Cold weather start, with glow plugs and block heater. Why does my tractor not start at minus 20 C?

[Solution MF 4707]

H

 

[Roadworthy]

What's the condition of your battery? Have you cleaned the terminals and the cable connectors? Are the connectors good and tight? Follow the ground lead to the frame. Clean and tighten. From there you should make sure your glow plugs are getting voltage - nominal 10.5 volts at the glow plug. From there you can check to see if they're defective - usually open, though sometimes shorted. Do they heat at all? Perhaps you're not energizing them for a long enough time period. Is your air cleaner clean? Do you have fuel? Has it been winterized? These are the basic maintenance points in preparation for winter. From here we can go to troubleshooting.

 

[seville009]

Agree with roadworthy - I always start with the battery. In cold temps, what otherwise seems to be a good battery will quickly be too weak. I keep a good battery jump box handy to give the battery a strong boost for starting in the frigid temps; always works.

 

[oosik]

In the winter I keep the battery on a battery tender. That's all I use and it's never failed me.

 

[David Wayne]

Jelled fuel?

 

[ruffdog]

For a diesel to fire off, the fuel needs to get hot under compression in the combustion chamber. It will never do that on its own without help like glow plugs or intake heater. You may have to heat those longer than normal or even twice for the fuel to ignite. Also, a faster cranking engine will compress that air/fuel faster (and hotter) so anything to achieve that will help. Using a battery heater, winter grade synthetic oils, block heater, will help. Has your fuel been blended for those temps? How long do you heat the glow plugs? How long do you have the block heater plugged in?

 

[JWR]

Where are you? Is the fuel winterized or mixed with #2? As oosik says the battery is usually the key. I'd put the battery on a charger for a few hours and try to get heat around the tractor if feasible. Once you get it going you can sort out a longer term plan. Minus 20C is 4 below zero to us 48 staters. Is it that cold very often? Untreated diesel fluel will gel and stop the engine around 10 to 12 deg F. (around minus 11 deg C.) Do you have any winter additive in the fuel or know for sure it is winterized in your area? Certainly with a block heater and glow plugs working correctly you should have no problem starting it IF THE BATT is good.

 

[Mattsy Fergy]

Be a little more specific.
Does it crank? Slowly or normally?
Is there any smoke from exhaust? Color of smoke?

 

[Solution MF 4707]

Where are you? Is the fuel winterized or mixed with #2? As oosik says the battery is usually the key. I'd put the battery on a charger for a few hours and try to get heat around the tractor if feasible. Once you get it going you can sort out a longer term plan. Minus 20C is 4 below zero to us 48 staters. Is it that cold very often? Untreated diesel fluel will gel and stop the engine around 10 to 12 deg F. (around minus 11 deg C.) Do you have any winter additive in the fuel or know for sure it is winterized in your area? Certainly with a block heater and glow plugs working correctly you should have no problem starting it IF THE BATT is good.

Thanks, all good ideas. I am in Canada, Central interior. The tractor is fairly new, and yes, it has glow plugs. But at minus 20 (a few days ago minus 35!) it may be the battery and I will double-check how to get more out of it.

 

[Solution MF 4707]

Be a little more specific.
Does it crank? Slowly or normally?
Is there any smoke from exhaust? Color of smoke?

Well, that is just the problem, because at minus 20 (a few days ago minus 35) it is not turning over sufficiently. I will look into that.