Cold weather starting for diesels

[Anonymous-0]

I have an older diesel tractor that I will be using (hopefully) about once a week or so this winter. Like many, I have no place to store it, other than a drafty barn. Pennsylvania winters can get pretty cold. what do most of you cold weather guys do to ensure the thing starts if you don't have any "heated" place to keep a tractor? I guess the easiest thing to do is to keep the batteries in the house until it is time to go out and start the tractor. Add a can of additive to the fuel tank. The tractor does not have a plug in block heater, but does have an oil pan heating element. Not a big fan of using spray ether. Other suggestions?

 

[evilboweviel]

a round kerosene heater and a tarp will work wonders in about an hour
light the heater and put under the oil pan
throw the tarp over the engine and heater
tractor will start like it is summer time
Ron

 

[cd1]

its pretty easy normally to install a block heater, you will be frustration ahead to go ahead and do that unless its a good starter. what is the tractor, some start excellent in the cold.

 

[buickanddeere]

I can't imagine why somebody try starting a tractor. By building a fire underneath and wrapping a tractor with a tarp.
Ether is a matter of last resort in life threatening emergencies, not a 1st,2nd or even 3rd choice.
A block heater is safer, simpler, flameless and much much cheaper to operate.

http://www.phillipsandtemro.com/coldStart/engine_block_heaters.asp

 

[g mccool]

Install a block heater & depending on the engine size 4cyl or 6cyl & engine heater size (watts) in a couple hours after plugging it in it will start right up. Gerald

 

[showcrop]

loggers used to drain the coolant and oil out at the end of the day and take them to camp so that they could heat them up in the AM and heat the motor of the dozer or skidder. These days they have heater hose extensions to reach from the truck to the skidder with quick disconnects. Read the paper for 15 min. then fire it up. On the farm we have electricity so we use block heaters, remote start, coffee pot, on timer, cab heat set on high, but we still have to trudge out there. Juuuuust kidding about the remote start. But our grandkids will say how tough it was in the days before remote start for diesel.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

I plug the block heater in (a must UP here in the cold) and let it warm up for a half hour or more. While its heating I usually do other chores and such. Then hop on and they fire right up. The key is letting the block heater run long enough to do its job.

 

[BDT in Minnesota]

use straight #1 diesel fuel.. add a battery warmer to the oil pan and block heaters.. use good heavy duty extension cords to power the heaters.. For a start. {pun}

 

[BDT in Minnesota]

buickanddeere, there are some Very Economical Ways that the old timers used to get engines fired up in the wintertime... One old timer dug a small pit over which he parked the front end of his Chevrolet..
When the car was needed; he would clean out some hot ashes and embers from the woodstove, which he would dump in the pit under the Chevrolet..

One morning, as he was inside waiting for the engine to warm, there was a eardrum-breaking ka-boom!! Well, there was not a single piece of tin left on that old 6 cyl... The valve cover, side cover, timing cover and oil pan had been ripped right through the bolts that didn't shear off.. Oh crap! (he learned about crankcase accumulations that day)

Diesel fueled engines would be the safer fuel to be pre-heating with this type of method,, but then, how about a fuel leak?? Electric block heaters are hard to beat.

 

[Jerry/MT]

If you barn has power, the best thing you can do is put a block heater in the tractor if you have a core plug available for that purpose. I put mine on a timer and it starts up one hour before I feed the cows. Starts right up in the coldest weather. Block heaters are ~$30 and you have to drain the coolant out, knock out the core plug and put in the block heater plug and tighten the bolt. Temro makes them. Check out their web site.Takes about a half hour if the core plug is accesible.

The next best thing is a tank heater.

 

[El Toro]

Do as Jerry suggested and install a heater. Here's Phillips & Temro's number 1-800-328-6108.
Here's one of their heaters. Hal

PS: You can install a tank heater too.

http://www.kimhotstart.com/

 

[El Toro]

When I went out to Tulsa OK in 1978 on an EMD engine by GM to a company called Unit Rig as they made 100 & 200 ton dump trucks. They told me a story about some of their trucks they sold to the Russians. One driver shut his engine off when it was real cold and it wouldn't restart so put a fire under the engine and lost the truck. Hal

 

[MirageFlatter]

Straight #1 diesel fuel is the first place to start, don't gamble on blended winter fuel from a truck stop, as the fuel filters on a tractor are exposed, not under a hood, like on a truck. As for taking the batteries inside, you'd get real tired of that in a hurry. A good engine coolant heater of some sort is the best cold weather starting aid there is. I've never used an oil pan heater, they may be fine, but I'm sure they don't heat the whole engine like a coolant heater. Tank heaters are best in my opinion, as they circulate warm coolant through the whole engine. Frost plug heaters are fine, they just have to run longer, as a rule. And there is really nothing all that wrong with starting fluid, if the engine has a starting fluid injector, and you can give it a small shot, while cranking the engine. If it doesn't have an injector, that is hard for one person to do, and this is when starting fluid becomes dangerous to the engine. My 2 cents. Good luck!!! :wink:

 

[Sam from WA]

I haven't had too much trouble getting my older Deeres to start in cold weather around here, last year was the worst in the time I've been here. I just made sure the batteries were always well charged and was running no. 1 diesel in all of the diesel rigs.
The only tractor around here that had trouble was our old IH 1206, but he won't start without a sniff of ether if its 93 degrees out.

A block heater does wonders for cold weather starting.

 

[buickanddeere]

Tempro makes battery warming underpads as well. A warm battery supplies much more cranking power. And charges much faster too.

 

[Mel in SW Iowa]

As many here have already recommended, a block or
tank heater or both are a wonderful asset to help planned starting of a diesel in cold weather.

I have also had good luck replacing 15W40 Rotella with 0W40 Rotella synthetic.

I like to use WD40 as a starting fluid, rather
than ether for emergency starts.

 

[Mel in SW Iowa]

When I changed from a gas tractor to an Oliver 1650 diesel to do chores with, I wasn't sure and still don't know at what temps these tractors start gelling up on #2 diesel at.
So, I have been plugging in a small 200w quartz
halogen worklight at the same time I plug the lower radiator hose heater in and set the light
under the steel fuel tank so that it is about 1-2
inches under the tank and always with at least 3/4 of a tank of fuel (20 gal). I don't use the light to heat the fuel tank unless the ambient temp is below freezing. I monitored fuel temps
carefully at first, but after being plugged in all
night in 5 degree weather, the highest fuel temp I have seen is 54 degrees. After 2-3 hours, it usually only heats the fuel about 10 degrees, but it has never gelled up on #2 diesel either.

For safety, the fuel tank heater should be on a timer so that it wouldn't start a fire if you were called away for some emergency for a day or more.

For safety I am not recommending this to anyone else, but so far, it has worked well for me.

 

[dakota dave]

Reguardless of how good it starts good it starts install a block heater now before it gets cold. you olny have one chance to get a diesel started when its real cold. then the clyinders frost up and it"s not gona start. Plug the heater itn cut a hole in a tarp to fit over the muffler and put the tarp on the engine. plug in go back in the house Have some hot chocklet and wait. in an hour or so it"ll start.

 

[mmidlam]

a block heater and small battery charger connected to the same cord works well.

 

[Anonymous-0]

It might help to know what tractor and/or engine you have. Some are much easier to get going than others. Do you have electrical power to the tractor? If you don't want to install a heater on the tractor, you could use a propane or kerosene/diesel heater to warm the tractor. Having a good tarp to keep the heat in will help a lot. If your barn is fairly small should still keep a lot of heat in. Most service stations would have winter diesel(#1) in the pumps, so that shouldn't be a problem. Dave

 

[Mel in SW Iowa]

Another reason to use block or tank heaters is that cold starts are estimated? to be responsible
for half of the wear on engines, starters, batteries, and charging systems. Heated starts on gas or diesel engines will surely save money in the long run.

 

[Leland2]

A 1000-1500 watt block heater plugged in to a heavy timer would work have the heater set to be on for 1 hour and off then back on ,this saves energy and the tractor will always start with good batteries .