ULSD Gelling in Extreme Cold??

Pusherman · 02-06-2007, 07:07 PM

Here in Rochester NY, the school busses in 17 school districts are stalling out due to gelling with ULSD diesel fuel. Temperatures have been hovering around zero (f) in the mornings. This is a big issue here, with school closings, etc.

Has anyone else had this problem with their DP's using ULSD diesel fuel?

Admin -- maybe this belongs in Freightliner forum as well?

Pusherman · 02-06-2007, 07:07 PM

Here in Rochester NY, the school busses in 17 school districts are stalling out due to gelling with ULSD diesel fuel. Temperatures have been hovering around zero (f) in the mornings. This is a big issue here, with school closings, etc.

Has anyone else had this problem with their DP's using ULSD diesel fuel?

Admin -- maybe this belongs in Freightliner forum as well?

DonavonP · 02-07-2007, 09:58 AM

Don, I've been running ULSD in my Bobcat moving snow last night and today with temps of minus 15 - no trouble with blended ULSD.

We DO have a problem keeping the rubber side down on the school buses around here.

Pusherman · 02-07-2007, 11:06 AM

It seems they have been using some state mandated additive with the ULSD which in combination is causing the gelling. Almost all school districts were shut down early this week due to the buses being inoperative.

I believe they are now mixing with kerosene.

Petro · 02-07-2007, 12:52 PM

Pusherman;
We just went through some extreme cold this past week here in Wis. We had -18 with wind chills down to -35. There was no #1 or kerosene that met the ULS specs (15 ppm or less) so we had to rely on additive alone. We doubled our additive amounts for extra insurance. I am not aware that we had any problems. The school busses have been operating every day except Monday. We have recommended to all our customers to change their fuel filters more often after switching to the ULSD. It appears the new diesel acts like a cleaner and cleans the tank and fuel lines depositing the crud in the filter. The problems that we have seen seem to be plugged fuel filters and not gelled fuel filters.

Don

Mike Lutz · 02-10-2007, 01:08 PM

keep in mind in this cold weather kerosene is a good #1 fuel. It will not jell unless there is water in your system. Your btu rating and mileage will go down, but your motor will keep running.

gunny · 02-10-2007, 04:41 PM

I'd think that ultra low sulphur will gel at the same temperature as the old #2, right around 0.

Unless you have enough useage to use up the fuel seasonally, I'd probably not go with #1 or kerosene, just use some of the anti-gel additives out there. I don't have any recent experience with them as I have been living in the South where we don't need or use that stuff for over 20 years.

I would also question the sulphur content of kerosene and its effects on a '07 engine with whatever they hung on them that requires the use of ULSD.

Flyer · 02-11-2007, 07:37 AM

This past January I filled up with fuel at the Flying J in Albequerque NM. I don't know if it was ultra low sulphur fuel or not. I added 32 oz of Power Service to my 100 gal tank. Spent a week just north of Santa Fe. Temp got down to zero. When leaving the fuel gelled after about 15 minutes of driving and cloged my primary fuel filter. I replaced the filter and all was OK. I was very surprised that the fuel gelled and am not sure why it did.

Pusherman · 02-11-2007, 12:24 PM

Flyer,

That was the circumstances of the busses in the Rochester school districts (17), where they put in some type of additive, and the fuel gelled. They showed the fuel filter's on TV -- all clogged with gel.

If I can figure out how, I will try to find out what type of additive the school districts were using, and what their solution was (other than adding kerosene) and post it here.