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Me and a few more friends are planning a trip to Rohtang pass some time in June but none of us has a petrol run SUV and I have doubts about diesel getting frozen at such heights with such low temperatures...

What I am really after is :

Has anyone been there in a diesel run vehicle in the month of June? I dont wanna be sitting there burning woods under my fuel tank to melt diesel so just wanna make sure that its ok for diesel vehicles in the month of June.

Last time I went there was back in 2001 feb in a mahindra jeep and we were stuck there for hours and were only able to come back with the help of army guys who knew how to melt deisel by giving the right amount of heat from underneath by burning wood without setting the jeep on fire so dont wanna get into that situation again...

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i had been there on Jan last year

We went in a sumo and did not have any issues

though we did not go till Rohtang pass we were near by as the road ahead was filled with snow and we were in sumo which is not a 4X4 so could no pass through it

I am curious to know - what kind of vehicles does our Army operate at such high altitudes? Will the temp be that low (in June) so as to cause diesel to freeze?

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Almost all Army vehicles are diesel run but when they turn the engine off over night they have to burn some wood under their diesel tanks which is very risky for noobies like me as those guys do it on a daily basis in winters and know exactly how much is not too much to explode this thinggie.

Have you ever seen pictures or videos of army personel with a bone fire underneath a truck in places like spiti and lahul? those fires are actually to heat their fuel tanks and melt diesel Some modern russian trucks have an inbuilt thing to heat their tanks up but they have very few of then in the Indian army.

Forgot to add : There is small amount of parafin wax in diesel which starts gelling up below 0degree celcius and to avoid this we have a few additives available in UK and Canada to keep diesel from freezing and the wax getting stuck in filters.

I have never seen anything of that sort available in India so far which can keep diesel from freezing in sub zero temperatures.

As I mentioned earlier about the mahindra jeep... we were still able to start it but it would only run while idling as the wax deposited on filters would only let that much diesel in and once we shifted gears the jeep wouldnt move due to lack of diesel supply which can then only be restored by heating the whole tank up by a few degrees (without burning the whole vehicle )

Has anyone recently been to Leh via Manali? are the roads any better then they used to be 7-8 years ago or are there even bigger popholes all over the place with large rocks in the middle of the roads with no one to take care of them?

Ive never been to Leh via Srinagar ... some people say the road is better then the manali route.. do we have anyone here who have tried both the routes? and can tell which one is better?

I am not sure whether the Leh via Srinagar road is safe (terrorists and all that) ...

But I have never been in those places. My Bro-in-law retired from Army as Colonel. I will ask him.

I had to cancel this trip will plan sometime next year or may be just before the monsoon rains start hopefully

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Yes roads to Leh via Srinagar are all good but until a few years ago the road to Leh which goes via Manali was not in a very good shape so that why I asked if anyone has been on that route recently and tell if the roads are any better then they used to be 10 years ago.