I will add that, in my own experiences and observations, nine times out of ten, it is a drop of frozen water that shuts things down, rather than gelled fuel, especially in an older truck, and much more likely in any truck that lives in the water-logged central south-eastern states, such as KY TN ALA MISS LA.
In these areas, especially Kentucky (which Indian translation means ultra high humidity, or severe sinus/allergy region), it can be 88* at lunch-time and twelve-below ZERO the next morning, with a heavy dew every morning regardless of time of year; these rapid temperature swings highly aggravate the already present condensation problem, and are the reason why our fuel tanks usually have a couple inches of water in the bottom and the crank-case gains on the dipstick.
To get an idea of just how severe the condensation problem is, pop the hood on a damp dewey morning and look at all the water beaded up all over the engine and dripping from under the hood, and what you are seeing is just the accumulation of one night; inside a dark fuel-tank, above naturally colder-than-air fuel, this amount of condensate is more than doubled; same for inside the crank-case.
Regardless of whether it is gelled fuel or ice, the engine behaves the same and simply shuts down (or stutters) for lack of fuel.
Also, I have read/heard this scenario many many times :
Someone fuels up at whatever fuel-station, mixes up all the dregs water and drowned mice up into the upper level of cleaner fuel, and immediately hops in and heads out on the interstate, only to have their filter suck full of water about two miles down the road.
This person will rant and rave to everyone they ever talk to for the rest of their life, spreading the word far and wide over the C.B. and mouth to ear, warning people DON'T BUY FUEL over at so-and-so's
"'cause I got a tank-full of water and I'll never buy fuel there again"; when people hear something like this, it will always remain stuck in their mind, and most of them will forever avoid buying fuel there, or worse, they will ask big and loud at the counter, in front of a dozen customers, "Did you'uns ever git yer wateer sitiation tuk cyere uv frum when that feller I heeerd on the C.B. boughten hisself a tank full of wateer?"
In 99 of 100 cases, the water did not come from the fuel-station, but was already in the truck's tank, and on a diesel, it only takes one tiny drop in the right place to shut the engine off.
This is why seasoned drivers will fuel-up FIRST, then pull the truck around back and go inside for a big sit-down dinner, ordered from a menu and carried by a waitress, complete with Pecan pie, giving the fuel time to settle back out.
Also, when cold weather rolls around, catching most un-prepared with their drawers down, after it has already gotten down to fuel-freezing temperatures, with the same old fuel-filter that was on there all summer, they will dump a bunch of water-absorbing fuel-conditioner into a water-laden tank, only to have it do it's job and entrain the moisture, carrying it into the tight confines of an ice-cold metal fuel-line, where it instantly freezes, plugging the line; this person will always blame whatever brand of conditioner and warn off as many as will listen, when the fault was their own; their fuel did not gel, the entrained water simply froze, yet it is impossible to properly diagnose in freezing sleet and wind, with cars whizzing past at break-neck speeds, and once the tiny drop of water gets above 32* it merely vanishes, leaving no trace of it's presence; yet, being naturally very thick and cloudy when cold, the fuel will appear to have gelled, when in fact it had not.
This is why, on below-freezing mornings, it is good sound practice to ALWAYS high-idle the engine for a period of time sufficient to cycle the entire capacity of the fuel-system, from tank pick-up to injectors, at least twice, so that if the engine is going to shut-down, hopefully it will do it sitting at home, instead of two-miles up the road.
I read of many occassions where the driver fires the engine, immediately takes off, and then shuts-down in some inconvenient place around the corner; most likely, had they allowed the engine to high-idle for a while prior to leaving, it would have shown it's problem in the driveway, a much handier place to have problems.
i got off at 4am and plugged it in. i woke up this afternoon and tried to start it. no go. it was 5 degrees, it was -15 over night. it started yesterday when it was about 10 outside and hadnt been ran for a couple of days. it isnt even trying to fire off. i know the glow plugs are working, i counted off 10 seconds when the wts light went out. what/how do i check to make sure the block heater is working. i have digital vom. and i do know that i am getting juice to it.
