Cold starting a to 35 w/ Standard diesel

[arto98607]

I have a 1959 John Deere 440 ICD with a Detroit Diesel engine, no glow plugs and uses straight 40W oil.

It was very hard to start cold until I installed core plug block heater many years ago.

It made a huge improvement, was easy to install and no leaks.

 

[Cougsfan]

Just a follow up. I bought a 600 watt block heater on ebay, installed it, and it worked twice before it failed. The company replaced it with no hassle, and the new one works like a charm. I plug it in an hour before I want to start it and the engine fires up immediately. Thank you all for the advice.

 

[big bubba]

Had a T0 35 for 28 yrs. & yes, the Continential is a gasser as owner stated, & yes, the design of that 4cyl Standard diesel engine made it notoriously hard starting. also as stated, once warmed, a terrific engine. the original engine had an add on heating element option to the intake manifold to assist. but never seen one in operation. you might look online salvage for that component.
mine was a 2 battery 6volt system. you definitely want all 4 glo plugs operable...

i was the bad boy back then & used ether sparingly. nearly always worked. but agree, a block heater would be the way to go. have also used magnetic heating devices on oil pan with no real results.
what grade oil are you using? i'd consider 5/40 syn for an easier spin in the cold. great tractor though, good luck

 

[big bubba]

Just a follow up. I bought a 600 watt block heater on ebay, installed it, and it worked twice before it failed. The company replaced it with no hassle, and the new one works like a charm. I plug it in an hour before I want to start it and the engine fires up immediately. Thank you all for the advice.

interesting, could have used yrs ago. does it insert in a freeze plug or inline?

 

[Cougsfan]

It goes in the freeze plug hole. It was easy to install.

 

[Cougsfan]

Another follow up. The second block heater also failed. I suspect it is because the heating element actually touches against the engine casting when installed, but not sure why that would cause the problem. Going to try something different. Maybe one of those heaters that goes in lower radiator hose.

 

[oosik]

I always like the lower radiator hose heater. Get good hose clamps and you should not have any leaks for as long as the radiator hose is gonna last. The cool thing - you can alway tell they are working. They "perk" like a coffee pot. And if they don't perk - grab the radiator hose. It should be pretty warm.

 

[Anakist]

I am having the same problem. Starts hard when "cold". I live in Tropical Australia though so my cold is different from your cold.

The guy I bought it off just used starting fluid to get it to start and said that's what the people he bought it from showed him to do so I guess it's been ether trained by now! I am reading online that "everyone knows the mods by now" to get it the 23C to start, but can't find what the list of things is. I think I read something about drilling out the passage from the precombustion chamber, but it was more about getting the compression ratio back by skimming the head once you've done that.

Does anyone have the list of what to do to the engine?

Thanks.

 

[Jerry/MT]

Another follow up. The second block heater also failed. I suspect it is because the heating element actually touches against the engine casting when installed, but not sure why that would cause the problem. Going to try something different. Maybe one of those heaters that goes in lower radiator hose.

When the block heater touches the interior metal of the water jacket, there is no coolant at the contact point and the element overheats and burns out. It can also overheat if you leave it plugged in with the engine running. The cross flow on the element separates on the downstream side of the element and causes an overheat condition which causes a burn out. Can you get a shorter element or reorient the element so it doesn't touch anything?

 

[DMW]

If you have electricity nearby, try using a hot air gun on the air intake (may have to remove air filter) while cranking.