SL Diesel - Another Coast to Coast Road Trip - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Skid Row Joe · #16 02-28-2015, 06:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OM617YOTA

Don't worry about the starting, 34 degrees is nothing. If my old banger clunker starts effortlessly at 15 degrees, yours will have no trouble at all at 34.

If he's got a weak battery, 15F isn't the time to find out. Hopefully he's got a near enough new one at those temps.

Skid Row Joe · #17 02-28-2015, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mach4

Today's drive was very enjoyable. A good part of the trip across Arizona was windows down warm. I was planning on pushing on to Midland/Odessa for the night but the am temps were lower than what I was comfortable with. I've never attempted to start this diesel at lower than 40 so wanted to be a bit cautious. It's supposed to get down to 34 here tonite so that should be a good test. I'm a little past due on a valve adjust so that might be an issue.

There's some wintry weather in the forecast along tomorrows track (in red), but I think it's tolerable. Guess we'll see.

I'll say! It was glare-ice here last night.......

Depending on how much progress you were able to make - Dallas, Fort worth hasn't gotten above freezing today, and it's raining. Great combination!

I thought that "Southern Route" meant Southern Route? This is North Texas I-20 & I-30 in the thick of it!

CTD · #18 02-28-2015, 08:14 PM

30 degrees shouldn't cause any trouble starting up. Provided the glow plugs and starter are properly functional, the 615-617 diesel engines will start up unassisted down into the 20's even when they're burning a quart of oil every 200 miles. If the compression's OK, then they'll typically be good down to around 5-10 degrees.

mach4 · #19 02-28-2015, 09:08 PM

El Paso was 27 degrees when I went out to do the coldest start in this SL's life. I know that's nothing but I was apprehensive. A nice glow, hit the switch and she lit off in two turns. The plan was to try to get to Shreveport LA to enable a 3 day coast-to-coast. Ah the best laid plans are not always to be.

Started out with clear skies but strong winds. I've been fighting winds with a frontal component all trip and the mileage numbers show it. Going west to east, they're supposed to be on the tail but not this time.

Very quickly the clear skies gave way to overcast and then I found myself in the aftermath of freezing rain. The roads were kind of slushy but still pretty good traction.

But then the slushy stuff turned to glare ice. Control was iffy at 30 mph. Finally I had enough and pulled off to the side. Immediately a car came by, lost control, slid sideways off the road and flipped. I caught the accident on the dash cam, but I don't have what I need on my laptop to upload it. I and a couple of truckers stopped to help out. There was a man and woman and they were mostly OK, though the woman was complaining of hip pain so an ambulance was dispatched.

When I headed out again, I almost couldn't get on the road due to the glare ice. Fortunately within a few miles the glare ice began to break down and gradually traffic started moving at a decent pace.

But it was a very difficult trip due to the weather and accidents.

With delays of up to an hour to get by at least one of the accidents, slow speeds, road construction and other factors, I decided that it was best to just pack it in and live to drive another day.

I've been in San Diego so long I just kind of assumed that the blue windshield fluid you get at WalMart had some alcohol in it for antifreeze purposes - alas, no. So I fought the entire day with frozen washer nozzles. The temperature never got above freezing the entire day and mostly hovered at 27-28. Also lost the cruise control about half way through the day. Guess I should have pulled the amp and replaced the caps...oh well, a job for when I get back.

CarpeDiem51392 · #20 02-28-2015, 09:22 PM

Good lord, be careful out there. You gotta upload that video!!

Skid Row Joe · #21 02-28-2015, 09:47 PM

Temperature just rose to 32F here. 57% chance of more overnight snow in Dallas. High of 36F Sunday with rain.

Sorry to read this. Winter can do havoc on travel.

mach4 · #22 02-28-2015, 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skid Row Joe

Temperature just rose to 32F here. 57% chance of more overnight snow in Dallas. High of 36F Sunday with rain.

Sorry to read this. Winter can do havoc on travel.

I'll be heading through DFW tomorrow morning...at least that's the plan right now.

Skid Row Joe · #23 03-01-2015, 01:48 AM

You're far west of the freezing line tonight. The freezing line is east of Mineral Wells. You're far west of that, as well as on the plateau. That means that with continued bands of snow, drizzle and freezing rain overnight you shouldn't be in a hurry to get back on the road. The good news is that the revised Sunday high temp. In DFW is 44F. You should be able to make Jackson, Mississippi by Sunday night. More wintry weather in snow and ice is expected Weds through Fri morning here in N Texas. Sometimes it's far cheaper to fly than drive. In time too.

mytmousemalibu · #24 03-01-2015, 02:23 AM

Weather up here in the Wichita, KS area isn't exactly nice either. Snow and freezing drizzle on and off. At least my traveling is minimal, waiting out a layoff for the time being but I have ample time to work on my OM606 swap into the 87' 300D. Sucks trudging out to the shop and pulling parts outside right now. Plus my shop is an uninsulated steel building, pretty much as cold in there as outside. I need to cut more firewood for the shop, burn a lot trying to be any kind of warm in there!

Mach4, loved your build thread! Beauty of a diesel SL you built! Nothing like using a little aviation influence in our cars! There will be some aviation in my swap/build too! Perhaps some Learjet DNA infused in mine, lol. Keep safe & warm on your journey and best wishes to your mom!

Skid Row Joe · #25 03-01-2015, 02:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mytmousemalibu

Weather up here in the Wichita, KS area isn't exactly nice either. Snow and freezing drizzle on and off. At least my traveling is minimal, waiting out a layoff for the time being but I have ample time to work on my OM606 swap into the 87' 300D. Sucks trudging out to the shop and pulling parts outside right now. Plus my shop is an uninsulated steel building, pretty much as cold in there as outside. I need to cut more firewood for the shop, burn a lot trying to be any kind of warm in there!

Mach4, loved your build thread! Beauty of a diesel SL you built! Nothing like using a little aviation influence in our cars! There will be some aviation in my swap/build too! Perhaps some Learjet DNA infused in mine, lol. Keep safe & warm on your journey and best wishes to your mom!

Do you fly a Lear jet out of Wichita?

It does get damm cold there, btw! Ask me how I know!?

I had a Isuzu I6 5.9 liter diesel swap done on a 440 c.i. V8. A lot of things are possible and not that hard or costly to do.

mytmousemalibu · #26 03-01-2015, 03:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skid Row Joe

Do you fly a Lear jet out of Wichita?

It does get damm cold there, btw! Ask me how I know!?

I had a Isuzu I6 5.9 liter diesel swap done on a 440 c.i. V8. A lot of things are possible and not that hard or costly to do.

I wish I had a Learjet to fly! Nah, I'm actually an A&P mechanic (on temp layoff) for Bombardier/Learjet. I work in experimental flight test

. Minus a couple layoffs, its a great job, I love it! I was a factory trained BMW mech. for about 10yrs and decided to do something new. Went back to school and got my A&P cert. and very glad I did! I hope to get my private pilots licence someday down the road, I love flying and enjoy every minute of stick time I can get!

Its going to get to be about 18°F tonight... I detest winter! I have gotten more used to it since flight test has me outside year round. Last year around Christmas, Bombardier sent to Montreal for a short bit, i'm involved with the new C-Series program, but it was in the -20/25°F actual temp, thats awful, hurts to breath! I endured some of that in tech school in Wyoming too. I'm glad its not normally that bad here!

That Isuzu swap sounds neat! I've done some other swap work before, its fun, I enjoy the challenge and being creative with the fab work

pmckechnie · #27 03-01-2015, 08:43 AM

Mach4, Please be careful, I know you will. It looks like you should be fine after you get through Dallas. Now keep in mind that you will be in an area of the country where the people have very little experience driving in snow and ice. Especially watch out for the rednecks in the high jacked 4X4 trucks. They can go, but they don't realize they can't stop any better than a normal car or truck. It looks like the weather will be better up this way, but you may see a lot of rain.
I know you and KarTek (Evan) are planing to get together sometime during your visit. It would be nice if we could make it a mini GTG. I would love to see your DieselSL and your gauge project. I'm sure there are others close by that would be interested also. I'm about 100 miles from Kernersville. Just a thought.

Be careful and have a safe trip.

PaulM

mach4 · #28 03-01-2015, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pmckechnie

Mach4, Please be careful, I know you will. It looks like you should be fine after you get through Dallas... It looks like the weather will be better up this way, but you may see a lot of rain.
I know you and KarTek (Evan) are planing to get together sometime during your visit. It would be nice if we could make it a mini GTG. I would love to see your DieselSL and your gauge project. I'm sure there are others close by that would be interested also. I'm about 100 miles from Kernersville. Just a thought.

Well I set out from Abilene this morning and decided to see how things were...that is after scraping 1/4" of ice off the windows. My working hypothesis was that the interstate would be slick, but passable, and it actually was for awhile - then became black ice on the roads, not just the bridges, and I decided that it was just too treacherous. With two semi wrecks, a couple cars abandoned off the road and a pickup facing the wrong way on an overpass all in the first dozen miles, I'm now holed up in a McDonald's enjoying a cup of Java, some warmth and internet.

I'd be up for a miniGTG in NC. I have no plans (other than helping out with my mom) or deadlines so I'm quite sure we could work out something. Let me get there first....

SD Blue · #29 03-01-2015, 05:39 PM

I can understand being holed up in Abilene. I'm over an hour west of Dallas and they barely got anything in comparison. We had nearly 4" of snow then freezing mist on top of that, last night. I've been unable to get out of my driveway (unpaved) since last Thursday. I'm sure the interstate highway will be a little better but with this weather, accidents abound.

However, things are looking up! It is now up to 35 degrees and things are starting to melt. A word of caution: the folks in Dallas drive insanely and the slightest bit of precipitation will be looking at numerous accidents! When I say precipitation, I'm talking rain! Even the slightest amount of slush between lanes, etc... is extremely hazardous when fool drivers hit it at 80mph!

So, if you can drive through that area in an off hour, with less traffic, the better. I do field service work and drive all over north Texas and always have to "time" my drives through and around Dallas.

Have a safe trip!

Skid Row Joe · #30 03-01-2015, 05:51 PM

Since there's mostly a thick, overcast cloud cover, this makes possible the lingering snow and ice, as well as the snow cover you guys have out West of here. Ground cover of snow and ice helps keeps ambient air temperatures lower too. It's going to be a process of melting here.