Cold weather starting tips

[D7E]

28 above ain't cold. Try it at -35F no wind chill.

And miles out in the bush

 

[wmonroe]

Nice, we need a cold start video of that dozer firing up.

 

[Trials]

I am working on a show that we feature mega luxury yachts. 200 footers and above. Talking with the engineers who manage twin turbo, twin supercharged 16 cyl engines ( I am saying this not for the wow, it is wow, but for the final note I am trying to make). They tell me that a cold start procedure takes 2 hours ususally to get 2 engines up and running properly. If they have to do an emergency start, straight crankover, they are required to write an 8 hour use hit in the log (meaning the clock looses 8 hours for every cold start).

Short-cutting the normal startup procedure, impacts the engines life expectancy to the equivalent 8 hours normal operating wear; makes total sense to me.

but "twin turbo, twin supercharged 16 cyl engines" ....they don't combine turbo and superchargers on the same engine do they? and what would be the percentage of 2 superchargers. I must be reading this part wrong

 

[woodlandfarms]

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/261554-big-ol-engines.html?amp;goto=newpost

As for being twin supercharged, I think what it is that to cover 16 cylinder the supers on the Catepillar engine can only cover 8. But yes, Turbos and suppers on 2000+HP Engines. 250 to 500K an engine. I saw two that was hand filed down (the castings were smoothed out) so the engine was glass smooth.

 

[vtsnowedin]

In another time placing a pan of hot ashes under the oil pan was quite common in places with no electricity.

Ashes? Hardly. the old man would take a 2'x2' pan of blazing hardwood coals from the stove and slide them under the oil pan of a 57 Ford being careful not to pump the accelerator pedal beforehand and risk having gas drip into the pan. When the oil in the oil pan began to snap and pop as the moisture in it began to boil you would take a hoe and pull the pan out, set the choke, pump the gas three times and start her up. Other days when it was above zero he would take a quart of oil in the metal can it came in and set it on the wood stove until it was boiling then pour it into the oil fill port and start her up. Straight 30 weight oil at zero or below poured out of the can like molasses if it poured out at all. We have it soo---oo much better today.

 

[oldballs]

Those metal quart oil cans were great for playing shinny down in the frozen creek. One sure could create some heat doing that. What could be better than that. Oh....for starting engines......I digress.

 

[Mechanos]

I've used salamander style heaters blowing on the oil pan/engine from a safe distance, shallow pan of carcoal briquettes under the oil pan, shallow pan of burning diesel under the oil pan (not at all recommended... kind of emergency only), high wattage halogen work lights near the engine/oil pan, propane torch on the intake air horn (tip of flame just kissing the air horn and constantly moving). By far the best and most reliable method is a block heater and the above mentioned method were only used when a block heater or power to the block heater was not available.

 

[MHarryE]

If ether is so bad, why does my latest monthly John Deere parts sale mailer have a special price on starting fluid? Did somebody neglect to tell John Deere it will destroy their engines?

Actually here where -20 to -30 F temps are not uncommon we have not used starting fluid on our newer tractors. They are either put to bed for the winter, sit in a heated garage, or have their block heaters plugged in (you get to know how long to heat each one by the outside temp). Many of the loggers around here don't have the luxury of heating out in the woods so they put quick couplers on their pickup coolant lines and on their feller/butchers & skidders and run the hot truck coolant through the machine's engine to warm them for starting. Thinking of that cold blast of coolant coming back into the truck engine at first makes me think of immediate cracked block but they say it is not a problem. Maybe it is that the flow rate is restricted. And like I mentioned before, several of our tractors and combines have an ether starting aid, thermostatically controlled, standard. All you need to do is remember to keep filled cans, the ones that John Deere has on sale in its parts flyer, installed.

 

[avc8130]

If ether is so bad, why does my latest monthly John Deere parts sale mailer have a special price on starting fluid? Did somebody neglect to tell John Deere it will destroy their engines?

Actually here where -20 to -30 F temps are not uncommon we have not used starting fluid on our newer tractors. They are either put to bed for the winter, sit in a heated garage, or have their block heaters plugged in (you get to know how long to heat each one by the outside temp). Many of the loggers around here don't have the luxury of heating out in the woods so they put quick couplers on their pickup coolant lines and on their feller/butchers & skidders and run the hot truck coolant through the machine's engine to warm them for starting. Thinking of that cold blast of coolant coming back into the truck engine at first makes me think of immediate cracked block but they say it is not a problem. Maybe it is that the flow rate is restricted. And like I mentioned before, several of our tractors and combines have an ether starting aid, thermostatically controlled, standard. All you need to do is remember to keep filled cans, the ones that John Deere has on sale in its parts flyer, installed.

Ether is "fine" IF the machine does NOT have glow plugs.

ac

 

[Kenn1320]

If your running synthetic oil, I cant see how any oil pan/block heater is doing anything for you? The factory plug in heater on my F250 pick up did nothing, or at least nothing I could detect. That truck had a inlet heating element and a common modification was to remove it since it was an air restriction(hp increase). That truck still started fine even with that removed. After break in on my new diesel tractor, Im switching it to synthetic oil and expect no issues with cold starting, but it has glow plugs. As far as fuel additives, are they really needed if your already running the number 2 diesel fuel that is in the pump during cold weather? That is already deluted with kerosene from what Im told, so cant see how adding more is of any bennefit?

As for the supercharged and turbo charged engines on the boat, this is known as compound boosting and becoming extremely popular even on smaller displacement engines in cars.
VW's supercharged turbo engine