What is the cold starting like on the Yanmars with direct injection

[Raised on a Deere]

I picked up a thermal camera for my smart phone this week and have been playing around with it. Here are some pics from tonight after plugging in my block heater (same as raised on a deere's) for an hour. I thought ya'all would want to see them.

First, its in the twenties here in Southern Maine tonight.
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Note, my garage is not insulated. I think the temps printed on the thermal images are a little high, maybe by 10-15 degrees, but you get the idea.

This picture is from the "passenger side" of my LX. You can make out the glow of the engine between the coldness of the loader arms and lift cylinder.
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This picture is of the "passenger" side of the engine. That is the secondary fuel filter on the left.
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Finally, this is the other side of the engine where the block heater is plugged into. The starter is on the right.
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Pretty cool huh? The 400 watt block heater does a pretty good job on these 4cyl Yanmar diesels.

:thumbsup:

 

[buickanddeere]

45F is not cold.

 

[Katahdin]

45F is not cold.

The outside air temperature was in the low twenties, the part with a 45 degree reading was inches away from a heat source radiating from the engine block.

 

[buickanddeere]

The outside air temperature was in the low twenties, the part with a 45 degree reading was inches away from a heat source radiating from the engine block.

It sounded like the tractor was sitting in the shed with 45F ambient temperature around it. Even IF the engine would start at 20F without a block heater. The engine should still USE a block heater anyways. It's not going to break you to use 1/2 a KW and have the engine start and run like summer time. Less wear from having cold cylinder walls, less fuel contamination in the crankcase oil, less thermal stress, less wear on starter/battery/alternator, less stack smoke, less emissions and better fuel efficiency.

 

[Raised on a Deere]

Well I finally made it to KY for a few days and as mentioned earlier in this thread I could not get the plug out of the block to install the block heater last time I was up there. Some of you clued me in to the thread locker type sealant on that plug and so this time I went armed with a torch to heat it up and a 30" 3/4"drive breaker bar with 1/2" adapter and a 500 in-lb impact driver. It was 25 degrees when I got to the open shed so I decided before I try the heat and all that to warm up the tractor so I got in a bit of seat time grappling some left behind brush piles from sons wood harvesting and came back to the shed with a warm engine. Before applying the torch I decided to try the 30" breaker bar and with considerable force applied the plug started to turn and that was it. got the heater in and ziptied the cord, plugged it in and it heats. Lost about 1/2 gal coolant fumbling in tight space to start threads on the heater. I am better than that

The original question for this thread was also some what answered. At 25 degrees the tractor started with a peppy start just about same as summer, after glow plug time out of course, with surprisingly little smoke, so the tractor seemed to me like it would start considerably colder without any fanfare. Gave it a five minute warm up and headed out to the fields. I noticed the temp guage came up pretty fast and engaged light work within 10 minutes. My dodge truck takes a loong time to warm but it starts easily at 10 below.

But the heater is there now and thanks to Katahdin I was spared digging through sparse information sources to the what to do and what parts to get. Every time I use it I will think of some frost bitten soul up in Maine who probably doesn't even think this is cold. Occasionally below zero and occasionally a fuel gel story flying around somewhere, that's it we hope down here. But I keep remembering the winter of 1978 where people who weren't prepared really suffered. I was sooo glad for that block heater I installed on my 1965 dexta that would not start below 40 degrees un aided. It started at 10 below zero with the 600 watt heater with a howling blizzard wind and was the only transportation available for almost a week in getting people situated with medicines from town and food and water to some shut ins.

 

[yanmars]

I do not have electricity at my farm and with my 336d in that cold of temperatures I do not think I could get it started. It however starts much better in the cold than my newer Mahindra.

 

[Raised on a Deere]

Just an update on the starting performance. I enjoy the security of the block heater but in the interest of getting to know how the Yanmar turbo starts since it has a lower static compression ratio than unturbo-ed engines I have been starting it with out the heater on the coldest mornings. So far 9deg f has been it. It started right off and smoked a bit for about a minute before it began to clear up. So no worries about not starting in a power outage down to 9deg. I am thinking based on the way it started that it will go to zero or below. I have Power Service in the fuel so hopefully no gelling. Plowed the 10" of KY snow yesterday with a rear blade.

 

[Katahdin]

I'm glad its all working out for you Raised on a Deere! 10 inches of snow in Kentucky, Wow! I bet that made for a change in scenery down there!

I know my LX has been getting a good work-out this winter without any cold starting problems. Good diesel is important, up here I'll only buy stuff refined in Canada for winter temps year-round. I don't use additives with the Canadian fuel but think its a good idea for diesel refined in the southern states based on all the gel problems I've heard/read about it. Its also a good idea to keep up with draining the water out of the fuel/water separator, a lot of people don't think of water icing up in the fuel filters but it does get in there.

 

[NHSawyer]

Ya my LX has been getting more use this winter than I would like with all the snow. With the block heater I installed back in November it has been starting nicely. The hydraulic pump screams though for the first 5 minutes. Been starting consistantly in the low teens.

 

[Raised on a Deere]

I'm glad its all working out for you Raised on a Deere! 10 inches of snow in Kentucky, Wow! I bet that made for a change in scenery down there!

I know my LX has been getting a good work-out this winter without any cold starting problems. Good diesel is important, up here I'll only buy stuff refined in Canada for winter temps year-round. I don't use additives with the Canadian fuel but think its a good idea for diesel refined in the southern states based on all the gel problems I've heard/read about it. Its also a good idea to keep up with draining the water out of the fuel/water separator, a lot of people don't think of water icing up in the fuel filters but it does get in there.

My truck has a separate water separator filter. That was for the sake of the injectors not necessarily for dealing with frozen stuff from water in the fuel. I will keep an eye on the filter bowl. KY should have winter fuel by now but still hear about gelling. Happened to me back in 95 one zero degF blizzard day. Stranded me in between two towns. What a helpless feeling in the middle of a blizzard. I just don't take the chance anymore.

Grand kids just loved the 10 foot high pile I built with the loader just for playing. But yea it was quite a change of scenery. We are expecting spring to spring soon