on a stool to blow warm air down into the fuel tank--took the cap off and let this run for a few hours. Started right up then a little while later.

Expecting the -10s * F range and lower tonight in the Denver area . On treating the fuel for these temps if it really is slushing up the only cure is a warm room , ~50 * F or higher for a few hours then treat the fuel . I speak from close to 30 years of dieseling . A little slushing up can throw off the timing by more than enough to cause a failure to start .

And yes the fuel should be treated at the pump but your fuel might not be treated enough to handle a cold soak in in those temps . So never trust that it is treated strong enough when you know a cold snap like today is on the way . I always treat the fuel before the the cold sets in to avoid this . I've had too many friends that trusted the station to treat their fuel only to end up on the side of the road in the cold at night . Better safe than sorry .

Have you used any % of BD in the last month ?? If so a small % of BD in those temps after a cold soak can sludge up even with treated fuel . It will not completely solidify but the sludge that will form can reduce fuel flow significantly . I've had this happen twice now in Utah on I-70 , not much fun I have to say .

Good luck

leewronan said:

I suppose the diesel gelled d/t cold. I added an antigel (911) that I have used in my tractor and I have a light bulb under the hood. Gunna try to start it again later. Any suggestions or comments? Also, is it common for the temperature idiot light to stay on after start when it is really cold out?

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__. Lee, are you sure it's fuel gelling???? Early A4's had problems with the fuel pickup in the tank. The fuel doesn't gel as such, but the pickup area is so small that ice crystals (from water in the fuel) will block the pickup inlet (of course, temps have to be quite low). 911 won't help it and no matter how much heat you put in the engine, it won't help it; putting the car in a warm garage will help it but they often re-freeze when you take them out again. See the thread named something like "Secret Cold Weather Defect".

The temp fell 58 F in last 24 hours. Holy **ap! Currently 2 F.

Off to work.

Bill

Here is the referenced thread.

Cold Weather Design Flaw, Secret Recall from VW?
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=68872

That is what happened to me. After performing the modification to the fuel pickup I've had no further problems with fuel gelling with temps as low as -15.
Tony

abranz said:

That is what happened to me. After performing the modification to the fuel pickup I've had no further problems with fuel gelling with temps as low as -15.
Tony

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The fuel pick-up has nothing to do with the fuel gelling. Fuel gelling is a matter of chemistry, not mechanics or fuel tank design. Straight #2 fuel will start gelling at about 28*F. Kerosene is the basic additive, but there are other things to add back lubricity, viscocity, and BTUs (but will still get lower BTU content fuel).

MayorDJQ said:

The fuel pick-up has nothing to do with the fuel gelling. (snip)

Click to expand...

__. That's right. You can have fuel starvation (related to cold) from two sources:

1) Fuel gelling - in this case, the fuel firms up into a mass very like Jello and will not flow through the lines and filter to the pump. (In practice, a waxy substance precipitates out of the fuel as it begins to gell and this wax plugs up the filter material in the fuel filter. If you're driving along in cold conditions and you're beginning to experience the first signs of real fuel gelling, the wax accumulation will be the first sign -- but it doesn't really matter since the end result is the same; the car stops. Genuine gelled fuel in tanks and lines is often when a car is parked overnight in very cold temps; in these cases, the wax begins to form but that doesn't matter because the gel usually happens completely and the wax plugging your filter won't give you advanced warning.)

2) Blocked fuel pickup - in this case, the fuel will flow OK but you have an accumulation of ice crystals (usually accompanied by what's technically known as cr@p) that blocks the pickup.

__. The end result is the same -- no fuel to the pump due to cold temperatures but the actual causes are different and the fixes must be different. Putting a car in a warm garage will solve both problems (although if the fuel stoppage was complete enough, you may have to refill the filter and/or bleed the injector lines before it will start up again) -- but if you don't take care of the real underlying problem, you'll have the problem recurring again.

(Of course, it's possible to have gelled fuel AND a blocked pickup -- that's a bad combo.)

I second making sure your car doesn't have the restricted tank pickup. I had 2 of my 4 TDIs with the bad part. Made both cars appear to have a fuel gel issue, but because the pickup was restriced I wasn't getting any fuel.

Since then I have never a hint of an issue with my TDIs and cold weather. Now my Cummins I have had a miss in the current -20F and -55F wind chills, but that is another issue.