Cold temperatures and engines don’t mix well. With the onset of winter weather, you may find it difficult to start your activity. Going out to start your diesel truck on a cold morning and finding it dead or unable to start sounds like a nightmare for most diesel owners. But don’t worry, there are some helpful tricks you can use to prevent yourself from getting stranded. Here are the top four:
1 – Refill your truck with winter diesel fuel
The diesel fuel for sale at the gas station is different in summer and winter time. Summe fuel can gel at low temperatures, get stuck in your fuel lines, and leave you stranded. Winter diesel fuel is mixed with kerosene to prevent this from happening. If your truck parked with a full tank of gas you bought last spring, try burning most of that off and filling it up with new fuel.
. You plug an electric motor heater into an extension cord, and it keeps your engine block warm enough that your engine starts on the first try. Some diesel trucks come with an engine heater from the factory, others will need to be installed after the sale. According to The Drive, an important benefit of an engine block heater is that it heats the oil in your engine so that it sizzles easily when you start it.
3- Park your car in sunlight and open the hood
So you don’t have an engine heater or you have no way to hook up your engine heater. Parking your car facing the morning sun will actually keep your engine a few degrees warmer when you start it. This works especially well if you have a darker hood. But whatever color the hood is, you can open it up to let the sun shine directly on the motor and batteries for an hour or two. Those few degrees of heat can make a big difference.
4 – Use any heater to warm up your diesel engine
If your car’s engine is still too cold to start, there’s no reason why you can’t warm it up by placing a shop heater under your truck. But first you need to check your engine for oil or grease deposits that can catch fire. You can also aim a blow dryer at your fuel lines or manifold where the diesel may have crystallized in the cold weather. You won’t be able to heat up the batteries much with the heater, but you can always take those inside to defrost them.
Next, find out if the team in a TFL truck tries to power up a Cummins diesel or watch it on Colorado’s coldest day in 32 years:
