Technical Frozen diesel

[Jim-Armao]

You may have seen on the news that Greece is hit by arctic cold...

My 1.9 did not like this.
I woke up today with -5 temp and the engine would not start at all.
Half an hour ago, now with +1, the engine starts but I hear a low whining noise coming from the tank area and the engine dies in about 30 seconds.

I hope that after a bit more thawing everything would be ok.
Or the cold did its damage and the fuel pump has had it.

The strange thing is that the local fiat garage advised me to add 2-3 lt of petrol in each fill-up to prevent this from happening again.

So, keeping fingers crossed and waiting... for now.

 

[Ffoxy]

You may have seen on the news that Greece is hit by arctic cold...

My 1.9 did not like this.
I woke up today with -5 temp and the engine would not start at all.
Half an hour ago, now with +1, the engine starts but I hear a low whining noise coming from the tank area and the engine dies in about 30 seconds.

I hope that after a bit more thawing everything would be ok.
Or the cold did its damage and the fuel pump has had it.

The strange thing is that the local fiat garage advised me to add 2-3 lt of petrol in each fill-up to prevent this from happening again.

So, keeping fingers crossed and waiting... for now.

Maybe its the fuel in Greece... it has been -8 here in Midlands UK over the weekend and my 1.9 GPS was no trouble at all...

 

[Jim-Armao]

Maybe its the fuel in Greece... it has been -8 here in Midlands UK over the weekend and my 1.9 GPS was no trouble at all...

It is common knowledge here that the fuel is crap...

 

[blebo]

Maybe its the fuel in Greece... it has been -8 here in Midlands UK over the weekend and my 1.9 GPS was no trouble at all...

In the UK we expect to have cold winters so the fuel manufacturers tweek the fuel here in anticipation.

In Greece its unusually cold...hence why they are talking about adding unleaded to drop the freezing point...this is an old trick, not required in UK any more as B.P Shell etc do it for us

 

[Jim-Armao]

Update:

A little while ago, now at +3 temp...
It started but I got the whining noise from the tank pump again.
But, I played a bit with the gas, and it did not die on me. 30 seconds later the whining stopped but I got a check engine...

I left it running a bit, restarted it and now all is ok.

From now on, when below zero temps are predicted, I will use diesel antifreeze and hope for the best.....

 

[Ffoxy]

Update:

A little while ago, now at +3 temp...
It started but I got the whining noise from the tank pump again.
But, I played a bit with the gas, and it did not die on me. 30 seconds later the whining stopped but I got a check engine...

I left it running a bit, restarted it and now all is ok.

From now on, when below zero temps are predicted, I will use diesel antifreeze and hope for the best.....

Sounds like a plan!

 

[puntokris]

Sounds like it's definitely fuel quality, that sort of weather wasn't anticipated in greece I imagine.

-7 when I left for work at 7:00am and no problems with mine.

 

[dave]

its better to add diesel antifreeze than petrol. i think adding petrol does bad things to seals in modern cars

 

[Andy Monty]

Dont try what the truck drivers used to do and build a SMALL fire under the tank at night...

GP tanks are plastic BTW

can you get small tubular heaters in Greece perhaps one of those under the car at night might help

 

[Jim-Armao]

From talks I had at petrol stations I was under the impression that we are ok for at least -10 temp. Apparently this is not the case. So, next time, diesel antifreeze....

This cold is not that common here anyway.

 

[JimbbobW1977]

Ive noticed my fuel pump is whining quite a bit as well recently?? I wonder if it is the cold it was -4 last on the way home, and my pump was humming away to its self.

 

[furs307c]

Had some trouble starting mine the other day, about -4 turned over for about 5secs, started then i had to give it some juice cos it was spluttering, big load of black exhaust smoke lol:yuck:

 

[ChrisUK]

lol dirty diesels. Mine fires up on the first crank -8*c yesterday :nerner:

 

[georgios1976]

I have had no problems whatsoever starting my 1.9 JTD at -4C.

Don't you have Shell Optimax, BP Ultimate or Total Excellium in Greece?

 

[T14086]

GP tanks are plastic BTW

Think they have to be by law....maybe someone can confirm this?

 

[Telstar]

On Monday morning this week none of the 90+ "First" buses in Norwich could be started (according to the local radio station)! If a "professional" public transport company can't deal with frozen diesel there's not much hope for the rest of us...

 

[Jim-Armao]

I have had no problems whatsoever starting my 1.9 JTD at -4C.
Don't you have Shell Optimax, BP Ultimate or Total Excellium in Greece?

There is only V-Power Diesel from Shell and the standard Diesels from the rest.
But the difference in price is a killer. Around 1€ for the standard and 1.3€ for the V-power.