545 Preheat

[Rustytractorguy]

Does anyone know if a glow plug or thermostart was standard equipment on a Ford 545? Dad is having trouble with cold starting in Northern WI already. I"m out of the country for the foreseeable future so I can"t go help in person. I also don"t have any good pictures of the intake to look at (I"ve requested some though).

He said it doesn"t puff smoke when cranking which indicates a lack of fuel, but it has fuel in the tank and started/ran when it was warmer. I tend to think its temperature related rather than fuel. He has not yet tried ether because the neighbor said ether+diesel engines=bad. I told him its fine as long as there is no engine preheat being used at the same time. Any assistance is appreciated. And yes, he has an owner’s manual and a Ford service manual. I do have an owner’s manual with me here for some leisure reading as well!

 

[Sean in PA]

I don't know if it was standard or optional, but the parts site shows it as having the thermostart type of pre-heater if it has one.

 

[Rustytractorguy]

I saw that too on the CNH Parts site. I think it also has a glow plug available as well. I should put a frost plug heater in it when I get back.

 

[Sean in PA]

They changed part numbers for the thermostart plug in Novemnber of 1982, but both part numbers are still available, and they call the earlier one "Glow Plug" in the parts list, but they call the one for the earlier 3 cylinder 4000 series a "Glow Plug" as well, and that model definitely did not have a glow plug available and only had either a thermostart or an ether injection unit.

 

[Ultradog MN]

A block heater is Very helpful for cold starting.
I've installed 3 of them and it made my diesel start like it was summer time almost.
Plug it in for a couple of hours or the night before if you know that snow is coming.
I bought two of them from CNH for about $40 ea.
I liked the CNH ones as they come with a cord about 12" long which I liked better than the aftermarket one which had a cord about 4' long.
Easy to install - I screwed a couple of sheet rock screws into the soft plug and pulled it out with a cat's paw nail puller.

 

[Rustytractorguy]

Well, the ol 201 fired up with the assistance of ether. Dad did not see lines or wires run to the intake so I think my 545 is without thermostart or ether injection.

That being said, I"ll be ordering the CNH block heater. Ultradog MN, did you put your heater in the plug behind the starter.

 

[Ultradog MN]

Yes.
It's kind of hard to get in there but that where I've always seen them installed and where I put my own.