At what temperature does diesel fuel start to gel? I work at a utility compnay and i go on call starting today until next friday and with the temp getting cooler i didn't know if that was something to worry about. My truck wont get started for a week and the tmeps will be in the upper twentys and above at night and in the fiftys during the day. My next question is how often do you guys recommend draining the FICM? I have heard do it every oil change, but the owners manual says to do it when the water in fuel light comes on. I hope i am talking about the right part here forgive me if i have it mixed up. Thanks for the help.

 

drain your fuel/water separator montly. Not sure what temps diesel gels at myself but what I would do is just ensure you have a full tank of the fresh stuff.

 

I know I have a different motor but the OM states monthly for draining the DFCM. I have a monthly alert on my blackberry to remind me of such things because I can't talk myself into waiting on the computer.

The temp diesel gels at varies depending on several variables.
I’m no scientist but as an average guess, #2 diesel would gel around zero Fahrenheit (-5 to 5 F). Even the slightest amount of water molecules in the fuel will cause it to gel more quickly so this is why I think it’s difficult to pinpoint an exact number.

You can go even colder when you start using a winter blend and/or additives.
I’m in AL so I’m not sure how much of a winter blend diesel we get since I can’t remember the last time it was truly zero degrees here. Heck the coldest it’s ever been around here was -27 in 1966 (according to records) and I’m sure some of you guys hit that daily up north in the winter months.

The best answers will be a combination of answers from different owners with different experiences in the colder areas of North America to get an average. Even better, experiences from owners in your area. We could go as far to say that different fuel manufactures will have different gelling points depending on their own "special" blend and the amount of time that fuel has been in a stations holding tank. That is after all, why we have different fuel companies and why we want to be using the busier fuel stations with a higher turnover rate in the tanks.

BTW - anyone is clear to correct me at any time.

 

I ran diesel vehicles in the Canadian army, everything up to and including a Leopard tank. We went to some of the most ball shrivellingly cold places with them, and I only saw fuel gell twice in 23 years. Both times it was below -45C. Don't know the farenheit version, but it's shrinky dink cold.

 

good question man. I was wondering about the same myself..
What do the northern folks use?

 

last winter was the first winter i had my truck, but i ran ford cetane boost, and anti-gel and didn't have any issues.