Winter is here! Thoughts on cold, hard starts?

jayro88

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My first 30 degree start today and it lite right up but smokes white for about 30 seconds or a minute. Any input?

Sounds normal to me. Mine blows a little white smoke until it warms a little. I decided to leave mine unplugged last night for an experiment. 19*, waited for the WTS light to go out, 3/4 throttle and hit the key. Caught on the second rotation. Cold Advance is non-functional. It did turn over a little slower than I would have liked. Has 2 new batteries, so I am thinking it is getting close to time for new cables and a new starter. The starter spent a lot of time cranking when I had an air intrusion and last winter when having to cold start.
 

Moretorque

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Sounds normal to me. Mine blows a little white smoke until it warms a little. I decided to leave mine unplugged last night for an experiment. 19*, waited for the WTS light to go out, 3/4 throttle and hit the key. Caught on the second rotation. Cold Advance is non-functional. It did turn over a little slower than I would have liked. Has 2 new batteries, so I am thinking it is getting close to time for new cables and a new starter. The starter spent a lot of time cranking when I had an air intrusion and last winter when having to cold start.
Thankyou, Yaa that air thing has gotten me. I burnt 2 starters up on another truck. Can you put in a separate pump to help?
 

franklin2

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Add an electric fuel pump. No more air intrusion issues. Search the forum, someone here sells them.

I am not sure a electric pump is going to get rid of all air intrusion problems. It certainly would help, but if you are getting air in the system, wouldn't you have to turn on the electric pump and wait about 10 minutes with it on till it pushed all the air out of all the supply lines and made it's way down the return lines?
 

jayro88

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Thankyou, Yaa that air thing has gotten me. I burnt 2 starters up on another truck. Can you put in a separate pump to help?

Yes, you can add an e-pump pretty cheap. I added mine when did my new IP/Injectors to avoid anymore air intrusion issues. Got mine from GenLightning and it works great. I guess, technically it doesn't fix the air intrusion, just makes it a non-issue.

I am not sure a electric pump is going to get rid of all air intrusion problems. It certainly would help, but if you are getting air in the system, wouldn't you have to turn on the electric pump and wait about 10 minutes with it on till it pushed all the air out of all the supply lines and made it's way down the return lines?

The pump I put in has an internal check valve to stop the bleed back of the fuel. As far as having to prime for 10 min....this has never been the case with mine and I have never heard of it. Mine starts right away after the WTS light goes out....about 10-15sec.
 

franklin2

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Yes, you can add an e-pump pretty cheap. I added mine when did my new IP/Injectors to avoid anymore air intrusion issues. Got mine from GenLightning and it works great. I guess, technically it doesn't fix the air intrusion, just makes it a non-issue.



The pump I put in has an internal check valve to stop the bleed back of the fuel. As far as having to prime for 10 min....this has never been the case with mine and I have never heard of it. Mine starts right away after the WTS light goes out....about 10-15sec.

What do you do when your o-rings leak around the injector caps, and the fuel drains back down the return line that runs down behind the engine and goes back to the fuel tanks? A check valve in the pump won't help that.

A electric pump would certainly help some, but I don't think it's a cure-all for air leaks in the fuel system. And what I was saying before, if the truck sits for a few days and air gets in the system, when the electric pump kicks on it has to push all that air out of the system before you start it, and all that air has to go somewhere, which would be down the return line and vented out the fuel tank.
 

PROFG

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Easy to see epump clearing air from filter and injector returns (on pass side if filter to injector #1 line still installed) but cranking needed to clear IP, right? NO low pressure path for fuel thru IP unless it is rotating so hard lines can not be purged without cranking. If IP can't pump air can hard lines drain thru return system?? Since IP output, if primed, so much higher than return pressure seems worse than pointless to crack injector nuts while cranking/bleeding. All these drain back problems would go away with in bed “day” tank. So, best post air intrusion start if air in filter, but not IP/hard lines/injectors, cleared by epump before cranking. This is typical of filter drain back thru LP due to olive or fuel heater air leak. Worst is IP sucking air from filter while cranking “helped” by weak LP.
 

firehonomichl

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Sounds normal to me. Mine blows a little white smoke until it warms a little. I decided to leave mine unplugged last night for an experiment. 19*, waited for the WTS light to go out, 3/4 throttle and hit the key. Caught on the second rotation. Cold Advance is non-functional. It did turn over a little slower than I would have liked. Has 2 new batteries, so I am thinking it is getting close to time for new cables and a new starter. The starter spent a lot of time cranking when I had an air intrusion and last winter when having to cold start.

my cold advance didn’t work either so I wired in a switch and ran a wire to it so I can manually turn it on in the mornings. Helps a lot when it’s really cold
 
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