Dieseling in VERY cold weather

[MapleLeafFarmer]

After 50+ years of using diesels I must say my new Kubota L series maybe the best I have ever had when very cold outside. Here is a short story on last weekends snow blowing adventure I made.

Wanted to blow about 6" of snow we had over the weekend and the wind rows the RM's graders leave at the top of our drives but temps were in the mid -30's C (full -30F). So into the pole barn I went to start the tractor. I grew up in Canada so even being retired cold weather is something that doesn't bother me as we get used to it.

I knew the diesel in the tank was "current" winter blend with a hint of winter Power Service in it so I plugged the block heater in for 2 1/2 hours, then cycled the glow plugs 2 times and hit the starter and she fired up FIRST go. Was very impressed.

I have always respected careful warm ups so after starting I let the engine idle at about 1300 rpm for a couple of minutes with HST in neutral till I could tell from the sound it was in a very comfortable place. Then like the manual says I let it run for 30 minutes at half throttle (1,500 rpm). I let this warm up happen with the HST in low gear. Water temp gauge after 30 minutes showed 1/4 temp after 30 minutes so I made a slow cycle of the front hydraulics and 3pt rear snow blower then hopped into the seat and was good to go.

A slow / easy 2 or 3 minute low gear run up and back the plowed gravel road in front of my place to let the tires etc.. get a little workout and I was good to go!

Spent 4 hours blowing my place, clearing snow wind rows left by the graders and blew out the drives of a couple of others in the local village. Whole adventure took about 1/3 tank of fuel.

Basically once the "L" was warmed up it ran flawlessly. No abnormal sounds, treadle peddle worked perfectly (although I do grease it every 50 hours or so with a low temp grease).... I still think I am tough enough to manage winter cold weather without a cab but DAM I am thinking a heated seat for the bum would sure be nice.

Cheers!

 

[crashz]

Glad the rig fired right up for you. I had issues with the original battery not having enough juice to crank it over in the winter on really cold days (single digits F). Went to a large 700CCA battery and no issues since. Something to consider, as my stock battery was only 400 CCA. But that may be different on the L3301 and L3901. I seem to be the only person that had issues with starting in the cold.

 

[MapleLeafFarmer]

you are right that the L3301 that I got new came std. with a bigger 580 cca battery. For sure a bigger battery will help. Your decision to go to 700 cca is sure to help.


Almost considered putting a battery tender on it to "warm it up" a bit on very cold days but I have yet to run the permanent power to the pole barn so surviving off a single 150' long extension cord.

 

[MapleLeafFarmer]

has got me wondering... can one add a battery with too much cca's

The L series battery tray is really big. Haven't needed to measure it or research it but guessing a 1,000cca battery (which is easy to find in western Canada) should fit.

If it fits does it matter that battery cca capacity is almost double what came from factory?

 

[seville009]

has got me wondering... can one add a battery with too much cca's

The L series battery tray is really big. Haven't needed to measure it or research it but guessing a 1,000cca battery (which is easy to find in western Canada) should fit.

If it fits does it matter that battery cca capacity is almost double what came from factory?

i always look for the highest cca battery that will physically fit. I think 1000 cc's is the highest I have ever seen (that's more than enough for my uses/climate)

i have a Noco Genius GB150 battery pack; when my skidsteer (my primary snow remover now) is slow to crank on those sub zero mornings and it's not close enough to plug in, the GB150 gives a huge boost to the battery. Starts right up.

 

[Aquamoose]

has got me wondering... can one add a battery with too much cca's

Perfectly acceptable. No such thing as too much CCA’s.

 

[07wingnut]

Buy yourself a battery blanket and leave in plugged in when the weather is cold. Battery CCA is directly related to temperature (at least at the cold end of the scale) and the boost in cranking capacity is really noticeable. On top of that, cold batteries have a hard time recharging and brief usage of the tractor could end up discharging the battery. Bonus, a blanket is much cheaper than a replacement battery.

 

[rScotty]

Buy yourself a battery blanket and leave in plugged in when the weather is cold. Battery CCA is directly related to temperature (at least at the cold end of the scale) and the boost in cranking capacity is really noticeable. On top of that, cold batteries have a hard time recharging and brief usage of the tractor could end up discharging the battery. Bonus, a blanket is much cheaper than a replacement battery.

And I'd add that if the battery is an AGM type it not only lasts longer, there are no fumes to eat up cables and warmers.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

My OEM wet cell battery died the first winter when the ambient temp hit -30F. That's like "Tuesday" here come winter, so that was going to be a no-go. Local Interstate Battery store was sympathetic to my plight and let me trade in that battery (it was one of theirs) against an AGM style Optima red top battery. Zero problems since, and it's been 4 years now. Never need a blanket or a trickle charger on the Optima battery. Although I did leave it sit a few months in a row this summer and by early fall when I started it, it did crank slow, but it did also start it. After running it for a couple hours, battery was back up to full charge again. Love them Optima batteries.

I normally plug my tractor into a timer in winter, "On" at 4am, "Off" at 10am (weekends). Sharing the timer are the block heater, oil pan heater and hydro sump heater. Makes a huge difference on being able to start it up and go move snow in just a few minutes time.

Last weekend I forgot to plug the tractor back in after bringing a tote of firewood into the garage. So come Monday morning when I needed it, I had to start it cold. I haven't had to do that in years, so was a bit apprehensive about how long it would have to warm up. Tractor fired up on the first glow plug cycle and kept running, albeit took a couple of minutes to idle smoothly on all cylinders. Let it idle for about 15-20 minutes, then high-idled it at 1500-1600 and eased it out of the shed (unheated). By the time I was done slowly clearing the drive at the shed, it was warmed up all the way and I could work it as normal.

Synthetic engine oil is a big plus.

Boakley,

I highly recommend a heated cab. Absolutely love mine. -40F (C) and wind blowing snow sideways and it's just relaxing to sit in a heated cab and push snow around in total comfort. Regular pants and a sweat shirt is all I'm wearing once the tractor (and cab) are up to full temperature.

 

[Egon]

Cold seat?? Make a “Heat Houser” from a tarp. I’ll keep you warm.

 

[Jstpssng]

Glad the rig fired right up for you. I had issues with the original battery not having enough juice to crank it over in the winter on really cold days (single digits F). Went to a large 700CCA battery and no issues since. Something to consider, as my stock battery was only 400 CCA. But that may be different on the L3301 and L3901. I seem to be the only person that had issues with starting in the cold.

No, you are not.

 

[5030]

has got me wondering... can one add a battery with too much cca's

The L series battery tray is really big. Haven't needed to measure it or research it but guessing a 1,000cca battery (which is easy to find in western Canada) should fit.

If it fits does it matter that battery cca capacity is almost double what came from factory?

As a personal rule of thumb, I've always fitted the largest battery that will fit in a battery tray on any of the over 10 Kubota's I've owned when replacing a starting battery. Your alternator don't know the difference but you will if you need that extra 'ooomph'.

 

[arizona98tj]

One needs to realize that there are 3 different kinds of Optima batteries; Red Top, Blue Top, and Yellow Top. You can go to the Optima website to find out the details of each but a Red Top is essentially a standard starting battery. There is nothing special about it in that sense. The Yellow Top is notably more expensive than it's Red Top cousin and is suitable for both starting and deep cycling, such as running a winch. I ran one of these on my Jeep Wrangler for many years which had a 9000# winch. The Blue Top is for marine applications and they make two of those, a light gray case and a dark gray case. One is for starting application while the other is for starting and deep cycling (think trolling motors in that case).

There was a point in time when Optimna ruled the roost for offroading battery solutions. Then....they moved their processing to Mexico and the 4 wheelin' community started experiencing failures, batteries that lasted a year or two and died. I had one of the earlier ones and never saw that problem but lots of my friends did. Shortly after that, I sold my Jeep and haven't followed the Optima issue so I've no idea if it still exists or not.

 

[5030]

One needs to realize that there are 3 different kinds of Optima batteries; Red Top, Blue Top, and Yellow Top. You can go to the Optima website to find out the details of each but a Red Top is essentially a standard starting battery. There is nothing special about it in that sense. The Yellow Top is notably more expensive than it's Red Top cousin and is suitable for both starting and deep cycling, such as running a winch. I ran one of these on my Jeep Wrangler for many years which had a 9000# winch. The Blue Top is for marine applications and they make two of those, a light gray case and a dark gray case. One is for starting application while the other is for starting and deep cycling (think trolling motors in that case).

There was a point in time when Optimna ruled the roost for offroading battery solutions. Then....they moved their processing to Mexico and the 4 wheelin' community started experiencing failures, batteries that lasted a year or two and died. I had one of the earlier ones and never saw that problem but lots of my friends did. Shortly after that, I sold my Jeep and haven't followed the Optima issue so I've no idea if it still exists or not.

They still exist and Johnson Controls in Waterville, Ohio still produces some at their plant there (I think the Blue Topped Ones).

Me, I stick with either Interstate or Delphi flooded cell jars.

 

[finn1]

Our local parts store dropped the Optima lineup. Too many failures is what they told me when asked why.

Any modern common rail tractor should have better starting and cleanup than the old garbage mechanical tractors.

The electronics don’t have the limitations in calibrating timing to compensate for low temperature ignition delay, and pilot injection capability allows very low injection rate to help from sucking heat from the combustion chamber when cranking.