LS MT357 starts poorly after sitting for a month

   / LS MT357 starts poorly after sitting for a month #11  
Diesel engines usually don’t like cold weather when starting but I have operated a couple New Holland Diesel engines that sat outside overnight when it was 10 below zero and with glowplug use they would start almost instantly and not even smoke !
 
   / LS MT357 starts poorly after sitting for a month #12  
This model does have glow plugs and there is an indicator light showing that at least a request was made for their use.
About how many seconds were the glow plugs cycled before trying to start? Did you cycle them a second time?
 
   / LS MT357 starts poorly after sitting for a month
  • Thread Starter
#13  
About how many seconds were the glow plugs cycled before trying to start? Did you cycle them a second time?
I'd guess the light on the dash was on around 20 sec before I tried to crank it the first time which resulted in a failed start. I did not turn the key off and on again after the start but I've been told from some of the diesel techs at work that on most diesels the glow plugs stay energized beyond the dash light illumination into the start and for a short time after the engine is running. Not sure what happens to this sequence during a failed start though.
 
   / LS MT357 starts poorly after sitting for a month #14  
When the lite goes off, so doesn’t the power..
U have diesel techs at work and ur asking questions here.??
The more u cycle the gp’s, the hotter the cylinders get..
 
   / LS MT357 starts poorly after sitting for a month #17  
I'd guess the light on the dash was on around 20 sec before I tried to crank it the first time which resulted in a failed start. I did not turn the key off and on again after the start but I've been told from some of the diesel techs at work that on most diesels the glow plugs stay energized beyond the dash light illumination into the start and for a short time after the engine is running. Not sure what happens to this sequence during a failed start though.
I’m guessing your 357 glow plugs work about the same as my 4155 glow plugs, the amount of time the glow plugs stay on varies by temperature, about the longest mine stay lite is about 10 seconds then the light goes out and I crank the engine and it starts. If you start cranking before the light goes out the glow plugs probably won’t be hot enough so it might not start as easily as it could.
 
   / LS MT357 starts poorly after sitting for a month #18  
Having old school Kubota's. mine stay on as long as I hold the key on the middle position.
 
   / LS MT357 starts poorly after sitting for a month
  • Thread Starter
#19  
When the lite goes off, so doesn’t the power..
U have diesel techs at work and ur asking questions here.??
The more u cycle the gp’s, the hotter the cylinders get..
I do work with people that work on diesels but they are marine diesels which rarely get run below 32F. Just looking for comparative product knowledge.
 
   / LS MT357 starts poorly after sitting for a month
  • Thread Starter
#20  
Update. Let the tractor sit for 2+ weeks and tried a restart. No battery tender during this time and the temps were even colder (20F) but tractor is still inside an unheated pole shed. After the glow plug light on the dash went out I waited another 10-15 seconds before a start. Engine lit right up like it normally does, hot or cold. No combustion knocking but it did have a little rpm surge at idle that settled out after a short time (I have seen this before). The initial problem of hard starting may have been a combination of not letting the glow plugs get hot enough or just an ECU glitch. I'm thinking the combustion knock I heard was probably due to the fuel injected during the failed starts. Either way it doesn't seem to be a regular repeatable problem.
 
 
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