New trucks & antigel

greasytshirt

Moderator
Staff member
Mechanic
A little misunderstanding, I used anti gel in the diesel fuel tanks, not DEF tank. I just stated that I was more concerned with DEF freezing in winter than diesel fuel gelling.
DEF freezing seemed like a concern when the truck engine is not running for the DEF heater to do its job.
Whew!

The trucks I work on, at least, will allow sufficient time for the Def to thaw before attemting to inject it. Up to 90 min, from what I understand. Coolant runs through a loop in the tank, through a heatsink in the pump, and around the injector. The def lines and hoses are wrapped together in split loom and some sort of tough tape. In the latest models, the def hoses themselves have a heater grid surrounding the hose and are heated electrically.

My first concern would be to make sure the def system software is up to date. On the trucks I work on, there were initally some problems with codes setting too quickly. Software changes allowed sufficient thaw time, avoiding problems when codes set.

DEF will freeze, and that's ok. The truck is programmed to allow this. Id start it up, do your normal cold start/warmup procedure, and start driving. I could see something like a stuck open/missing thermostat causing the def to stay frozen too long, but that's about it.
 

jelliott

Veteran Expediter
Motor Carrier Executive
US Army
We have found the DD13 and DD15 motors start much easier in the winter than what the series 60 or MBE motors did. Being Michigan based we had no problems last year even as bitter as it was.
 

Deville

Not a Member
My truck as old as it is 7 out of ten times will start right up on the coldest of days. Once the temp drops to the 30's I will plug it in and have no worries about it starting. I too use Power Service. Good stuff.
 

mjmsprt40

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
I used Power Service when I had the Sprinter. Sometimes I would forget--- and the next morning I would be reminded why you shouldn't forget.

("Winterized" diesel up North? Yeah, right. I live in Illinois, and up here they sell that damnable soybean mix. A pox on biofuel's house.)
 
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