Starting a Cold Deisel ??

[Egon]

I take it the machine will be out in the woods not close to electricity.

D7E's picture says it all. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Tried and true method that has been used many times.

Maybe add some tarps to the top and backside.

Try and park where the machine is accessible.

 

[284 International]

WD40 works almost as well as either without the inherent danger of engine damage. In moderately cold temps its effective and provides a little cylinder lube at the same time.

I don't think washing the cylinders of lubricant is the major hazard of using ether in a diesel engine. Obviously having dry cylinder walls doesn't help anything, but I don't think that is what breaks stuff, at least in the smaller diesels I'm familiar with.

 

[D7E]

I don't think washing the cylinders of lubricant is the major hazard of using ether in a diesel engine. Obviously having dry cylinder walls doesn't help anything, but I don't think that is what breaks stuff, at least in the smaller diesels I'm familiar with.

The usual problem with ether is people generally use too much . as said a lot of north american kit comes with ether inject fitted , My TW20 has it and the engine is now at 11'200 hrs , i've had it since 5'800hrs and done nothing to it .

I dont like using it in extreme cold like our -30's as they will start but the oil is so thick i like to warm the engine with a heater if in too remote a location to plug block heater or pan heater in .

Our 300hp 6 cyl's will start with ether but run on 2-4 then 6 as they warm up clattering and billowing smoke, i rather see the oil warm

 

[ametcalf]

Back in the 80's there was an extremely cold winter and we took a car from KY with no plug in heater to MN. My wife drove and I flew in a few days later. AAA was no help because most of their vehicles wouldn't start and their waiting list was more than a day long and they cancelled the list and restarted it everyday. When I got there I walked to a Holiday gas station, bought a shallow pan, bag of charcol, and lighter fluid. Got a nice bed of coals going and slid the pan under the engine. In 15 minutes the engine was purring like it was back in KY. The year after I got my F-250 diesel I needed to take it to Chicago and park at a hotel with no way to plug it in. The forecast was for -10F. I put Shell synthetic oil in with 2 new batteries and it started right up. I have never successfully started my Allis Chalmers 5040 below 40 degrees F. without pre heating it. Last winter I got to thinking, the F-250 likes the synthetic oil so much, I wondered how the tractor would like it. I tried it and started it at 30 degrees F. with no problem. I still plug it in when it is below 40 but it was good to know that the synthetic oil helped a lot.
Another thought is to put an aircraft engine preheater on it. Many of these units are self contained and operated off propane with a 12V battery to power the blower. If you google aircraft preheaters you will come up with a good variety of possibilities. Even if you can get your engine started without preheating it, I think everyone would agree that there is less wear and tear on an engine that has been preheated. One number I saw was that one cold start on a light aircraft engine equals 500 hours of wear at cruise power. I think that is overstating it but I think the savings on wear on the engine would definately pay for a preheater.
I don't know how effective it is but when starting a reluctant engine I keep a pretty close eye on how hot the starter is getting. I think the reason for the limit on starter time is so that it doesn't get so hot that the components inside the starter start to melt.
Good Luck.

 

[JoeL4330]

Not pertinent to diesels, of course, but your story about your KY car in MN reminds me of another cold weather trick: if you have a running vehicle and are jumping the battery, while the non-starter is charging up, take out its spark plugs and stick them in the exhaust of the running vehicle to warm up, then reinsert and start. ...and, another oldie but goodie when gassers had manual chokes was to shut it down by choking it, which would wash the cylinder walls...starting was a lot easier although a little more wear on the engine (which only meant it started easier, anyway).

 

[California]

another oldie but goodie when gassers had manual chokes was to shut it down by choking it, which would wash the cylinder walls...starting was a lot easier

I've seen people floor the throttle after turning off the key at fast idle. Same effect.

I never did myself, I don't like the vision of no cylinder lube and diluted oil.

I think this was more common before multigrade oil, when starting in cold weather was a real challenge.

 

[California]

My old Yanmar has nothing for cold starting and when I needed to start it, I would pull the cover off the air filter and run wife's electric hair dryer on hot into the air intake to preheat the air. It started great with that, but you do need to be close to electricity.

I found it worked well on my two-cylinder Yanmar to simply heat the head between the cylinders, using a hair dryer. Set the dryer on low, go back in and drink coffee, come out and the head is warm to the touch. The tractor thinks its a warm day, starts easily, little clanking.

I first tried using a sink drain J-bend (heavy plastic, since this is near the battery) to mate the hair dryer to the air filter snorkel tube. I think using the hair dryer to warm the head and coolant as shown here works better.

 

[slofr8]

I scanned quickly and did not see this brought up yet. Sorry if I missed it.
Back in the '80s I worked in the woods here in northern Maine and we had some brutal cold at times.
The skidders we used were started with either on colder mornings but when temps got way down every one used to preheat the engine blocks with their pickups. They would tap into their heater lines of the trucks and by use of quick connect fittings connect those lines to lines that were put onto the skidder. Hot antifreeze would circulate around and around for about 15 to 20 minutes,or more depending how cold, and when the pickup heater was blowing hot air again it was ready.
Hoses were disconnected and the skidder would start right up. (usually) I don't remember how they were plumbed exactly as it was not my skidder but this was very common here back then. Only thing was, no one liked to heat someone else's skidder as it would mix the antifreeze and people were **** about that. We're talking temps. down to -20 or -25 F. Colder then that most would wait a while for it to warm up a little. Holy cow my feet are cold just typing this!
Good luck. Dan.

 

[RoyJackson]

Starting the D7 in -20c

Looks like something off of the King of Obsolete website!!

 

[SandburRanch]

If I didn't have one of these in my pick-up I was out of luck thawing frozen equipment in remote locations. Put an insulating blanket over the engine so warm air doesn't rise, speed your pick-up engine to about 1,600 rpm and place the hose under the blanket. Insulate the hose and it works even better. There are BTUs there to be had. The only negative is lots of condensation but that soon dissipates.

2.5in Exhaust Hose