quote:

Originally posted by reflex/deflex 64:
Use the Howes or Power Service. Read and understand the label, it will explain that low use rates are for summer the high rates are where your winter protection comes from, that is an important detail that is often missed.

Plan to arrive near your destination with A very low tank. Buy fuel locally and ask if they have a winterized fuel blend. Most truck stops have a blended fuel as well as straight fuel. If you see 2 pumps and one is expensive assume it’s the blended. Additive first then fill drive quite a distance to get the fuel throughout the system. Filter plug first, so you might change beforehand if you are getting close to maintenance time. I wouldn’t do it just because as they are stupid expensive and I’m not into waste.

Thanks for the advice. That was my plan. Try to arrive with a mostly empty tank, fill up with winterized diesel if available, but otherwise bring some anti-gel additive with me and mix into the tank. If I start the trip with diesel + anti-gel, and fill up with winterized diesel, then everything in the fuel lines, filter, and injectors should be safe for cold weather without the need to keep driving.

I have learned to never trust the gel point of purchased fuel in all but the rarest of cases. It is so cheap and easy to just add an appropriate amount of antigel when you purchase fuel and there is no downside. Don't depend on the fuel supplier absent hard evidence (in the really cold areas I've been to the counter clerks off the top of their head can tell you the exact gel point of the fuel they are selling) but fuel suppliers make mistakes all the time and/or don't actually know or test. And you are not buying much fuel anyway so cost is not a consideration. Changing the filter before you get gelling does exactly zero so that's not a consideration, its jsut what clogs when it gels. If you are a mechanically inclined person and can change a filter it helps to have a spare when it all goes to hell for any number of reasons on diesel fuel and cold weather (gelling and water being the two big ones).

Fair point. Guess I'll be adding anti-gel additive for the tank of fuel I start with and any other fuel I might purchase while I'm on my trip. No reason to trust that the fuel is "properly winterized" and the little bit of additive shouldn't cause any downside.

Go to You-Tube and watch the "Lets Find Out" comparison of diesel additives. That guys videos are the best . Real eye openers.

Add another user of Power Service products. I get it at Tractor Supply around here.