Ok, I'm challenging someone to help me out on this one! This is the situation. I live in Eastern North Dakota where it is damn cold right now...below freeze point by a bunch. I have a 2003 Ram 2500 and love it to death, but it is kicking my butt right now. I put #2 fuel in it about a week ago, about 10 gallons to be specific. I didn't have any Powerserve (I used this all of last winter with no problems) with me at that moment so I drove it home and parked it for about 4 days (cold storage). I added the Powerserve after the 4th day and drove it some distance and it shook like it was going to fall apart. I initially thought it was driveline related until I parked it at work at idle, and it still shook the dash like a sob. We have a heated shop at work; I parked it in there for about 1 1/2 hours- I came back to it and it started up and purred like a kitten and I thought the problem was solved (gelled fuel) . I parked it outside the rest of the day and came back to it and same problem. I brought it to a shop thinking a fuel filter was in order and they changed it for me. I added 23 more gallons of fuel and the correct amount of Powerserve and drove it home with no problem. Next morning , I came out and it's shaking all over again. So I parked it in my heated shop and came back to it the next morning and all is well. I drove it about 20 minutes and the problem started all over again. Any ideas for me folks? I ran this additive all last winter with no problem. The only this I changed is I bought the big 80 ounce jug vs. the Quart container. I don't get it! Thanks in advance!

 

I went out and checked the lift pump last night and I am getting a substantial amount of fuel in the pan when I bump the starter with the valve open, so it is not a delivery issue up to that point. Anyone have any ideas? This is a problem that comes and goes with temperature, seemingly. Are there sensors that may be affected by temperature or any other components that may influence the extreme vibration. It is currently about 4 degrees F right now. I have 75K miles on the truck at this point. I bought it with 52K from a relation and they hadn't done any major repairs on the truck prior to me getting it. Thanks in advance.

 

What color of PowerService are you running? White, Grey, or Red? If you think your fuel is gelled now, then you need to use the red, in the current tank only, DO NOT use the red constantly. Check to make sure that you are using the proper PowerService additive.

I think White is for summer, Grey is for winter, and Red is for gelled fuel, but don't qoute me on this.

 

I am using the White Powerserve and I have been using this for the 2nd winter with no negative consequences until now. I agree with you that the red bottle would be required if the fuel were already gelling but I thought that the fact that it was in warm storage with the white additive for several hours would make this unnecessary....maybe I'm not thinking of that right. I will say that I drove it for several hours today and it seems to have come out of its vibratory state, but I wont't believe it for sure until I've used it for a couple more days with no problems. Thanks for the reply.

 

I see this is from over a month ago, did you get it figured out?

 

I have the same truck, for the most part and I have the same issue on cold mornings. Recently I have found that I do in fact have a block heater. I am going to try it out after I get my turbo replaced to see if it helps any. But anywho, sounds like it's a "motor's too cold to run right" sorta thing.