Thoughts on Cold Starting....

[Bird]

Hadn't heard of draining the oil from a tractor to take it inside to keep it warm, but I sure have read a lot about Alaskan bush pilots doing that with their airplanes in the early days (may still do it for all I know).

 

[theonlybull]

on our '70 580, all we do is hold the preheat for 15-20 seconds and try her. sometimes it takes a second heating, and it was out for many -25 celcius mornings last year.

no chance of using any kinds of heat, it's about 500 feet from any power source

 

[MikeInIdaho]

We got out first sub zero weather since buying a tractor (JD4710) this week also. I elected not to start it fearing a lot of wear and tear. Piston aircraft engines are not started without preheating below 30F. Today I installed a block heater but I was wondering: At what temperture does heating a diesel become prudent? When needed to get it started or below a certain temperature? At what temperature do I need to consider a transmission heater to heat the hydraulic oil? I am sure glad I bought a Curtis cab with heater just last week!!!

 

[frank_f15]

at what temps. and under what conditions is fuel most likely to jell? i have been using a diesel for 3 winters now, with temps to 0 degF (12 deg right now) and i have never experienced jelling. the tractor is garage kept(unheated) and i let it warm up a good 15 min. have i just been lucky? another part to this question, will the fuel jell soon after staring or could it jel say after u have been using it for 1/2 hour.

 

[rmonio]

Thanks to everyone for the feedback - by using a trickle-down charger, I was able get the engine to start fine and recharge the battery. Next time I will plug in the heaters for quite a while prior - I didn't realize how much different diesel engines were vs. gasoline.

I am interested in the gelling situation of the diesel fuel. I feel pretty safe with heaters and plugging them early (the timer concept is a good ideal, although I'm just as happy making sure I plug in earlier). I make sure that I change the fuel grade in the winter and I've been using Sea Foam additive which is supposed to keep the fuel conditioned - but are there other things that I should look out for?

Again, thanks for the feedback. I talked to several of my relatives who were farmers and they said that they would wrap their engines in blankets and start fires under them to get them warm - and my father-in-law (former 30 year truck driver) said that they always used ether to start their trucks even if they had them plugged in overnight.

Again, something that I guess I just have to learn more about.

-Bob

 

[tawilson]

I had my diesel mixed 50/50 with kerosene when it was delivered in early December. That should prevent any jelling. If you are buying your diesel at a gas station, shouldn't it be ready for cold weather?
I plan on running my daily diesel tractor all winter. All I have is a block heater. Northern NY, -30F or more possible. As far a I know, if you can get it started, the tractor can handle it. My hydraulics are slow till I cycle them a couple times, then they are fine for the day. So far 10F is the coldest I've worked in with this tractor.

 

[44trxfun]

Frank, I can't tell you how glad I was to read your post! This is my first winter with a diesel tractor. I asked my dealer a few times about putting a block heater in and he said he really didn't think it would be necessary (these guys are third generation at this dealership, so I figured they'd know). They also downplayed the need for additional diesel treatment if I bought fuel from a fairly high-volume place. I do.

Last night, it was at least down to 10 degrees, with some pretty gusty winds. My tractor is also stored in an unheated garage, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed this morning...

 

[kevinj]

Frank,

It depends on the quality of the #2 fuel. True diesel is no problem at 0°, but furnace oil will start to gell up at 0°. Premium or treated diesel will flow down to about -20°. If you start the engine inside and the fuel is flowing, most engines return fuel to the tank thus heating the fuel. Many times in the winter we only ran on tank as the fuel crossover line would gell. And for fuel argument on a distillation scale diesel is taken out a bit higher on the scale.

 

[cowboydoc]

Having run almost solely diesels, trucks, pickups, and tractors, my whole life I have learned that there is no such thing as being too careful with diesels in the winter. We always use power service year round. The first thing it will do in the winter is prevent even bad fuel from gelling. You just never know even from a place that pumps 100,000 gallons a day everybody gets some bad fuel once in awhile. It will only take one time of your tractor gelling up to convince you. Other than the gelling the power service will add lubrication to the fuel. Not as important with the new tractors but extremely important to the older tractors and pickups. It also cleans and conditions the fuel. Diesels are extremely tempermental to particulates in the fuel as well. The power service will help with this as well. And at only $5.99 for enough to treat 300 gallons it's the cheapest insurance you will ever have for your tractor.

 

[Marko]

Like all the past replies have said.

I have used a trickle charger on the battery and in combination with the block heater and lighter weight oil , she starts like it was summertime.

One thing I do not have is a trans block heater , and know that I think of it the my 4110HST does not have a place for it. Can anyone confirm this ???

Stay Warm

Mark