So I'm in the middle of one of the coldest streaks in recent history in my adobe in SW oregon (pretty mild NorCal weather). Just did the valves and checked/replaced burnt glow plugs. Was running great and driving great in the snowstorm and for two days after. Third day was clear, and very cold. Car started right up as usual, and went to scrape it off when it died about ten minutes later. Classic running out of fuel sound/gelling. And this is just before I changed out the 15W-40.

Soooo.....it's in a parking lot, so the best I thought I could do was install two new fuel filters, and try it. No avail, oil is too thick. Gonna replace the oil with 5W tommorrow. Have two lines bled already, and I have a spare battery to crank the hell out of it to get it going again.

So my question is.....am I missing anything if it doesn't warm up just a little bit here in the next couple of days. I ran it all last winter without a hitch, but then again, it got down to below 0 F that night which I've never seen in recent history.....

i would try that diesel 911 stuff in the red container. get some heat to the tank (behind the back seat) and definitely use some anti gel stuff in the tank if you can't get winterized diesel up there. in the old country we used to mix the diesel with gasoline to keep it from freezing (80%diesel 20% gas), but i hear its not good for the injection pump

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1983 300SD (daily driver)
1991 420SEL (work in progress)
1979 300SD (future replacement for 83 SD)

RIP:
1983 300SD (totalled)
1986 420SEL

Are you up in the hills? Weather forecast is for above freezing tomorrow and much warmer as the week goes by, so you'll probably be OK without changing oil. If you can get some heat under the oil pan for an hour or so you should be able to start without a problem. A little anti-gel wouldn't hurt either.

I almost stalled out with fuel gelling the other night too. Low teens in the coast range. I was OK after about a mile of driving. Plugged in the block heater for a few hours the next morning, and started up like it was 70 degrees out.

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'79 240D

ashland butts up to the siskiyou pass, the highest elevation on I-5. The oil needs to be changed anyhow, and I don't want to run into this problem again. I keep telling myself it was my karma for driving like an all the way upstate new yorker for a couple of days in a benz with chains. Used diesel therapy from CRC for the gelling, so I think it's just down to bleeding the other three lines to the injectors.

likely water in the filter led to the fuel out condition, changing that should solve it. DO NOT PUT 911 in your tank@! it's for severe water contamination, not gelling... antigel is what you want in the tank. if you have access to power, pulling the rear seat and or trunk carpet and placing a lamp with incandescent bulb in it should warm up the fuel. same for the fuel lines and filters...

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

If I had access to power where it sits, she would definitely be going by now. But, she doesn't, and I already have the fuel issue addressed. The oil is the priority now, which wasn't a week ago when I addressed other maintenance stuff.....It's probably better this
way anyhow. Noone knows how to drive in this stuff and they're wrecking left and right......

Victory to be had soon....

Yeah, I've been there a time or two Valley floor isn't that high, but you climb quickly going out any direction but up I-5. Can't hurt to switch to a lighter oil for the winter, but we probably won't see anything like this weather again this year. Sounds more like your problem at this point is just getting the engine started. Anything you can do to warm up the block a little, and possibly the battery, should help to get you going. Got access to a portable propane heater?

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'79 240D

I would get one of them propane camp stoves.....a small bottle of propane and slide it under the oil pan....should heat it up enough.....just wouldn't put something with a large flame under the pan....don't wasn't to go melting hoses...

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the propane stove is my next move. I was going to put it under the pan for a bit, and try to start it, and bleed the lines at the same time. The worst is that I might get a line or two to bleed, and if it doesn't fire at least drop the oil and put in some lighter weight in. We don't see the 100's until at least july. I'd rather deal with another oil change then...

on a side note, I haven't seen any of the numerous 126 sd's that run around town since the storm. Alot of them are bio, so they probably gelled up from the start...

Too bad you're not closer to Salem, I'd give you a hand. Can you rent or borrow a generator to run a battery charger and the block heater?

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617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap

Did you fuel up at a smaller volume fuel vendors facility? Many times this time of year they still have summer diesel in their tank.

It pays to only fuel at larger volume places like major truck stops in my experience. The absolute worse is never take on fuel if there is an obvious pump warming going on. You know exactly what they are doing to sell the leftover summer fuel.

Are you running dino diesel, bio, or WVO?

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1981 300TD 4 speed manual
Euro bumpers, zender valance and skirts, H&R springs, billy HD's, leveled sls, real AMG Pentas 16x8 et11, vdo boost/egt gauges intergrated into ash tray, eurolights, led 3rd brake light

I'm running dino right now. Both of the stations I get stuff from seem to be refilled pretty often. I didn't expect it to get as cold as it did. It hit 0 F easy, and I had rotella 15/40 in it. Drained it out today while I was at work. Looked like maple syrup coming out. Got new fuel filters in there, some diesel therapy, two fresh 1000 amp batteries, and two lines bleed. Today saw temps in the 40's but it still is getting cold at night. Should have her going in a couple of days...hopefully

I guess it's time to admit that the reason the car wouldn't start is because I put autolite glow plugs in it the week before. that combined with the 15W didn't help out so much either. it was (historically) cold, and I've never had a problem before with any diesel I've owned. Long story short. If it ran fine before and won't start...this WILL get you going

12 dollars worth of fuel filters
at least 12.5V at the battery, a big one, before cranking
a good starter
either beru or bosch glow plugs....at least imo
not 15W should the temp fall below 20F
lots of fuel with some kind of anti gel

Yup, got bit for living in a semi warm climate and not expecting that. lesson learned