rfg@hound.UUCP (R.GRANTGES) (11/30/84)
[.] Ron, Mercedes is not Volkswagen. It's not Consumers Union either. For years VW advised adding gasoline to diesel fuel to help cold weather starting. As CU correctly pointed out this is a dangerous practice. Besides its relatively ineffective. Then VW started selling a diesel additive, but one that did nothing to lower the pour point. Last trip to the dealer they seemed to have finally gotten the message (after production had stopped on the rabbit). CU never did publicly acknowledge that it had figured out how to start its diesel rabbit below, say, 6 degrees F, where the fuel starts to jell. I have happily and trouble free-ly operated two diesel rabbits since the summer of 1977. One here in New Jersey and one in Illinois-Indiana. The first winter, the Illinois rabbit froze solid at 20 below, so my son trudged over to the filling station frequented by the big diesel rigs and asked them how they did it. I assumed that if he was smart enuf to think of that, then "zillions" of other amuricans must have also done the same thing. Included in that number should have been people from CU and VW. If so, why did they pretend ignorance? My experience is that with good glow plugs and a proper additive, the diesel starts right up every time with a turn of the key. And drives off right away. This is FAR less trouble than I have had with good old USA gasoline engine designs which usually have to be started at least twice and then run VERY carefully for the first 5 or 10 minutes if you don't want it to go dead in the middle of a busy intersection. o.k., so I have to wait 25 seconds for the plugs to heat up. If my wife and I turn our keys simultaneously, I am usually out of sight before the '75 Chrysler gets out of the garage.