5 Cold Weather Maintenance Tips to Keep You Running

1. Add a Fuel Water Separator to Your Vehicle

Fuel systems have extremely low tolerances for water and need additional water-separating filtration for adequate protection. Standard fuel filter elements become water-logged without a water separator, which makes them even more susceptible to plugging in cold temperatures. Some engines come equipped with an engine-mounted fuel water separator filter from the factory, but not all engines have one.

For instance, the latest generations of Cummins medium-duty engines utilize an engine-mounted, spin-on fuel water separator filter (part number FS20121 for 2021+ model years). Older engines, however, may not always come equipped with such a filter from the OEM and rely solely on a single engine-mounted fuel filter not designed to handle water in fuel.

Placing filters with Fleetguard proprietary media types such as StrataPore, NanoNet, or advanced water separation media upstream from the engine's stage 2/primary filter can potentially triple the filtration service life of a stage 2 filter. Advanced filtration media captures and retains contaminants, increasing the primary filter's lifespan and reducing frequent replacement — lowering costs and downtime while continuously protecting your investment.

2. Install a Remote Mount / Fuel-Water Separator

Combination fuel filters/water separators — such as the Fleetguard Fuel Pro series and Diesel Pro produced in partnership with DAVCO — serve as upstream water separators that significantly enhance the performance and prolong the life of downstream, engine-mounted fuel filters. These fuel processors are common in the heavy-duty truck segment and have proven to reduce issues caused by contaminated diesel fuel.

Upgrading or complementing your on-engine filtration with a remote mount/fuel-water separator allows easier access to the filter and provides additional benefits such as diesel fuel heaters, water-in-fuel (WIF) sensors, finer filtration of unwanted contaminants, and/or longer service life. To upfit your vehicle with one of these units, you'll need to know:

• Current on-engine filter requirements for filter efficiency (micron rating)
• Current on-engine filtration water separation requirements for both free and emulsified water in diesel fuel
• Maximum and minimum flow rates of the fuel system (usually in liters/gallons per minute)
• Maximum fuel system restriction guidelines

3. Add a Diesel Fuel Heater

Heating the diesel fuel in a vehicle or equipment application will help to alleviate the problems that can occur when temperatures drop during seasonal changes. In cold weather, diesel fuel can solidify as paraffin crystals form, coating the filter media and preventing diesel fuel from flowing to the injection system.

Common methods used to heat diesel fuel include electric pre-heaters (either DC or AC configurations) or coolant and/or fuel return lines. These electric pre-heaters and fluid return lines are typically built directly into remote mount/fuel-water separators.

Electric pre-heaters will ensure engines start in most cold weather conditions. For extreme cold weather operating environments or higher fuel flow systems, additional coolant or return fuel heaters could be necessary. Higher-wattage DC pre-heaters are necessary for biodiesel fuel applications.

4. Test the Engine's Coolant

Coolant is often associated with the hot side of the engine temperature equation, but freeze protection is equally critical for protecting the system. It's important to test coolant in cold temperatures to ensure that it can effectively protect your engine during below-freezing conditions and prevent unplanned downtime.

When testing, make sure the glycol percentage in your coolant is approximately 50%. However, if the temperature that system is exposed to exceeds -40°F, a glycol percentage of 60% is recommended to increase freeze protection. If the percentage dips below these recommendations, you run the risk of the coolant freezing and damaging your equipment.

A few ways to test coolant include using a test strip, sending off a sample to be tested in a lab (using a coolant analysis kit), or with a refractometer — an instrument that provides information about the concentration of a substance.

5. Engage the Experts for Cold Weather Maintenance Tips

Online training from the filtration science experts can supply you with the latest maintenance information and troubleshooting tips. Free training such as Fleetschool or Fleetguard LIVE webinar sessions allows you to access valuable information in order to help you reduce downtime and save money.

With the help of filtration science, Fleetguard products keep equipment up and running in some of the most extreme conditions.