CK20S Cold Weather Start Procedure

[Bousez]

Again for those of you , who do not understand.........2008 CK20S are hard to start, i think some of 2009 have the same problems.....
Some 2008 like mine had a recall on the glow plug timer ......whick helped a bit at cool temperature, but under 32F dow to 0F it did not change a thing.
Some from 2008 had a recall on glow plugs, the cylinder head has to be removed,drilled/bored to allow the use of bigger glow plugs.

My dealer, said that may be we could fight with Kioti to get the new style glow plugs modifications done on mine under warranty.....but then again, i do not like the idea of tearing an engine apart when it runs good....

but, since I'm fed up ....i might go this way...

I'm the mayor of a small town , in Quebec, we bought a DK35 , and it starts way much better under cold temperatures...
I wish my CK20S would start as well

 

[Bousez]

Don't waste time and money on buying chemicals to solve your starting problems ...
been there , done that .

The only improvement i had was with magnet heater, but the best improvement was obtained after installing a blok heater, in the lower hose,
easy job....takes about 40 minutes ....

 

[RADIUM]

I'm sorry and I don't mean to be controversial , that just sounds ridiculous you're telling me his brand-new tractor will not start and it's a known issue and they have not solved it yet??? my tractor has a block heater I've never used it with the cost of electric in New York State, run full synthetic oil get a new battery for your tractor larger than the factory battery so it has plenty of reserve when it's five below and hit the glow plugs four times if necessary and the tractor should start. Now I must admit I was not aware that they're replacing glow plugs with larger ones sounds a little risky to have them pull my head apart in some dealers garage and cut new holes for larger glow plugs I thought new Holland was bad good grief I'd ask for my money back and buy some other color ;-) tractor. What really amazes me all tractors regardless of manufacturers are high pressurized systems not like years ago they should fire right up I would surely ask my dealer to solve my problem or take his tractor back that's just ridiculous take care

 

[jlsanborn]

At this point my thoughts are....

The PS is probably benifical, but I've noticed no difference in cold start performance or otherwise. It is cheap though, and if there is any insurance in that little bottle in terms of anti-gel, added lubricity, etc.... then I'll use it.

The 200w magnetic heater offers some improvement, but not what I'm looking for. It's noticeably easier to fire, but still unsatisfactory.

I think a kick-butt battery would also offer advantage in cold starting. I've got the Napa 65 that came with my tractor. It's a good batt, but I'd bet you see a good voltage drop on a 10 second cold start. A higher capacity / output batt would certainly spool that little engine faster / longer when it's cold. I've gotta talk to the boss about this one! It was quite a debate when it came to the boat battery last summer. She needs a new batt in her ute. Maybe a Napa 65? Just sayin...

Through past experience on my old 8N, a line heater will warm the head and I'd bet you a dollar that I'll see significant improvement in cold starts. I'm on my way, that way. I'm curious however, what could be bad about leaving it "warm" around the clock vs. pre-heating? I can see myself standing there with one hand on the valve cover, tapping my foot and just cranking it to death like I am now to get it going. One could maybe argue some benifit to keeping those parts warm 24/7?

I'd also add that RADIUM is probably correct in that something is not quite right with my rig. If all of these 20s were this terrible to start at +25F this post would be 1000 pages long. What kind of performance am I missing at full temp? What could be wrong?

 

[mj007]

I'm sorry and I don't mean to be controversial , that just sounds ridiculous you're telling me his brand-new tractor will not start and it's a known issue and they have not solved it yet??? my tractor has a block heater I've never used it with the cost of electric in New York State, run full synthetic oil get a new battery for your tractor larger than the factory battery so it has plenty of reserve when it's five below and hit the glow plugs four times if necessary and the tractor should start. Now I must admit I was not aware that they're replacing glow plugs with larger ones sounds a little risky to have them pull my head apart in some dealers garage and cut new holes for larger glow plugs I thought new Holland was bad good grief I'd ask for my money back and buy some other color ;-) tractor. What really amazes me all tractors regardless of manufacturers are high pressurized systems not like years ago they should fire right up I would surely ask my dealer to solve my problem or take his tractor back that's just ridiculous take care

As was said, cycle the glow plugs 2, 3 or 4 times (whatever it takes) before cranking when it's really cold. Even using a hairdryer or heatgun to warm the underhood air works.

 

[dengar256]

Through past experience on my old 8N, a line heater will warm the head and I'd bet you a dollar that I'll see significant improvement in cold starts.

The line heater should do something. It was about -22 C (~ -8 F) the other day and I thought it would be a good day to test my CK20S in the cold. I was tempted to try and start it cold without plugging in my line heater to be more "scientific" but I could hear the ghost of my dad telling me that was a bad idea. I plugged in my line heater and did my chores. 30 - 40 minutes later unplugged the heater hit the plugs once and the tractor started after just a few cranks. A little black smoke but it smoothed out like it was +20 outside.

Very impressed and happy .

Once again thanks to everyone who posted on this thread. This has been very interesting.

 

[Hoosier Hay Man]

The farm I worked on in when I was in High School left the chore tractor plugged in 24/7 during cold weather. It was a 1975 Ford 4000 3 cylinder gas engine with industrial loader. It was a distant farm where no one lived. We had to feed the beef cattle every morning. We didn't ever want to wait for it warm up. We would unplug it, use the tractor and plug it back in when we were finished. It didn't seem to hurt anything leaving it plugged in. It sure makes an engine spin over faster in cold weather.

 

[Iron Art]

The way you describe your cold start problems I'm begining to wonder if your glow plugs are even working. Fred

 

[jlsanborn]

After tonight's episode I might think you're right! It's been near 40, dipping to mid 30's overnight. Remember, I'm parked indoors with a 200w pan heater going around the clock and double dosed on the Power Service. My battery isn't the big-boy but it is fresh and strong. My little rig cranks over quite well. Today after work I thought I should clear some of the slush out as we are going to see single digits in the next day or so. Two cycles on the glow plugs, bout 1/3 throttle opening and not EVEN getting out of bed that easy! It took at least five attempts to get it going. As before, a little snorting and huffin smoke each time, but would not catch until like five tries.
How would one diagnose this? I've got a Fluke clamp-on that would show me if there was a load burning during pre-heat. Where is this notorious relay and which wire in the harness feeds those coils? Maybe I'll just see what's pumping on the positive batt cable during pre-heat. I would think each coil has got to be something like 50W to make any heat in 45 seconds. That should show something like 12A or so. Wouldn't that be something?

 

[RADIUM]

There has to be a mechanical failure occurring, is the tractor covered under warranty? It seems as though you're having fuel issue perhaps your pump is on its way out five cranks at that temperature should never happen, is the fuel bowl full? And perhaps you need to replace the fuel filter I've seen it happen before it looks fine but the filter pores are plugged with wax slowing the fuel. The tractor should just start at those temperatures without glow plugs I do it all the time it just takes a few extra cranks to get it running. I really think it has something to do with the fuel, if the battery is turning the engine that fast it should have no trouble starting. One quick question when you're starting the tractor how long do you leave the starter engaged? A neighbor up the road from me was afraid to leave it on he thought it was like a car it should just start within a second, you can't be afraid to hold it for a little while to get her started remember there's no spark plugs it relies on compression to start the firing process. One other thing could it be a safety switch not allowing the tractor to start perhaps a seat switch or PTO switch I've seen this happen on my old TC 40 drove me crazy for two days trying to figure out why the tractor wouldn't start.