Jelly anyone?

[Moses]

Sheese, what a day! i won't bore you with the details.

The truck's home, but running on a gallon jug hanging in the engine compartment.

Does anyone have suggestions on how to get the bio-jelly outta the line to the fuel tank. i am thinking of blowing compressed air down the tube at the filter on the firewall thus blowing the jelly back into dino-fuel in the tank.

Is that a good idea?

And am i risking the chance of damaging my left-right tank switchmajiger?

THANKS FOR ANY HELP

moe

[Robyn]

Unhook the lines at the tank and blow the goop forward and out. You may need to unhook the lines at the tank switcher too and do the same.
Purge all the jelly out, refill the system with clean fuel and replace the filter/filters and bleed the air out and you should be fine.

[Moses]

How does one access those lines with out lifting the bed or lowering the tank?

i have already filled the offending tank with clean fuel (anti-gel added) and replaced the filters.

i assume that all gelled bio-d in the lines will disolve given the overwhelming diesel to bio-d ratio now in the tank and figured that i could blow the gel into the tank where it'd mix and disolve.

i am trying to aviod the line access problem and am not worried about blowing gelled bio-d back into the tank (should i be?) and so i am curious why you think it best to blow the gel foward

thanks again,
moe

[DmaxMaverick]

Just warm it up and run it. Once the temp gets above the gel point, it will flow again. The best method is parking in a heated garage, or in the sun on a clear day. If you don't have that option, you can use a blow dryer or heat gun to warm up the lines. Once running, the return fuel will be heated, and in turn, heat the mixture in the tank and get everything mixed. All you have to do is get it running.

Now, if your have gelling for another reason, like poorly processed bio, it may have too much glycerin in it, and it will take more heat to clear it up. Either way, what you have in there won't hurt anything if mixed with enough #2 and anti-gel. Be sure to have extra filters handy. You may need one in the worst of places.

[Moses]

It was commerical b99 that gelled. i thought i was mixing it (approx 50/50), but my gauge wasn't reading correct so i ended up with a half-tank of mostly b99 which wasn't a problem until this suprise cold snap.

i don't have access to a heated garage and the high temps are going to be under 50

[DmaxMaverick]

Blowing back to the tank is not a good idea in any case. You won't damage anything, but it could disturb some otherwise harmless sediment. In your case, with your vehicle, it won't work anyway. The fuel pump has a check valve. You can only blow it forward, which is OK.

If you can hit it with a heat gun, it won't take long. Just don't put too much heat on any soft material, like hoses, metal fittings with soft seals, or trim pieces. Not too much heat around your tank valve and fuel pump, either. Warm to the touch should be enough. Remember, heat guns are also known as "paint strippers" for a very good reason. If you have a 50

[Moses]

Thanks for your sound advice.

The charger and block heater are already pluged in and the new filters are already full of #2.

What i was talking about doing was blowing back from before first filter which is before the mechanical pump. Is there another pump that i don't know about?

Either way, your point about not disturbing the bottom of my tank is well taken. And since i'll be using the wife's hair dryer, i think my soft parts and paint job will stay in tact. I heard that dripping trim fell out if fashion last year anyway :rolleyes:

[Robyn]

Sounds like you are on the trail to fixing this issue.
As much as I loathe the big oil companies I must say I have never had any real serious fuel related issues. I have gotten some water a few times but that was the sellers fault (poor tank monitoring). I have had diesel (furnace oil) gel once and it was my own fault. I stocked up on cheaper summer fuel oil and we got slamed with an early cold snap that dropped into the single digits and the outlet filter on my tank gelled up. A tarp and a heat lamp and we were up and going.
I have never had any issues in rigs though.
I suspect that these bio companies are not on top of their QC as they should be??

Oh just as a note, the fuel tank hoses can't really be worked well without the bed off. If they are the factory ones. You can drop the tank and get them loose but will play hell getting them back on at the original length. I replaced a tank on my dually and we had to add considerable length to the hoses to get room enough to be able to connect them at the steel lines that crosses the frame and then the tank. You need to wrap those lines in a protective cover so they wont chafe on the tank and such too.
The tanks are assembled to the truck and the lines are connected before the bed is installed. My truck has a heavy duty goose neck hitch platform installed and its really well attached to the frame and the bed and I did not want to go to the trouble of trying to get it loose just to work on the tanks.
Hope all works out well.
Worst case scenario is to remove both tanks and clean them good by removing the pickup tubes and sucking out all the junk. Cleaning the pickup screens and then blowing all the goop forward to the front and out. The filters and such could then be replaced and the system refilled with go juice and then on about your business.
I think what Mav has outlined will work ok for you, good place to start rather than tearing the truck apart at this point.
Once you get the Bio diluted and flowing again things should be fine.
Robyn

[Moses]

As much as I loathe the big oil companies I must say I have never had any real serious fuel related issues. I have gotten some water a few times but that was the sellers fault (poor tank monitoring). I have had diesel (furnace oil) gel once and it was my own fault. I suspect that these bio companies are not on top of their QC as they should be??

Oh just as a note, the fuel tank hoses can't really be worked well without the bed off. .


I think SeQuiential in Portland is one of the oldest bio-d producers around and that their QC is pretty high and consistent.

THIS WAS USER ERROR. Firstly, i believed my funkyfultteringfuel gauge and put in way too much bio-d, then, get this, i was runnin' rough monday am, but didn't want to wait for the FedEx guy in front of me at the depot and got on the freeway. What an idiot.
Like you, i got "slamed with an early cold snap." (And a healthy dose of ASSumption)


Oh just as a note, the fuel tank hoses can't really be worked well without the bed off. .'nuff said there.

THANKS to both of you.
ps: truck's runnin', thank god.



moe

[DmaxMaverick]

THANKS to both of you.
ps: truck's runnin', thank god.



moe


Good deal.

So, what did you do? This is important because you aren't the only one that will see this situation. Other readers need to know the best route under certain conditions. Please give us a play-by-play of the process and the result. Thanks.

[Moses]

Hey there! Sorry it took a while to get back in here. i had to make up for a lost day.

Here's the play-by-play: i got up, made some coffee. . . Okay just kidding.

First, i removed all the glow plugs to make priming eaiser on the starter. Then i barrowed the neighbor's heat gun and rolled around on the ground warming all the lines that i could easily access, making sure to get tank switcher, and then,

[Moses]

i just spent a half an hour composing a reply and then went to edit a piece and the computer ate most of my post.:mad: :mad: :mad: if any one was subscribed to this thread and got an email of the post i just lost please post it or foward to me at mosha13[at]juno.com.

if not i'll re-compose it later, arrrugh!

[arveetek]

I've had a diesel vehicle gel up on me once in 11 to 12 years of diesel ownership. I was running on regular dino diesel at the time, just forgot to add any additives to it when it got cold suddenly. I was able to push it back into my shop and let it warm up, and I was good to go several hours later.

I run home-brewed biodiesel in both the pickup and the Tahoe, and we had a nasty cold front roll through last night. I made sure to top them both off with pump diesel and add plenty of power service to both tanks....I didn't want to get caught with my lines gelled! Yesterday morning it was 77 degrees, and right now we're at 22 with 1/4" of ice on the ground and 10" of snow predicited for later on tonight! Supposed to get down to 15 and even colder the next couple of nights.

This time of year, our bio production slows way down... :(

Casey

[dieselbegreat]

I read there is a german company that markets an additive that will turn straight veggie oil into diesel fuel in your tank. It was developed back in the 1930s. Ever heard of this? I'll have to find the link to their website.

[Moses]

Hey there! Sorry it took a while to get back in here. i had to make up for a lost day.

Here's the play-by-play: i got up, made some coffee. . . Okay just kidding.

First, i removed all the glow plugs to make priming eaiser on the starter. Then i barrowed the neighbor's heat gun and rolled around on the ground warming all the lines that i could easily access, making sure to get tank switcher, and then,

and then well, ammn, then i blew compressed air down the tube from the engine compartment backwards towards the tank. It only took a few 3 second 40psi blast until i heard air exiting the fill spout. Then i hooked up the fuel lines and jumped in the cab and started cranking the engine over in intervals of 20 sec. cranking time, 60 sec. starter cooling time. The trick here is to keep cranking (in intervals) long after you see the first puffs of diesel fog roll out of the enginge compartment. There's still a lot of air in the system when you see those first puffs. After completing primming, i put the glow plugs in and the truck started right up.

Dmax, i was going to be dipomatic and just not say anything but because you asked i felt i should answer. No offense intended, the reasons that i blew goo backwards into the tank are:1, you told me that i would not damage any equiptment; 2, i read on a bio-d forum, in a post by Fatmobile, that this was standard procedure; 3; i knew the bio-goo would readily disolve in the dino-d; 4, since i've been buring B99 all summer i figured there wasn't a lot of sediment in the tank and even if i did disturb the crud it would only cost me a set of filters at worst; and 5, it was too easy and i wanted find out if it would work.

moe

[wade-ve7trw]

Try Putting heating pads on your fuel tanks to warm up the jelly mess in the tank and it will be easier to cleanout. Up it the far north at thge corner of far gone and way out i use small silicon heat pads that a glued on to the tanks ( in my case both diesel and propane).The ones i use go by the name besco heatpad,but they have many names and come in all ranges of wattages. but in your case maybe a battery blanket or heat lamp will work good enough to get it all out of the tanks.