I had a question about my girlfriend car. It won't start at all, it wont even turn over. I thought it might be a dead battery, but i talked to someone and they said the gas could be frozen? I know for a fact that she has only 1/4 tank of gas left, could it possibly freeze? Right now where she is, it 7*F and -8* with the wind chill.

Also, this guy said something about putting dry gas in the car to melt the frozen gas? is this correct?

Thanks in Advance!

on the news yesterday they were saying that the gas lines can freeze.

Did once in my nova, mind you a 1.6l engine'* gas line is one of the smallest, and that was a night i was working at best buy. Car'* in the middle of a huge lot, with cold wind blowing under it.

Hrmm might happen to me tonight... I have to work(outside)... and it is like -20 with the windchill....

You guys need ethonal blended gasoline...

Okay, first of all, frozen gas won't prevent the engine from turning over; it will only prevent it from starting (and wind chill doesn't affect inanimate objects: the car won't be any _colder_ than 7°F just because it'* sitting in a stiff wind). So your first problem is to figure out why the starter isn't turning: try recharging the battery with a good set of jumper cables, etc.

Second, it doesn't matter how _much_ gas you have, as to whether it'* going to freeze or not. What matters is whether you've got water in it. If you're always running around with a low tank _and_ parking overnight in a heated garage, you could be collecting water as condensation within the tank. Keeping a full tank of gas helps to minimize the amount of trapped air and the amount of surface area in the gas tank on which condensation can form. If you're parking the car outside all the time, you don't have the usual conditions under which condensation could form, and so you're less likely to be looking at a frozen-fuel-line problem anyway.

> Also, this guy said something about putting dry gas in the car
> to melt the frozen gas? is this correct?

Nope. If or when the lines are frozen, they're frozen; you can pour HEET in the filler neck, but nothing'* going to force it down the fuel lines to an ice blockage and thaw it for you.

Once the frozen lines _are_ thawed (if in fact that'* what the problem really is), then you can fill the tank with fresh gas and add some HEET to deal with any accumulated water in there.

What my Dad taught me was that the lower you let your tank get in the winter, the more you're at risk of ending up with water making its way into your gas tank, condensing, freezing and causing problems like that. Putting drygas in there keeps that from happening-by helping to keep the gas dry..lol.. It should help if she makes sure she keeps the tank relatively full. This kind of stuff used to happen to me all the time

The large ammount of gas in the tank wont freeze... to a point, but the gas line can easly freeze up... with american gas anyway, most places up here have ethanol blended stuff.

Methal hydrate will free any frozen lines you maight have. It is also a good idea to keep your tank full in winter as condensation can build in an empty tank which later freezes.

I'm going with fouled plugs as why the car wont start. It is very common up here that when a car is turned over and over thendoes not start, the unused fuel sits in the cylinders and carbons up the plugs. Then when the battery is recharged, fuel lines unfrozen it still wont start.....plugs everytime.

that happened to me yesterday, turns out it was a dead battery (though I could still run the radio and stuff, decent charge on the voltometer.