Cold starts

[sirgknight]

My YM1700 does not have a glow plug (or at least I don't think it has one) and I'm looking for advice on how to make wintertime starts easier. We had our coldest morning of the year this morning (32 degrees) and my tractor was pretty hard to start. It smoked like crazy and after three tries the battery struggled a bit, but she did finally start. Our winters in south Georgia are pretty mild, seldomly going below the upper 20's. What do some of you other guys and gals do to make "starting" easier on your equipment? Or is hard starting normal and usual for these tractors?

 

[Tractors4u]

Get yourself a magnetic block heater. You can also use the compression release. Open the compression release hold it. Hit the starter for a few seconds and then release the compression release. That will get engine to spin up faster.

 

[SteveM]

I have a mag block heater and it wont help. You need to seriously raise the temperature in the intake chamber where the air and fuel meet....there is a kit available for yanmars with a little bottle of fuel and an electric heating element - called thermostart. perhaps someone on the board can tell you where to buy one, and how to install. beyond that, you could install an electric intake heater (i have one on my Mitsu), this will make a real difference too. in the short term, take a $15 quartz halogen light and point it right at the intake/injectors, close enough to get the outside metal hot. Leave it like that for a 1/2 hour and the difference will be noticable. Make sure you dont put burn marks in the hood etc....

 

[Soundguy]

A combination of all of those ideas is good. When I used to have to start things in freezing weather I would do the block heater thing just to get the fluids warmed, and use the decomp lever, and used a shoplight on a stand to heat the top of the engine. The heater and the lamp can be put on an hour or so before you need the tractor. That and a trickle charger that you had on the night before helps a bunch... that keeps a steady flow of electrons going.. keeps the battery temp up a few degrees and keeps it topped off for max CCA.

Soundguy

 

[YanmarFever]

In an emergency a 1500 watt hair dryer will also work.
But you might look a little silly doing it. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
Ernie

 

[gbirky]

I don't know if there is any place to put one on a 1700, but a good block heater - either freeze plug, or lower radiator hose - is the best way to go. I have a YM1301D and a YM1110D. I put a freeze plug heater in the YM1301D, and a lower radiator hose heater in the YM1110D. The difference is amazing. They both start hard under about 40 deg F. But if I plug in the heater about a half hour before I want to use them, they start like it was 70 deg even when it is very cold out.

I have posted multiple times with information on the freeze plug heater. It was a Yanmar part that goes in a 1" NPT threaded hole in the exhaust side of the engine block.

 

[oldgrizzlybear]

I have a simple LP heater that I warm the engine with. So far this has worked. I live just SE of Memphis, TN.