99 E350 PSD, 113k, pathetically stock.

Occasionally when its very cold (below freezing) my PSD likes to do something funny. Startup is normal - GPR kicks on, crank, fire. Idles great. I let it idle as long as I can which is up to 10 minutes if I have the time, or 2-3 minutes if I'm late for work

The road I take is uphill about a half mile to a stop sign. As I pull out, everything is fine. I keep very light throttle since its cold. A few times now, about halfway up the hill, it starts "missing" and I mean its just like dropping a spark on a gas vehicle. I lose a cylinder and it chugs a cloud of unburnt fuel (bluish white). Normally that's all I get from it and it behaves after the stop sign.

This morning, it didn't want to move from the stop sign. It was idling rough (missing a cylinder), and when I hit the accelerator it didn't respond. It was as if the computer was only letting me get about 3% throttle. I put it in neutral and let it rev a bit and I got the cylinder back, put it in D, and it never gave me another bit of trouble - not on the way to work, not on the way to lunch, not on the way home.

Scanner reveals no codes pending, no codes set.

I considered the following:
- bad fuel; although it has done it over a few weeks and a few different fuel supplies.
- fuel filter; although it was changed about 8000 miles ago, it could be a problem.
- fuel gelling; but wouldn't that cause more issues than just one time in the morning when its cold?
- water in the fuel; but I opened the drain on the filter housing and only got diesel. I also verified that the "water in fuel" light is operational, but that may not mean anything.

Do these symptoms point to anything specific to you folks?

 

Injectors...

Try plugging it in. Bet it doesnt do it again.

 

I would plug it in, but no plug since this was originally a TX van (thanks, smartass ) A block heater is in the works but I've never needed one in PA.