Do you think this would work?

[Geo-TH,In]

My genny is a rope start. If it gets -15 I may have a struggle to start it, thick oil. Do you think it may be a good idea to start genny, drain oil, and keep a quart of 5w-30 warm, inside house. Genny has an oil sensor, so it can't start without oil. It only takes 550 ml, less than a quart. Do you think this may make it easier to start on a very cold winter day, which we are about to experience, real soon, along with 40 mph winds, below 0 temps, and 8-12 inches of snow?

 

[David G]

I would change it to synthetic before it gets cold.

 

[wolfman]

Sounds like a great idea.

 

[oj]

like david g said get some synthetic... i use 0w40 for my outdoor machinery that i might need to start over winter... it's like thin even at -20... If you don't have time warm oil from inside the house is a good back up... how big is the genny? could you put it in the basement to keep it warm the take it outside if you need it...

 

[Geo-TH,In]

Genny is a 3500 watt RV. Basement is not a good idea. I could store it in a warm garage at my house. However in the country, the pole barn isn't heated.

I've never heard of 0w-40, but will look

 

[notjustair]

I've heard that dad's grandpa would drain the water out of the tractor and keep it in a milk bucket on top of the wood stove. He'd pour it in and crank it up. Sounds like a lot of work.

There's no reason why it won't help. Except of course that pouring oil with gloves on when it is zero is a pain.

 

[tiresntracks]

Synthetic is a good idea. Warm oil is even better, because it will help warm the engine and make it easier to start. You can have the best of both worlds. Warm your synthetic oil in the house, then if you forget to drain and warm it, you still have thin oil and a decent chance of starting it.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I use a dipstick heater in my welder/generator. You need power tho.

 

[David G]

They carry 0-40 synthetic in Eastern Iowa in the winter, I think it is for the generators.

 

[Dave Sherburne NY]

Walmart has Mobil 1 in 0w40 it's used in my wife's VW Beetle.

 

[JD Seller]

George:
When I got out of the service the first tractors I had to farm with where a JD "G" and a Ford 6000 diesel. The JD "G" had that big 540 shaft so it was not a handy PTO tractor. Plus the two cylinders are not great on Grinder mixers. Also the diesel fuel was much cheaper.

So I used the Ford 6000 every other day to grind feed and to haul manure all winter long. It did not have any electric block heater on it. The local Ford dealer told me that did not make one for it. I did not know about the ones you can put in the bottom radiator hose then. So here is how I started that tractor in the winter for years.

1) Put my only battery charger on it right when I got up. This was a small 2/10 amp trickle charger. This would warm the single battery up by the time I had chores done.

2) I had a metal Jerry can that I drained the engine oil into every time I shut the tractor off for the night. I made a valve to fit into the oil pan drain. So while the oil was still warm from the tractor running I would drain it out into the Jerry can. The house we where living in had the old hot water radiator heaters in it. I would just set that Jerry can against the heater in the kitchen. So when I needed to start the tractor I would take an old hair dryer and the warm Jerry can of engine oil to the tractor. I kept the air breather hose clamp loose in the winter. I would slide the breather hose out of the way. Unplug the small battery charger and then plug in the old hair dryer. I would stick the hair dryer into the intake manifold running on high. I would then pour the warm oil into the engine. I would wait a few minutes and then remove the hair dryer. The tractor would start like it was a summer day. LMAO

My younger sons have called me a liar about having to go through all of that just to start a tractor because the person they now know as an adult, that is not dead broke, would never do that every time for a few years. The oldest helped so he knows it is true.

So after the long post. George the warm oil would help the motor start. I would rather do that than run some 0w-30 or what ever oil. I do not trust these low weight oils for lubrication in small motors. Plus the warm oil will help the motor avoid the need for a warm up. Most generators go to full throttle as soon as they start.

 

[JF in MI]

0-W40? I've never heard of it let alone seen it. Where does one get some and who makes it?

 

[oj]

JD, hearing you talk about starting that 6000 brings back memories of my dad feeding sheep back when i was a little kid... used to feed with a Ford 3000 (diesel), and to start it in mid winter he used a rag on a piece of wire dipped in diesel and shoved lit into the air intake for about 30 seconds, then crank her over and away she'd go... we had no power in the shed that he kept the tractor, and who wanted to lug those giant batteries Ford liked to use to the shed with power every day. Great memories... thanks for the reminder!

 

[Geo-TH,In]

We had one of the first ford 6000's. It never started in the winter. Perhaps my dad should have talked to you. We had no heaters of any king on it.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

What part of the country are you from? I'm in west centeral Indiana. I can't say I've even heard of 0w anything, until now. Perhaps 5w, no 0w. Guess I'll ask.

 

[old]

Years ago I rigged up a starter for a large law mower that was pull start using a tractor starter and a simple pulley set up. Worked pretty good and since I had the stuff laying around cost me nothing.
As a side note been thinking about setting up my gen set which is water cooled in such a way that it could help heat the house. Figure if you can heat a car with the coolant why not set up a gen set to do the same thign

 

[jeffcat]

How do you think they used to start a model "T" back then? Hot water from the stove into the radiator and they would build a little FIRE under the oil pan!! Dip stick heaters burn the oil. For your small engine the hot oil sounds best. My small engines have 5wt-20 in them and one is a 16hp rope start. Let us Know. Jeffcat

 

[Steve@Advance]

Sounds like a good idea. But I'm wondering if heating the oil would be better.

With that small quantity, it will only take a few seconds for the freezing cold aluminum crankcase to draw away all the heat.

Maybe one of the old pour spout oil cans you could heat on the stove and pour it quickly in the engine.

 

[Bob]

Oh, good lord. HOPEFULLY the genny is nowheres near as large as an old Ford car, and the simple fix would be to smuggle it inside, to a warmer area. 'til needed!

 

[Anonymous-0]

How big is your genny? I put 2700 watt on the passenger seat in my pickup for 20 minutes with the heater full blast to warm it up. You could put a tarp over it and use a small propane heater to warm a generator. Heating the oil would help but for such a small machine, there's a lot easier ways to warm it up.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

My genny weigh too much for an old man to lift. Besides it wouldn't fit in truck. There is a small garage in the country, boss claims it. Perhaps I should try to figure out how to work it in there.

 

[GordoSD]

I'd build a close fitting cover box out of plywood, or even cardboard for the motor. Open only on bottom side. Then appropriate wifeys hair dryer and put that in there for 10 minutes.
If you are totally without power some judicious application of heat from your handheld propane torch?

 

[Dusty MI]

Something to think about.
Are power seldom goes out, so I've always just ran a couple of drop cords when it did.
This fall I had surgery then a few days latter got pneumonia. While I was laid up a fall storm came through and the power was out all around us, some up to 6 days, we did not loose ours, but if we had I would not have been able to hook our generator to our furnace or well pump.
So now I'm thinking of fixing it so my wife can just start the generator and throw a switch to get power.

Dusty

 

[Bret4207]

Would it be possible to run a lead lamp with a 60 watt bulb to the genny and to put a cardboard box over it? I've seen a lot of equipment kept warm over night in -30 or below temps with 100-150 watt lights and some blankets. You wouldn't think it would make a difference, but it does.

We had 50 below where I used to live. Took a pan of coals and put it under my trucks front end and covered the hood and wheel wells with some old blankets. an hour latter she started right up. I think a lot of it is warming the battery.

 

[DoubleR]

In a recent power outage I found I had allot of trouble starting my 35 year old generator that normally starts with one good pull. I'm not liking this getting old but it is what it is.

I have a walkout basement behind my house where I run my generator. I would run it out of gas and wheel it into the basement for the night. It got down to zero a few nights. I was able to start it in the morning OK.

My new electric start generator is due for delivery this week.

 

[merlynr]

My generator in also in the walkout basement with no gas in it. Pull it out the door and usually starts on the 1st or second pull.

 

[ss55]

You can get 0W-30 motor oil for in small engine snowblowers. It's around $8 per quart at a dealer, so it might be a synthetic oil.

In cold weather I'll use a shot of choke and carb cleaner to get a small engine running long enough for the carburator to begin funtioning. It save me from a lot of extra rope pulling. Carb cleaner burns similar to gasoline, I like using it better than ether starting fluid, ether fires too vilolently for me. Brake cleaner will work too, but it's more expensive than carb cleaner.

 

[Rich_WI]

(quoted from post at 00:47:16 01/05/14) With that small quantity, it will only take a few seconds for the freezing cold aluminum crankcase to draw away all the heat.

Thats my thoughts as well, 550ml is not much oil at all and it will not hold much heat. Remember, oil only holds half the heat energy as water does so if people are thinking about how a cup of warm water thaws a lock (sometimes), you would need twice as much oil to do the same thing.

Maybe a couple gallons of warm oil would do it, but I kinda doubt it. A generator engine must have 40 or 50 pounds of steel and aluminum to slurp away any heat that the oil has.

 

[LenND]

I use 5/30 in my 8 HP snow blower every year. Never had a problem. Make sure you have a good spark plug. I set the choke, hit primer a couple of times and pull the rope. If it don't start after a couple pulls I hit the primer a couple more times and it usually starts on one pull.

 

[T in NE]

That small an amount of oil may not make much difference on warm-up of the engine, but it sure would pump up into wherever it is supposed to be a lot quicker.

You may want to shut it down before you drain it, too!

 

[Bob Huntress]

If you're thinking that, you could just put 20w oil in it till warmer weather returns. You could also keep the genny somewhere warm.

 

[4020guy]

0W40 oil is quite popular up here in the newer tractors. People run it all year long. In my older stuff, I use 15W40 in summer and a 0W30 or 0W40 come winter. Problem with the 0 oils, the oil sensor in the smaller air cooled engines might have some issues with it. I know they do in the summer[engine stops when it warms up]. I'm sure warming the oil would help but warming the complete unit would be best....Ron

 

[Drunken Poet]

Get a length of flexible exhaust pipe that will fit over the tailpipe of your car/truck/tractor, throw tarp over gen., put flex pipe under tarp next to gen. so exhaust blows on engine block, run engine 15-20 min., start gen.