Whew, what a week

Welcome to "Polar Vortex II" or whatever the idiot weather people are calling this latest cold snap. Of course with a cold snap come troubles, for me it took the form of car issues. First was the Jetta, Tuesday I got nearly all the way to work when the low oil pressure dinger came on. I'm so glad it made noise, I'd have never noticed the idiot light. Turns out the oil feed to the turbo had ruptured. Fortunately I got the car shut right off and towed directly to my mechanic. He pressure washed the engine (yay, clean engine!) fixed the line and the seals for the oil cooler which I guess are common leak points. I like that about this guy, he looks for other fixes for common problems which won't cost me much while he's there.

I didn't get the Jetta back until Friday so Wednesday I hopped in the 190D. It was quite cold -4F or so and I was a bit concerned when the engine was difficult to get started. I should have stopped there and let the car warm up but was in a bit of a hurry. That car has been running well and started at -6F some weeks ago when I tried to make a video of cold starts on both cars. This time I got about 400 yards from our house and it quit. Angie came with the Ranger and we towed it home and I went to work in the (fuel slurping) Ranger. That night I changed the fuel filter on the 190D and although the engine was warm to the touch owing to the block heater having been on all day the car still wouldn't start, even with the fuel filter full of Power Service. My guess is either:
A. Ice in the fuel tank causing no incoming fuel
or
B. Failed fuel pump

I'd like to think A is more likely since theres never been any problem starting this car but we'll see. Since it was still very cold out I shipped the car to my Mercedes mechanic (as opposed to the VW mechanic that got the Jetta) and we'll see what he says.