Posted on 01/01/2014 8:32:17 AM PST by Gay State Conservative
My dilemma...tomorrow night my diesel and I will spend the night in a town where it's forecast to drop to -40F overnight.I'll have no garage,no battery charger,no oil pan heater...nothing.Does anyone have any experience with diesels at that temperature? My previous diesel once started after a night of -30F but I'm concerned about this.As on the previous occasion I plan to fill up with locally blended Shell diesel when I arrive but my car maker forbids the use of *any* fuel additives (it's still under warranty).Thanks in advance for any advice.
Leave it running, when you can, install a block heater. We always plug our diesels in here in Alberta. If it’s frozen solid, you may have to wait until temps warm up a bit.
block heaters and insulated lines are your friend.
If you let it run, be sure to let it open up on the highway or something tomorrow, as in really open it up, it will clear it up so to speak.
most diesels are dual battery.
coldest rated diesel you can get is -30 celcius. You can run straight kerosene til -50.
You may be able to pick up a magnetic block heater (sticks to the oil pan) at a tractor supply or auto parts place. Worth a shot at least. Good luck - hope you don’t have to wait till spring... :-)
We heated up bricks on top of the wood stove. For some reason they felt harder in the middle of the night when they cooled off and brick tossing would usually wake someone up to stoke the stove up again.
That's why I suggested using the spare key and locking it up.
Where the heck are you that it is -40F??? I’m looking at the national weather maps for the next 2 days and I don’t see temps anywhere that are that low. Maybe you confused the wind chill with the actual temp.
If you have a friend or two, you can do the first stint on both trucks, and then your friend can do the second stint and let you sleep.
I'm not there now...I'll be there tomorrow night.It's a small town a couple of hundred miles north of Montreal and the official Canadian Weather Bureau forecast for that town for Thursday night/Friday morning is -39 Celsius....which translates out to -38F.Temps like that aren't common in that area but are far from unheard of.And no,it's not wind chill.
I had no idea that you were romantically involved with Rudy Diesel! This, lucky fellow, qualifies you to interact with Red BADger, who may, if you pass further muster, may update you on developments in the field.
The original owner of your Diesel treasure was obviously one of the diminishing number of our fellow citizens with an IQ score higher than the average Tampa Bay temperature.
*ATT Northern Freepers: FYI, When the the Tampa Temp plummets below 55F, the natives cluster together for warmth and crowd the ERs for frostbite treatment. BTW, "ER" seems heavy reading for most of them.
100W bulbs are illegal...............;^(
SHHHH...remember, 100 watt bulbs are now ILLEGAL!
Having been born and raised in Tampa, slurs on Tampons both offend and deeply hurt me. I hope I typed that just as all those lawyers who keep calling suggested.
Aside from nasty asides regarding America’s favorite professionals, we should remind Northern FReepers that when it freezes in Tampa, Tampons do not know “Bridges Ice First”. The body shops sure do, though. Rumor has it they have a slush fund to pay a Santaria VoodooPerson to perform rites to please the Voodoo God of Ice Storms.
Since Santaria came from the Caribbean, their VoodooPerson might not have expertise in pleasing the God of the Ice Storm - or the God of the Ice Storm might be a Democrat and takes the sacrificed chicken, has it ‘sanctified’ at Churches, and Feasts On.
Or not.
Do remember to ask all parties next time you are side swiped by a Tampon during a cold front passage and find yourself within hailing distance of the shivering ‘usual suspects’ in the ER.
I'm curious as to how your adventure went.
I know how to post photos I've found on the web but I don't know how to post my own.If I knew how I'd post a picture I took of the hotel lobby's big screen TV showing the current temp,the forecast and arrivals and departures at the local airport.When I arrive at about 20:30 on Thursday that screen said -42c...which I think translates out to about -44F.Yesterday morning that same screen read -40c (meaning -40F).The lowest reading I saw on my car's dash display was -38F at about 09:00 yesterday but the lowest I got a photo of was at -34F.
And...after having sat for 12 hours at -40F (or thereabouts) my car started like a champ at about 08:30.A Good strong battery and locally blended diesel came through for me once again.
And BTW...on arrival Thursday eve the first thing I did was get to a nearby Shell station (a large,modern one) and was told that their diesel pumps weren't working because it was too cold! Thankfully I found another station whose pumps *were* working.If I hadn't I would have been in big trouble.
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