SES = one light I don't want to see on Christmas

[npauli]

The truck started misbehaving on the way to grandma's house on Christmas. Presents in the bed, wife & baby in the cab: not exactly the perfect time for problems (I know, that's how it always is). Anyway, here's what I know:

Fuel filter is only about 2k miles old. The tank was just filled at a local station that only has 1 diesel pump, but I know some fleets use it.

After driving for an hour or so, the truck seemed low on power when merging. SES light came on seconds later. We limped the rest of the way there, with power that would seem to come and go.

Fortunately, santa brought a ScanGauge, so I've since gathered the following:

P0087 (low fuel pressure)
code was set with LOD=99, 181F water, 19F air, 62mph, 1921 rpm, 28.9psi MAT (not sure if this is absolute or gage).

I'm hoping it's just a bad batch of fuel, and am going to go pick up a fuel filter. If it is fuel, do I need to drain & purge, or just add some magic snake oil to the tank?

Any suggestions?

[Mark Rinker]

Did resetting the code help? If the problem persists after code is reset, then you probably have moisture frozen in the filter.

Try Diesel911 (Red Bottle, don't go overboard on mix) next...the general midwest warming trend should help...

Then new filter, although the problem may resurface if you have that much water coming through with your fuel...

[npauli]

Thanks Mark - sounds like fuel quality &/or cold to blame.

I took the easy way out and took it to the dealer. Figured it was a good time to check injector balance anyway, since my warranty is up in a few months.

The local GMC dealer also services med & heavy trucks, so I feel good about their diesel know-how. We'll see what they come up with...

[Runaway_Dmax]

I believe IL is mandated to 10 or 11% BioDiesel and that may also be part of your problem. It really seems to mess with the LMM fuel system down there. If you aren't already, put the winter front on it. 911 as Mark mentioned. And I am assuming from your post a recent diesel owner. Buy your fuel from a high volume dealer. I know you mentioned that some fleet rigs are fueling there, but maybe still not enough to keep the fuel fresh. Some use Stanadyne fuel treatment, others use Power Service (white bottle) in winter to help prevent fuel from gelling, there are others.
Good luck, 48* north of Green Bay today and raining - truck got washed! :)

[npauli]

And I am assuming from your post a recent diesel owner.

Guilty as charged. I worked a few years in diesel engine development, but all the test cells are inside! :)

Yeah, it was just gelled fuel or wax plugging the filter. New filter and I'm good to go. Still kinda glad I took it in though - they checked injector balance and the fuel in the tank and gave both a clean bill of health.

So I gather the best prevention is to get fuel from high-volume stations and use an additive?

If you suspect there's gelled fuel in the tank, is it best to just let the fuel filter do its job and change it when it's plugged, or is there a better way to clean up? Does the diesel 911 (or anything else you can do) actually change the chunky stuff back to liquid?

[Kennedy]

From what I am told, most of IL is running a blend of Bio due to tax incentives. This is really making a mess of cold weather driving though. This would be my bet.

We have the FPPF bio diesel winter treat, but I haven't really tried it myself. I am not running bio in winter for now mostly due to lack of availability.