a long road trip.

AndySRT · **Posted:** Fri Jan 05, 2007 4:30 pm

What are some suggestions to do before a long road trip in my CRD? I am replacing the fuel filter this weekend becuase i'm at 22k miles and will be well over 25k by the time i get back from AZ.

Jeger · **Posted:** Fri Jan 05, 2007 4:47 pm

Take Some Power Service with you. Can help with not so good fuel. Try to plan ahead on fueling locations, not necessary but you dont want to have to stop at some two bit fueling station and end up with a real fuel problem.

If you like to use Biodiesel:
http://www.biodiesel.org/buyingbiodiese ... lingsites/

Check air filter of course.

Get together a good travel safety kit, non perishable food, blankets, shovel, first aid, etc...you probably know the drill
Basic tools.
Take an extra fuel filter with you.
Make sure your tires are in good shape, incl. spare.
What else?

vtdog · **Joined:** Fri Sep 30, 2005 11:27 am **Posts:** 640

Bring along an empty milk jug. Its a long way between fillups

AndySRT · **Posted:** Fri Jan 05, 2007 6:17 pm

Jeger wrote:

Take Some Power Service with you. Can help with not so good fuel. Try to plan ahead on fueling locations, not necessary but you dont want to have to stop at some two bit fueling station and end up with a real fuel problem.

If you like to use Biodiesel:
http://www.biodiesel.org/buyingbiodiese ... lingsites/

Check air filter of course.

Get together a good travel safety kit, non perishable food, blankets, shovel, first aid, etc...you probably know the drill
Basic tools.
Take an extra fuel filter with you.
Make sure your tires are in good shape, incl. spare.
What else?

Thanks for the link i'll print that out so i know where to stop for bio. I have to bottles of power service, basic tools in the car. all i think i'll need is the fuel filter, some non perishable food and posibly some extra fuel.

onthehunt · **Posted:** Fri Jan 05, 2007 8:58 pm

If you are going on a long trip why would you risk putting bio in it. I would think your chances of getting bad bio are much greater than getting bad ulsd. Taking a fuel filter is also pretty useless if you just changed yours. If your new filter plugs with bad fuel your replacement filter will follow shortly.

Ranger1 · **Joined:** Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:40 pm **Posts:** 1137

onthehunt wrote:

If you are going on a long trip why would you risk putting bio in it. I would think your chances of getting bad bio are much greater than getting bad ulsd. Taking a fuel filter is also pretty useless if you just changed yours. If your new filter plugs with bad fuel your replacement filter will follow shortly.

Think about not having a spare fuel filter if the old one clogs and you're 50 miles from any town. Even if the new one lasts 50 miles, it beats walking to town.

dieselenthusiast · **Posted:** Sat Jan 06, 2007 2:38 am

My wife and I take long road trips somewhat frequently. Our long and detailed check list is geared to make sure the vehicle is going to run the most efficient. I try to get the best mileage possible, so we make sure the tires are filled to the maximum recommended PSI, we check the air filter, and make sure the engine oil is good to go (Synthetic is the best). As you already know, carry along an extra fuel filter. Check the spare tire for proper pressure, and make sure the jack is packed and ready to go. I would grease all your fittings, check the serpentine belt, windshield wipers, windshield fluid, transmission fluid, cooling system, and power steering fluid. I flush the brake system every 2 years or 20,000 miles and change out the power steering fluid every 3 years or 30,000 miles, and I would flush the cooling system every 2 years or 20,000 miles if I were using secular coolant fluid. I use AMSOIL Coolant, which is a better longer lasting coolant with lubrication properties. So, maybe some of these ideas might help.

Jeger · **Posted:** Mon Jan 08, 2007 10:31 am

onthehunt wrote:

If you are going on a long trip why would you risk putting bio in it. I would think your chances of getting bad bio are much greater than getting bad ulsd. Taking a fuel filter is also pretty useless if you just changed yours. If your new filter plugs with bad fuel your replacement filter will follow shortly.

I have never thought of bio as a risk, everytime I have run it the little bugger seems pretty happy. The highest I have ran was B20, usually you cant find higher than that anyhow.

Has anyone ever had a bad experience with commercial biodiesel? .

Weegie5 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 08, 2007 10:43 am

Jeger wrote:

Has anyone ever had a bad experience with commercial biodiesel?

The only bad experience I ever had was my own fault. I went up into the mountains for a weekend (~10,000') without checking the forecast. I had diluted my half empty tank of B50 down to B25 but didn't add any Power Service anti-gel. Suffice to say that the wind chill got down to -30°F and my tank turned in to a block of goo. I'll add that when this happened I hadn't yet found the block heater cord. D'oh!!

Don't be an idiot like I was and you should be okay. Lesson learned.

DarbyWalters · **Posted:** Mon Jan 08, 2007 10:48 am

PowerService also has something called "911" I think. It is supposed to fix many maladies in an emergency situation.

http://www.powerservice.com/diesel_911.asp

dieselenthusiast · **Posted:** Mon Jan 08, 2007 2:51 pm

According to a lot of test data, BIO is actually a better lubricant and provides longer engine life over straight diesel and in some applications resulting in better fuel economy. Now if you are a “at home BIO maker” then there may be a risk if you are still learning and experimenting. But once you understand the procedures and how to test the fuel itself, it would be a good choice and highly recommended. But like mentioned above, if you are going into the cold zone then be prepared. I lived in Northern New Mexico for 3 years at 7,000 feet. It wasn't unusual to see 40 to 50's for day time highs and wake up with -20 degrees.

midwest · **Joined:** Tue Apr 25, 2006 12:03 am **Posts:** 173

Weegie5 wrote:

Jeger wrote:

Has anyone ever had a bad experience with commercial biodiesel?

The only bad experience I ever had was my own fault. I went up into the mountains for a weekend (~10,000') without checking the forecast. I had diluted my half empty tank of B50 down to B25 but didn't add any Power Service anti-gel. Suffice to say that the wind chill got down to -30°F and my tank turned in to a block of goo. I'll add that when this happened I hadn't yet found the block heater cord. D'oh!!

Don't be an idiot like I was and you should be okay. Lesson learned.

Windchill won't freeze anything, if it did your thermometer would reflect windchill temps, but we all know it doesn't. Air temp. is the number to look at, forget windchill.

Weegie5 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 08, 2007 7:23 pm

midwest wrote:

Windchill won't freeze anything, if it did your thermometer would reflect windchill temps, but we all know it doesn't. Air temp. is the number to look at, forget windchill.

You called my bluff. Saying -30°F wind chill is more dramatic than the -13°F that the actual dry bulb (ambient) temperature was. Either way, it was knee-knockin' cold.

Drewd · **Joined:** Mon Feb 06, 2006 12:24 pm **Posts:** 902

I just put 2,000 miles on my wife's CRD last week. Didn't take my TDI because of snowstorm risk along route. Worst mileage was 19mpg and best was around 26 mpg. Lots of mountain driving with speeds between 80-85 mph.

CRD performed flawlessly. Don't like the new tranny programming. This thing used to NEVER downship going up a 6% slope but now does post reflash.

a long road trip.

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