Diesel on really cold days?

You apparently want other to find your lack of skills to be humorous. I'm just offering a suggestion to solve your problem.

Who is this "other" you speak of? And what area of schooling would you suggest, perhaps grammar? Or should I bone up on automotive ignition theory? Maybe you could teach those classes.

Toyota MDT in MO

Please reply using the following formula: You apparently .... blah blah blah .... mispelling and/or poorly structured phrase .... [wrong punctuation]. Then fail to allude to exactly *what* skills I am lacking. ...and scene!

Your choice, but considering what I've read so far you should not dither much longer.

Non proffer (as predicted) noted. Keep replying with nothing.

Toyota MDT in MO

Its a slam at indirect-injection diesels, which are (comparatively) toys. Low output, and low efficiency, hard to start when cold, and much more service-demanding than DI diesels.

IF you can't grasp that, then I can't help you. See a psychiatrist.

I think you might be missing the point of the original question. Glowplugs get the fuel in the combustion chamber to a temperature at which it will ignite. Without glowplugs, the the engine will not start, even in warm weather, unless the cylinders are still hot from being run previously.

But that's not what was being asked. In very cold weather, diesel fuel becomes more viscous ("turns to Jello/jelly") in the tank and the fuel lines between there and the injectors. This is because wax crystals form at low temperatures. Unless you heat the tank, the pipe, the fuel pump(s) and the injectors, fuel viscosity can be a problem - the fuel is too viscous to get as far as the glowplugs.

That's why in many countries sell different types of diesel at different times of year: they change over as the weather starts to get colder and as it warms up. "Summer diesel" is the normal distillate from crude oil; "winter diesel" is slightly more expensive to produce because it has additives to help prevent the formation of the wax crystals which make cold diesel more viscous. Evidently this additive is also sold separately for yu to add to your tank is the temperature gets *very* cold.

When I bought my first diesel car, I was advised that if I was going to keep a spare can of fuel in the boot/trunk, I should fill it with winter diesel so it could be used all year round.

I've found that with normal winter diesel, my car will start first time, every time and will run smoothly immediately after starting (which is more that a petrol engine will!) in temperatures as low as -10 deg C (14 deg F) - in the UK I've never experienced temperatures below this since I've had a diesel car. Of course you then have to wait *ages* for the heater to get warm enough to defrost/demist the front windscreen because diesel engines are so damn efficient that there is less waste heat to "power" the heater than there is with a petrol-engined car ;-)