Cold weather and the 524TD

[Marcell Graeff <m.graeff@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

"On Tue, 18 Feb 2003 13:06:10 -0500 "Melinda Vasil" <mvasil1@domain.elided>
wrote:
Subject: Cold weather and the 524TD

Last November, I purchased an '85 BMW 524TD.  My problem is - this does not
seem to be a good winter car (so far, in my experience).  I wondered if you
had problems starting your 524TD in cold weather?  Any tips on this would be
greatly appreciated.  It seems anytime the temperature dips below freezing,
my car just refuses to start.  Any suggestions??  Thanks!"

Melinda,

A professor of mine at the Syracuse University School of Architecture (in
wintry upstate NY w/ lake effect snows)  had one of these rare (in the US at
least) turbo-diesel 5-series.  He drove it 60 miles each way commuting from
Ithaca to Syracuse every day, so it must have been a reliable winter highway
cruiser for him.  He had it into the 300K+ miles before the engine needed a
rebuild and he traded to SAAB 9000 Turbo.

You mentioned that it refuses to start everytime the temp dips below freezing.
I have heard that diesel fuel tends to have quite a bit of water content or
maybe it attracts moisture which then condenses into liquid water in the fuel
tank. Kind of like brake fluid is hygroscopic and that is why you should
change it every 2 years. The first thing I would suspect is that the water in
the diesel is freezing in the fuel lines and blocking the supply to the
injectors.  For this reason, I  believe that diesel cars generally have a
fuel/water seperator which needs to be periodically emptied to prevent this
freezing situation.

Perhaps some others on the list with diesel experience would have some more
insight on this issue.

Marcell Graeff
DiNISCO DESIGN
1995 525iT

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