cold starting -9 F

[gmbracing]

So I went out to move the snow with my bx25 and the tractor wouldn't start even after letting the glow plugs warm up, so I plugged the block heater in and after about 10 mins it fired of but kinda idled real high and blew out whiteish smoke. the it ran for a while then started to sputter and stalled . I managed to get it in the heated garage and let it sit for about an hour then it ran fine.
I have anti gel in the fuel and it is in an unheated shed
My questions are:
1 should I keep the block heater plugged in all the time ?

what caused the white smoke ?

 

[LittleBill21]

run the heater 2 hours before you need to use it on a timer.

 

[Fuddy1952]

I don't know if this is a good idea...one of those works for me things. I don't have a block heater.
I put either a trouble light with 100watt bulb or real cold a heat lamp on ground under motor then throw an old car cover over tractor.
I have not tried it at -9 though.

 

[jbrumberg]

I do not think keeping your engine block heater on all the time is a good idea. 2 hours of pre-heating should be sufficient.

There are also 110V thermostatically controlled battery, fuel, and hydraulic filter pre-heaters available on the market.

That white smoke was probably water. There are diesel fuel additives for water and algae/sludge removal, cetane and lubricity boosting, gel point lowering, etc.

The archives here contain a wealth of information on this topic.

 

[Thomas]

As LB21 said...good couple hours also 15-20 mins. warm up time before working,also operate front loader 3 point hitch couple times slowly.

 

[jbrumberg]

^^^^^^ +1

And if parked on frozen ground start tractor motion in reverse to prevent a potential torque flip "rollover."

 

[keegs]

I don't know if this is a good idea...one of those works for me things. I don't have a block heater.
I put either a trouble light with 100watt bulb or real cold a heat lamp on ground under motor then throw an old car cover over tractor.
I have not tried it at -9 though.

Last week I used a drop light with a 60W bulb to thaw some residual water left in the main water supply coming in from the well. It took about 30 minutes to thaw. Over the weekend I left the tractor out overnight in sub zero temps and had the fuel gel up on me. Wished I had thought about the droplight trick.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

And if parked on frozen ground start tractor motion in reverse to prevent a potential torque flip "rollover."

You are kidding, right???

SR

 

[jbrumberg]

SR- No. If those rear tires are frozen solid into the ground tractor movement in a forward motion will cause the tractor to rotate around its axle and not the tires. It's been posted about here in past threads(by myself and others). It happens real fast.

It's really called rear axle torque; my bad.

I also bang my 800# box scraper a couple of times on the ground during the hydraulic warm up to breakup the ice.

From my alma matter, PSU, for those so interested: Tractor Stability and Instability

 

[Thomas]

jbrumberg
I also bang my 800# box scraper a couple of times on the ground during the hydraulic warm up to breakup the ice.
...........................
Or park tractor wide planks,lower attachment on block of wood...what I do.