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Equipping the Overland Vehicle Vehicle accessories - Making your home away from home comfortable, safe and reliable.
Photo by Marc Gibaud, Clouds on Tres Cerros and Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia

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Photo by Marc Gibaud,
Clouds on Tres Cerros and
Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia



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Old 3 Oct 2007
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Anchorage, Alaska
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You will find that in most cold places (like Alaska where I live, probably Siberia as well) diesel fuel is blended with kerosene, Jet A or #1 fuel oil to bring the cloud point below anticipated low temperatures.
As long as your engine is running, the fuel return line to your tank will warm the contents of the tank. The real problem is starting.
Diesels are increasingly hard to start below -15 C. even with the usual starting aids like glow plugs or intake heaters, even block heaters. Nights falling below -20 C. would make me leave the engine running all night. Below -35 C. you probably won't start a diesel that has been outdoors all night no matter what you do unless you put a big space heater under the motor for an hour or two.
Best advice in very cold temps: leave the motor running, use Jet A if available (NOT Jet B, it's close to petrol), add a bit of motor oil if >50% Jet A or kerosene. Also, drive very gingerly when starting out for 15-20 minutes till gearboxes and diffs have warmed up. Alloy steels become brittle at very low temps.

Charlie
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