35d Winter Heat

[JCL]

Originally Posted by grover432

As to the earlier post about diesel fuel gelling in the winter; we get winter grade diesel fuel in Canada. I have driven a diesel in -35C weather and never had any problems starting running the engine in that temperature. I'm sure BMW has done it's homework in that regard.

Agree, the distributor will move to winter grade diesel fuel. I have used and sold winter grade diesel, and have run test engines on it for certification purposes. My point was that the winter grade diesel that we get does not necessarily have the same properties as summer diesel. It is often thinner, it has less energy (heat content), and it is not as oily (technically, it has less lubricity). It depends on how the distributor is blending the winter fuel.

With less heat content your mileage will suffer, often significantly. That is because you are purchasing your fuel by volume, not energy content. The lubricity can be compensated for with additives by the fuel distributor. The question was whether those additives provide sufficient lubricity for the high tech injectors used on modern BMW diesels. I would love to hear that there have been no problems with BMW diesels in extreme cold. I have just had lots of service experience with other diesels in extreme cold (Yukon, NWT, Nunavut, Northern BC and Northern Alberta).