waxed filters

Nemologger · January 10, 2016, 07:56:14 PM

I been sitting waiting for a freeze, finally this morning it was 1 degree so I went and fired my 548gIII up at daylight, She popped right off but then after running about 20 Min it jelled up. I had put additive in so I thought I was good. I can take the primary off and clean out the wax and fill halfway with 911 and top with blended fuel and get it started but in about 10 min she gels again. Going in the am to get new filters.
How do you guys fix gelled up diesels when its cold?

snowstorm · January 10, 2016, 08:14:42 PM

go get 5gal of kerosene and dump it in the fuel tank and put new filters on

Nemologger · January 10, 2016, 08:18:12 PM

Thanks Snowstorm...Id say being from Maine you know all about cold weather starting problems.

snowstorm · January 10, 2016, 08:31:34 PM

your fuel is most likely a different blend that what we have. its refined a bit different. according to my fuel supplier its good to -17 and its not cut with kerosene. this was in dec so now it may be cut

grassfed · January 10, 2016, 08:37:18 PM

If the fuel is gelled and the weather is still cold you need to drain tank and fill it with kerosene. Gelled fuel will not recombine fully until the fuel temp gets to be 40 or 50 degrees. You might get by with 5 gallons of kero but you might not. It all depends the fuel (how much is in the tank and the blend) and the temp. If you can run the machine long enough the return fuel should help warm and mix the fuel but the only way to be sure that it is fixed without risking clogging the filters again is to drain all of the fuel and fill it with #1/ kerosene. The last several years, since low sulphur, diesel has been much more prone to gelling.

finding the trail · January 10, 2016, 08:40:46 PM

How do you like the JD548gIII ? I have a 540gIII which is about the same machine minus the grapple. The smaller micron filters that this machine uses are more likely to wax in my opinion. Some of the things that I do in extreme cold weather are to keep the fuel tank low at night. I'll pick up 5 gallons of fuel in the morning and keep it in the cab of the truck to warm it. The warm fuel is mixed with the cold fuel before starting the machine. The goal is to get the fuel in the tank a little warmer and eliminate the cloudiness and gelling. Always go to the woods with spare filters.

HiTech · January 10, 2016, 11:05:10 PM

I have had fuel gel or the paraffin in it solidify. I just pour Power Service in the fuel tank and let it sit about 10 to 15 minutes. Don't ask me how, but this will flow through the fuel lines and when i turn the key the engine will sputter a few times them smooth out. Use to go through all the trouble of removing and replacing filters. Never again. I have tried to tell people about the Power Service and how it works but they don't seem to want to listen so I just let them go about it the hard way. This doesn't work for water froze in the fuel system but for the paraffin it works good. They say K-100 is good for water. I keep my main fuel tank tilted a bit and have a drain on that end. I check it once in awhile for water. Works for me that is all I care about.

grassfed · January 11, 2016, 12:03:19 AM

QuotePower Service and how it works but they don't seem to want to listen so I just let them go about it the hard way.

I use Power Service both the white bottles and the 911 in the red bottles ( and keep it around the farm) but it does not work as far as fixing gelled fuel when it is really cold. 911 will clean a waxed filter but if the fuel in the tank has separated it will not fix that.

It says right on the white bottles of Power Service " Diesel Fuel Supplement should be added to the fuel at a temperature higher than the fuel's cloud point. " That means that it is not for fixing cold gelled fuel.

It has also been my experience that it does not work reliably for treating stored fuel even when you treat it during warm weather.

I know this because of decades of experience feeding cattle in the winter. It is not like logging where I may miss a day of work; 150 head of hungry cattle in -30 is a HUGE problem and I know what I am talking about. Sure sometimes the machine will run but sometimes it will gell again after 5 or 10 minutes. Try walking across a field in -30 temperatures with 150 head of cattle crowding you and screaming at you and you will understand why I don't like relying on fuel additives.

1270d · January 11, 2016, 05:23:41 AM

There are also filters available which are more porous. Deere recommended them for our 1010 forwarder. They said the normal ones are too fine for cold weather use.
Now we have winter and summer sets of filters and it has cut down the problems.

HiTech · January 11, 2016, 07:12:34 AM

I had a dealer tell me once that most fuel is treated at the fuel depot. I know the fuel smells like it has something in it. Not sure what the paraffin does in the fuel. My fuel supplier got his fuel from Canada for a couple years. When he first got it he told me it was straight (no kerosene) and to try it and see how i liked it. It was great fuel, never had a problem. He was telling me the refining process was different or something to that nature. Anyway I guess the paraffin was reduced. It became to much paperwork crossing the Border so he stopped getting fuel there. Now he ads kerosene to it. Every person you talk to seems to have a different way of doing things so whatever works keep doing it.

HiTech · January 11, 2016, 07:26:36 AM

One night I was headed to camp...it was cold. Was going to do some rabbit hunting that weekend. It was late at night when I took off. I got about 1/2 way there and saw a tractor trailer pulled off the road. He waved me down. His truck fuel gelled up he told me. He had a phone but back then cell towers weren't plentiful in that area. He had twin tanks and filled up in a warmer area. I had some Power Service in the truck with me and we poured it in his tanks. Waited awhile then he tried it. His engine started but sputtered for awhile. After about 20 minutes of idling he said he would try it. I told him I would follow him till I turned off for camp. After about 20 or 25 miles of following him my turn off came up. I put my signal light on and he flipped his trailer lights at me as I was turning so must be everything was OK. Glad i could help him out.

OntarioAl · January 11, 2016, 08:33:52 AM

Back in the early 1980's I was working as a Logging Supervisor for a very large Forest Products Company (cutting about a million cords a year). The economy was slow and the decision came down from the "white ivory tower" in far away Montreal to immediately suspend all woodlands operations all equipment was parked at the various bush and camp garages and almost all union employees were laid off , supervisors worked as camp watchmen. This decision was made without taking in changing seasonal weather conditions as the shutdown started in August and operations were resumed in late November it was assumed that startup would be a simple matter of turning a key and going right to work..
All the equipment including highway haul trucks were parked with full tanks (standard practise to reduce water from condensation accumulating in the fuel tanks) filled with summer grade diesel.
Well we had a late November cold snap that year (-10F to -20F) a s I recall it took several days and lots of gelled fuel filter exchanges and fuel thinning additives before everything was running smoothly.
Al

snowstorm · January 11, 2016, 09:04:52 AM

almost all the fuel in maine comes from irving in nb. its been years since i had any fuel problems

Gearbox · January 11, 2016, 06:03:03 PM

Read the container on 911 and only use it like it says . It will eat orings and injectors . If a little is good lots is better don't work with 911 . Power service is ok to run on but not 911 .

Nemologger · January 11, 2016, 07:31:35 PM

Well I put new filters on this morning....poured them half full of 911 and topped of with blended fuel. Poured the rest in the tank, it started and died so I took off primary and topped it off with fuel and 911 again and pumped the air out...started right up and ran great all day...Tonight after work I topped it off with 40/60 blend.

Mountaynman · January 11, 2016, 08:22:42 PM

back a few years ago when I worked for cat and the c6.6 came out in the loaders and 501 harvesters the 3rd stage filter was a 2 micron couldn't get the fuel thru it in the winter they had to change it up Found out at a meeting that when they switched to this ultra low sulfur fuel they actually add water to the fuel to remove the sulfur nice some guys went to putting the old water jackets on the filters to make it work I was giving cases of filters away with every new machine

barbender · January 15, 2016, 11:19:42 PM

MN is now requiring the 2% biodiesel blend year round, I like some bio but not in the winter. I used to run straight #2 with a splash of Power Service even at -25° in my Dodge w/5.9 Cummins. They have a heater element on the prefilter that seems to help to keep them from gelling. Well, this first cold snap I gelled it up 3 times. I thought I was just plugging filters because this thing never gels, finally gave up and went to straight #1. The gas station manager was telling me this morning they are even having problems with the pumps with this stuff.

barbender · January 15, 2016, 11:34:37 PM

I was wrong- they have went to 5%!! I even tried a 50/50 blend- gelled >:( What do they think they are accomplishing, when you end up having to run #1?

4x4American · January 16, 2016, 08:15:30 AM

Barbender- thats what happens when politicians get involved with things they know nothing about, aggravating. I hope they pull their head outta their kesters...OP- I was told by a self proclaimed "diesel specialist" who runs a pretty big diesel repair/modification shop round here that the best thing to cut diesel with is gas. He says it needs a solvent and it'll never gel up. So what I do is use saw gas pretty much. Two stroke oil and gas. He claims that you use one of those 2.6fl oz cans of 2s oil to 35 gal diesel. And then .7 gal gas to 35gal diesel. If that helps. Was running that in my 5.9 for awhile but then gave up because it wasnt cold enough. Now I've been running the Lucas diesel fuel thickener and so far so good. You don't wanna over do the gas. The new kerosene blends don't work for anti gel as good any more from what I'm told.

chet · January 16, 2016, 10:03:11 AM

Quote from: 4x4American on January 16, 2016, 08:15:30 AM
Barbemder- thats what happens when politicians get involved with things they know nothing about, aggravating. I hope they pull their head outta their kesters...OP- I was told by a self proclaimed "diesel specialist" who runs a pretty big diesel repair/modification shop round here that the best thing to cut diesel with is gas.

The Deutz operators manual that I had for an old C5D actually called for cutting the diesel with gasoline in really cold weather. Up to 50% if I remember correctly.

deastman · January 16, 2016, 11:04:00 AM

When it gets below freezing I put one bottle of Power Service in my 100 gallon transfer tank before I fill it and I never have fuel trouble. I have a good filter on the transfer pump and I think that helps a lot. One trucker I know that has an older truck puts in a bottle of 911 each time he fuels up in cold weather.

Reddog · January 16, 2016, 03:47:08 PM

Quote from: Chet on January 16, 2016, 10:03:11 AM
Quote from: 4x4American on January 16, 2016, 08:15:30 AM
Barbemder- thats what happens when politicians get involved with things they know nothing about, aggravating. I hope they pull their head outta their kesters...OP- I was told by a self proclaimed "diesel specialist" who runs a pretty big diesel repair/modification shop round here that the best thing to cut diesel with is gas.

The Deutz operators manual that I had for an old C5D actually called for cutting the diesel with gasoline in really cold weather. Up to 50% if I remember correctly.

Was a pretty common practice with the old high sulfur fuel to cut with gas for lowering the cloud temp.