Cold Weather Starting Question

[Tkblacktail]

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I know what you mean about starting a track it was called tank crank detail in the winter in Korea. We had M48A5's and I know about your 551's I started out playing on M60A2's when I first joined back in Germany. They was always a pain to start up and you was talking about the purge pump that heats up the diesel.

B Company 1st Battalion 72nd Armor 2nd Infantry Division. Korea

I was stationed at 4/7 Cavalry at Camp Gary Owens; our vehicles had 4" of ice imbedded in the hulls between the torsion bars. On one day, it was so cold, the oil wouldn't pour out of a 5 gallon Gerry can. We left them running all night when the temps dipped to -30.

President Carter "seen to it" that we had a least one heater for every 10 vehicles; gee, thanks.:confused2:

Starting the diesel heaters was another opportunity to be hazed; hit the fire button too soon and it would flood; nothing like having 15 GIs mad at you.unch:

We got rebuilt M48A5s @ March 1980; easy starting them in the cold, and setting the end-connectors was great exercise.

I actually owe a lot of my maintenance-successes to those adverse conditions; especially the preventive maintenance indoctrination(s).

 

[dragoneggs]

Not discounting the cycling of the glow plugs at all... but I will tell you that since I plugged in a battery tender this winter, mine starts faster than even on warm days.

 

[ArmyPair2]

View attachment 354258

I was stationed at 4/7 Cavalry at Camp Gary Owens; our vehicles had 4" of ice imbedded in the hulls between the torsion bars. On one day, it was so cold, the oil wouldn't pour out of a 5 gallon Gerry can. We left them running all night when the temps dipped to -30.

President Carter "seen to it" that we had a least one heater for every 10 vehicles; gee, thanks.:confused2:

Starting the diesel heaters was another opportunity to be hazed; hit the fire button too soon and it would flood; nothing like having 15 GIs mad at you.unch:

We got rebuilt M48A5s @ March 1980; easy starting them in the cold, and setting the end-connectors was great exercise.

I actually owe a lot of my maintenance-successes to those adverse conditions; especially the preventive maintenance indoctrination(s).

:thumbsup:Not to high jack this thread but you would think that all tractors would have a system to heat the fuel besides glow plugs. Living here in Alabama you would not think that I would have to use a fuel additive because of the cold. After saying that there were times when we had to back our tanks back to back just to heat another engine so we could get it fired up. Back in your and my days we did not have engine block heaters where we could plug in. And oh yeah I know where 4/7 Cav was we used to trade parts with them, you guys was right down the road from us and it looks like we once walked the same ground.