Petrol in TD5s to stop Diesel Thickening Up with cold temps

As above, is it Ok to put a little bit of petrol in to stop the diesel thickening with the temps decreasing?

They sell anti diesel thickening agents, but they seem expensive, about £5-6 for a tanks shot. Its not cold enough yet for the diesel to fully thicken, but was just wandering so i can keep it in mind for when it fully starts to cool down.

UK diesel hasn't been subject to freezing up for years. They add anti gelling agents at the refinery and adjust the levels according to the weather forecasts.

You can get away with up to 10% unleaded. Some say the TD5 does not like petrol in the mix but I've never had any problems with vapour locks etc.

Cheers Shifty, Yeah i wasnt so worried about the UK, i spend alot of times in the Alps, where the temp can drop to below -20 over night in the winter. Even with the anti-gelling fuel, ive had VW Minibuses conk out. To be fair, my Landy always starts first time, with very little smoke, just lots of condensation. I do find the engine chugs a lot though until it warms up. I put it down to the fact that number 5 doesnt have a glow plug. Correct me if im wrong though.

Sounds about right to me.
Just let the engine start up with no throttle until it is running evenly.
Should only take a few seconds to settle down.
If you touch the throttle it confuses the ECU.

Winter diesel is good to about -20 deg C. Mine ran fine on the normal stuff all through last year's winter, so unless its worse this time round, I'd not be adding petrol just yet. If it gets colder, then sure, its a good way to keep on running.

As above really, unless you intend visiting north Alaska (in which case the fuel will have been blended to suit the temperature) you dont really need any additive. The only time you might wish to use an additive is if you use supermarket fuel, there's no telling when/where this was blended. Stick to the main brands and you wont have a problem, might cost a few pence more per litre but there's a reason for that

Nigel.

I did a week in the Highlands a couple of years ago over Xmas and it was at least minus 18 deg C everynight - Never had a problem though

T

Ive been in about -24 and i have had a new VW minibus conk out, when gelled fuel. It had winter fuel in it but still died. The Landy was fine, using the same fuel from the same station. Maybe Landys are less vulnerable to the cold. Do they have a fuel heater or anything?

robpenrose said:

Do they have a fuel heater or anything?

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No heater but they have a fuel cooler instead i'm quite sure your VW didnt have a HP fuel pump like the Td5

that might be the difference then

Sticking on this thread's title....will petrol in diesel have any good effect on emmision test?( MOT is getting closer and closer)

I can't comment with regards to emissions, but my Def 110 TD5 wouldn't start after work on Friday morning (local temperatures down to -18°c to -20°c) and my brand new fuel pump was squealing it's head off trying to get the fuel pressure up.

I came back to it later once the daylight had arrived, armed with a new heavy duty battery and, although the pump was still very noisey, I got her started up. Sadly, the local garages had run out of diesel but a delivery arrived late last night so this morning I pumped in 5l of unleaded and filled her up to the brim with derv. The pump went quiet again almost immediately and she's running very well, infact, better than normal if anything!!!

Ron.

Petrol in diesel is an old trucker's trick to keep things moving when the temperature drops. Makes starting a cold engine a little easier.
I've been doing it for years with no adverse effects.
You can use any old stale petrol which thins the diesel as its not the burnability (dont know correct term) of the petrol but the viscosity thats important.
Dont go more than 10% petrol though so 5L in a full tank is about right.

Shifty1962 said:

Petrol in diesel is an old trucker's trick to keep things moving when the temperature drops. Makes starting a cold engine a little easier.
I've been doing it for years with no adverse effects.
You can use any old stale petrol which thins the diesel as its not the burnability (dont know correct term) of the petrol but the viscosity thats important.
Dont go more than 10% petrol though so 5L in a full tank is about right.

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Yep. Being an old trucker is where I got the idea from, though I've never had to do it before now, however, I need to be able to depend on reliable transport to suit this job so in the unleaded went. There certainly don't appear to be any adverse effects.

Just to let you all know the fuel you buy at BP / shell is just the same as what you buy at asda/morrison`s i have moved it out of grangemouth it`s all the same

Been filling up at morrisons all year until 2 week ago when we had bad snow and -15. It was struggling to start from cold. Same day went to esso and put 30 quid in it and next morning at -15 it fired up first turn of key

Don't use supermarket fuel now. Must be different as first turn it starts now, took around 10 seconds when it had supermarket fuel in

disco2shaun said:

Been filling up at morrisons all year until 2 week ago when we had bad snow and -15. It was struggling to start from cold. Same day went to esso and put 30 quid in it and next morning at -15 it fired up first turn of key

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thought you wer using veggie in yours

disco2shaun said:

Don't use supermarket fuel now. Must be different as first turn it starts now, took around 10 seconds when it had supermarket fuel in

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my father swears by the shell v power (think thats wat its called)he recons car is completely diff on it more power more mileage and quieter.thats in a 300tdi