Testing Deutz flame plug preheater

[rectifier]

My DX160 has a flame plug preheater ("thermostart") that is useless to start the engine. If it gets anywhere near freezing I'm forced to give it just a whiff of ether or it will do nothing but puff white smoke. There are no other glows.

This year I'm determined to get the DX160 up to spec. Almost everything else on it is working properly. I've replaced some wiring and now the plug itself draws lots of current, and after a minute the "ready to start" light will come on on the dash.

The plug itself gets hot but the intake manifold does not, and it has absolutely no effect on starting the motor. I've looked at videos of these things, like on the Perkins diesels i.e. HOW THE FLAME HEATER WORKS ON A PERKINS DIESEL - YouTube but unfortunately there is no way to see inside the manifold due to the mounting of the turbo. I'm hesitant to try and run it hanging off the side of the engine due to the fire risk!

Mine doesn't have a tank above it, but a tank that looks more like a little hydraulic accumulator that is supplied from the injection pump and located BELOW the flame plug itself. Is this then, a pressure tank that gets filled up when the pump runs? Is there a chance that it has check valves or something that have failed and it no longer holds pressure? And if I crack the line to the plug, should diesel flow out?

 

[roadhunter]

My Deuts is a hard starter in the cold as well. Look forward to learning how this works.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

The Deutz glow plug that I've seen on my Deutz tractors, wasn't there to heat the manifold. It got hot, a few drops of fuel collected on the glow, and the hot atomized fuel was sucked into the cylinders.

I rarely used it, as the only Deutz I used in the winter was a 6206 and it started in the coldest weather without it.

As a side note: Agco sold a 110V heater kit for their 5600/6600 series (SLH air cooled diesels) that goes on the side of the cylinder fins. It goes behind the shroud, and it heats up fast and heats the cylinders fast too. I think one could be put on an air cooled Deutz.

SR

 

[rectifier]

OK, after putting the questions out here I collected my thoughts, went out to the shop and got it working! If I'd known it was this easy I would have fixed it years ago (though now I have a proper shop that the DX will fit inside, which really helps)

There was no fuel at the plug, in any key position or while cranking. So I decided to follow the fuel back. It turns out the little tank is not a tank at all. It's a tank-shaped solenoid with a soldered in wire instead of a plug. The wire had been ripped off flush with the base where you can't see it. I brought it into the house and asked my wife what it looks like, and she said "a solenoid on a fuel line?" to which I replied that with that sort of insight the Deutz would have been fixed years ago.

So, I soldered a new power lead onto the solenoid and tracked down the other end of the wire, lost inside the engine. Said wire is hot when glowing and when cranking. I bled the line by cranking the motor and then bolted it up.

As I started glowing the motor I could tell something was different right away as I could hear the diesel crackling on the plug. When the light came on the motor started like it was a warm summer's day. It's 0 degrees out and there was a minimum of white smoke, and no hunting or misfiring as usually occurs. The intake manifold was not warm but it was not as cold as the rest of the machine, so there may have been a flame burning in there. To say I'm happy is an understatement :drink:


So for the other Deutz troubleshooters out there, if you want the cold start system to work you need:
- good power to the dash and ignition switch (I found a burnt wire down by the starter)
- good wiring and connection to the plug itself, which is located on the intake manifold above the turbocharger. While glowing I can measure 9.5V at the plug. I would rather see more, but it draws a lot of current and the wire is thin. If you see 12+ then the plug is probably burnt out.
- power and fuel supply to the small solenoid above the crankshaft pulley. You should hear a distinct click when turning the key to glow. Fuel should be present at the plug while cranking.
- the glow plug light on my dash is not labelled. It's just a green light. There is a bimetallic strip under the dash that is used to time the glows, and it takes about 70 seconds on my machine before the light will come on.

If anyone has run a system like this I would like to know:
- 70 seconds is a long time. Is my bimetallic strip going or is that just how long these older plugs took to heat up?
- Should the fuel be released right away onto the cold plug or should it only be released after the light comes on?
- The system doesn't seem to provide for automatic afterfire, which is a feature of newer flame plug systems. If I turn the key back to glow however, it will continue to heat and release fuel. This makes the exhaust burn clear and seems to be a good idea to help warm up the engine, unless it will wear out the plug prematurely. Is this a proper use of this sort of glow plug?