Fuel conditioners like PS Diesel Kleen don't do much. I guess it might help a little, but for the money, just get some kerosene.
Hard starts in the winter are common... cycle your glow plugs twice or get a battery with greater cold cranking amps. My girlfriend has an Everstart MAXX in her Rabbit. She had to extend the power and ground cables a little, but that's alright since they don't make a battery that size for her car. It has 1000 Cranking amps and 875 Cold Cranking amps.... it helps! If you run a trickle charger overnight it keeps the battery warm so you get the 1000 instead of the 875 which also helps a great deal!
I run biodiesel (methyl ester, not SVO) in a 81 Rabbit and an 82 Audi and kero really helps the starts.
Some tips on recovering from gel
- Get the car to somewhere out of the cold like an unheated garage or something.
- Get a little electric space heater and try to thaw the fuel filter first. If your fuel gelled overnight, chances are the fuel in the tank isn't gelled, but rather just whats in the lines and filter. You can dump out the slop in the filter and replace it with kerosene if you'd like... it will probably help.
- once that's been heated for a while heat the lines by putting the heater under the car blowing heat back towards the tank. You shouldn't need to heat the tank directly.
- Dump some kerosene into the tank, it seems to melt geled biodiesel. If your car is anything like this rabbit you can very easily shake the car from side to side. Do this to get the kero to really mix up with the bio. They won't always mix that well in the cold.
- Make SURE your fuel mix is appropriate next time!
PS: Block heaters do NOTHING for your fuel geling up, they merely make the car start with greater ease and less wear (and you get instant heat!)
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