Hello, 1988 420 sel...I meant the car is stranded on the highway, the wife got a ride in by a passerby (thankful to the angel that picked her up). Anyways, as she was telling me this on her phone, the guy started to look at it. I wanted to tell her to ask him to take his hands off that car but he went straight for the air cleaner lid, and out of curiosity...I waited and heard him tell her that the carb was iced up. I asked her to ask for methyl hydrate but they did'nt have any.

Has this happened to anyone in cold weather with this car and how did you get it going. No big panic but I have to go get it off the road.

She said it was running good and just died..all guages read good before shut down. Timing chain has been done in the last 20,000kms.

I am going to pick up some gas line antifreeze and pour some in the throttle body, but are there any ideas for me. I may have to just get it towed to thaw out. Will diesel anti freeze fuel treatment work?

I had this happen on a dodge slant six in the cold and just scooped the ice out and it kept going but that was carberator. air must be condensing at the inlet with this cold weather.

I have the 300Td warming up and am heading out soon.
Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

A 420 does not have a carb....it is Bosch CIS fuel injection. If it just up and died it sounds like a fuel/and or spark issue. at -30C if there was any water in the fuel it could have frozen and blocked the lines. That is COLD.

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'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
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I was thinking of a fuel issue....I wonder where the fuel pump relay is or the ignition control unit. On the firewall ??but which one? I did put some gas line antifreeze in the tank a couple fills ago, but maybe she got some bad gas. Yep it is cold...I am taking the wagon out, even though I think the aux. coolant pump is'nt working...everything is breaking down, right now. Thanks, for the help.

p.s I have a coffee can with a bunch of spare relays that I am going to try to find before I go.

Fuel pump relay is behind the firewall, its a black box that says "8Zyl" on it I believe. Ignition control unit is on the driver side fender with 4 cables connected to it.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

I doubt it is iced up if it started at the same temp and there would be heat from the engine, fuel pump once it's running.
Check to see if the fuel pump is running while cranking. If not I suspect the FP relay. You can jumper the two connections at the socket and get the pump running.

o.k Thanks so much. I found my spare relays... I am on my way out. I 'll try a few things and if not get it towed somewhere to thaw out.

Terminals marked "30" and "87" on the socket of the relay that has "8zyl" printed on it.

Worse case just run a wire from battery positive to the rear most fuel pump terminal.

And, don't forget your mittens.

Got it going. She left the hazards going from about 8:30 this morning till I got to it roughly two hours after the engine stopped. I shut the hazards off and still had plenty of battery left to get it going. By the time I got there the sun was up and it had warmed up abit. I popped the air cleaner lid off and I could'nt see any ice in there....there was some water dropplets I could see when I pushed the throttle body open. Poured some ten year old methyl hydrate in throttle body, that I found in the snow outside the shed, gave the solenoids that had the 8Zyl on them a light tap with the screwdriver got in and it fired up.

I never would have thought the battery would still have juice in it after flashing the hazards for two hours in this cold weather...I thought the car would be stone dead by the time I got to it. I was there less than 5 minutes and the car was moved out. I am still not exactly sure what happened, or what I did to get it going?

Sometimes, under certain conditions it seems when the humidity is high and it is really cold out cars have had a build up of ice at the inlet of the throttle body or carberator. As I mentioned above it has happened to my slant 6 dodge and if memory serves it also happened to our pontiac optima. I did'nt see the ice in the air cleaner that the guy that stopped for her saw, but I believe him because it is very humid out, right now.

I just can't think of anything else that would cause the throttle body to accumulate ice...I guess if there was water in the fuel then the lines would ice up and plug the injectors...but they are further into the intake tract...how would that affect the opening of the throttle body? Maybe the water was separating from the fuel as it is sprayed into the engine and it is evaporating out through the throttle body and freezing around the opening with cold air blasting the front of the car while highway driving. Maybe I should have a winter front on this thing, since it is all aluminum.

Whoa, As I was leaving I think the engine must have sucked some of that methyl hydrate in cause for a brief second when I first stepped on the gas pedal to move the car...it lurched forward really quick. I could swear it lifted the front tires off the ground....sqealed the back tires a little bit.

Thanks again for the advice...I may take those 2 solenoids that say 8Zyl on them out of the car and check them for cracked solder if thats possible, maybe it was the few light taps on them that helped it to get going? Thats all I really did besides pouring a couple of teaspoons of methyl hydrate into it....

tow truck-less record maintained....thanks again guys.

Probably not throttle-body icing. See this article: Carburetor heat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A. Super cold Canadian air has little moisture for icing
B. The injectors are downstream of the throttle-plate, so the evaporating fuel doesn't help cool the inlet air

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Prost!

I guess I should have been more clear above....and you are correct that it is usually very dry where I am in the winter...in fact it is so dry some winters many people suffer nosebleeds because the membranes in your nose dry out so bad....anyways I meant to say above that this week has been UNUSUALLY humid....and actually the key concept in your article kinda proves what I was trying to say might be the cause of the iced up throttle body and eventual stalling of the engine. (Fourth line down under operation heading right in the middle"and if the air is humid")

It has been so humid here lately that I have observed even very new pickup trucks rolling around with frosty windows. If we have a shower the climate control can hardly keep up with trying to dry the air to defrost the windows....can't leave drinks in the car cause that makes it worse....the air is just so saturated with moisture, and it is so cold. This kind of humidity is rare in the winter, others around me are complaining about the humidity. I have only come across it happening a few times where the fuel inlet has iced up like this.

You could be right though and it has nothing to do with it, this time. I was not there so did'nt see the extent of the ice the gentleman saw in there. I'll ask the wife when she gets home. could be a combination of water in the fuel and cold air???

Thanks for that info.

Does that one have the mechanical air flow "door"? Or the MAF sensor? I think that might be the mechanical door era. I had a 1980 Fiat with Bosch L Jetronic fuel injection on it and one cold damp night (but not -30) it just sputtered and died. My theory was that ice had formed at that point. After sitting a while it started up like nothing had happened. Don't know how to prevent that though.

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1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra

It is very common to find cold solder joints on the fuel pump relay pcb. Especially around the relay contact lead that carries fuel pump current.

I suspect your 'persuasive taps' did the trick. Pry it open and resolder any suspect looking joints. I just repaired one last week, should have taken pictures.

Its cold here today... a very chilly 36f.