Read the full episode transcript
00:00:13 Lou Signorelli
Good day and welcome everyone to Power Bytes. I am your host, Lou Signorelli, and Power Bytes is your destination podcast for power generation conversations. As always, please know how much we appreciate you, our listeners. We hope that you find our topics both helpful and interesting. There are several ways to get in touch with the show. You can send us an e-mail at powerbytes@cat.com. Visit us at Cat Electric Power on Facebook or LinkedIn, but please remember to subscribe, leave comments, and like our show, wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. Yep, for those of you that live in colder climates, it's time to prepare our diesel engines for the winter!
00:00:47 Lou Signorelli
Those of us who live in climates that have four definite seasons probably see the greatest swings in temperature. So, joining us today is our favorite engine maintenance expert, Nick Johnson. You may recall Nick from his episode, which aired in October, titled “Tips For Extending Your Engine Life.” Well, if you haven't heard that episode, I encourage you to go give it a listen. Hey, Nick, welcome back. It's great to have you!
00:01:08 Nick Johnson
Thanks for having me back, Lou. I'm excited to share some of the tips you're asking about for our friends in the field!
00:01:13 Lou Signorelli
So let's start at the top. Are there key areas that we need to focus on as diesel engine owners during our cold, wintertime months?
00:01:21 Nick Johnson
Yeah, absolutely. You know, owners should be focusing on fuel, fuel filters, the engine oil, coolant, and their DEF, or the diesel exhaust fluid.
00:01:30 Lou Signorelli
Okay, so let's see if we can look through those one at a time. How about fuel? I thought diesel fuel was diesel fuel?
00:01:36 Nick Johnson
Well, no, not really, not quite. There's actually several different blends of diesel fuel and special winter blends of diesel fuel. Owners and operators should be using a winter blended fuel or a #1 diesel fuel in extremely cold climates. This will help prevent fuel gelling in the colder temperatures, particularly below 10°F or -12°C. There are quite a few winter additives for fuel available. Operators should be consulting their engine operation manuals to make sure that they're using approved fuel blend and additives. One other tip would be to fill the machine with fuel at the end of each shift. When you fill the tank at the end of the shift, there's no room for condensation to form in the tank.
00:02:17 Lou Signorelli
Nick, you mentioned fuel gelling. What is that? Is that some sort of cruel joke?
00:02:23 Nick Johnson
No, it's not a joke, Lou! So, diesel fuel contains particles of what we call paraffin wax. Then once it gets cold enough, the wax solidifies (it becomes solid). And this is what we call fuel gelling. The solidified wax can clog fuel filters and cause low power – or even engines not to run – because the filter is completely plugged with the wax.
00:02:44 Lou Signorelli
Ah, I see. So that's why you mentioned that users should be thinking about fuel filters, I assume?
00:02:50 Nick Johnson
Yeah, that's right. You should probably keep an extra fuel filter or two for all your engines used in the cold weather as well. That way if you do have a fuel gel issue, you can just swap the filter out. The other thing we should probably talk about or think about is draining those fuel filters and draining the water separators. If we keep on top of those filters, there's less chance of water freezing in the filters overnight.
00:03:11 Lou Signorelli
Well, that's good to know. What about engine oil and cold weather? Do owners need some sort of special cold weather oil?
00:03:18 Nick Johnson
Sometimes. And it depends on the temperature. Today's advancements in synthetic oils can get a customer an engine weight that they could use for almost the entire climate or their operating range of climate. 5W40 synthetic (5W40 only comes in a synthetic) is a great choice that gives you a very large spectrum of temperatures from around -22°F to about 105°F (-30°C to about 40°C). If the engine operates in arctic climate (very, very cold climates), I'd say below 10° or so, we may need an even lighter oil like a 0W30 or a 0W40. The main thing we want to stress here is that engine operators or owners should be checking out their operation manual to see exactly what the manufacturer recommends in their specific temperature range for the winter.
00:04:12 Lou Signorelli
Thanks, Nick. I appreciate that that's really solid advice. The next one seems a bit funny to me. Why would we need to be worried about coolant in cold weather?
00:04:21 Nick Johnson
Well, the coolant not only helps cool your engine lube, but it helps protect from freezing temperatures. As we know, water expands when it freezes. If we use pure water for cooling, we'd have all sorts of cracked coolers, blocks, manifolds, plastic fittings, etc. Once it gets below freezing, because all that water in the engine has now expanded, coolant is also an antifreeze. A good 50/50 mix of ELC (extended life coolant) and distilled water is good for about -40°F, which is also -40°C, and that's great for most operators. For arctic climates, owners should consider block heaters to help keep the coolant warm during cold weather.
00:05:03 Lou Signorelli
That's very interesting. Thanks. The last one is probably a commonsense issue in terms of actually making sure the DEF tank is full. What is unique about winter when it comes to DEF?
00:05:15 Nick Johnson
Well, there's a couple things here. Once you run out of DEF (diesel exhaust fluid), your engine will derate until the DEF fluid tank is refilled. The DEF shouldn't be allowed to run out. Secondly, DEF is about 68% water, so it will freeze. But don't worry, though; the emission system is built to freeze and thaw. The DEF tank has a heater in it, and when the DEF freezes, the heater will thaw it out. The DEF system also purges the lines on the engine, so if the DEF did freeze in the lines, there's actually nothing in the lines to freeze.
00:05:51 Lou Signorelli
Well, there you have it, folks. Some really good advice for all of those people who own diesel engines. I'd like to thank Nick Johnson for joining us again. Thank you, Nick, and thank you to our listeners. For more information on winterizing your diesel engine, you can go to cat.com/industrial for a handy white paper that Nick wrote – lots of other very helpful information there – or you can visit your local Cat dealer to discuss the right cold weather strategies for your operation. Please don't forget to subscribe, follow, and comment on the show wherever you listen to us. Until next time! This is Power Bytes. Have a great rest of your day.
