cold starting your truck

[KyleQ]

-17 F this AM. I didn't think I needed the truck today, so I didn't plug er in.

1 cycle of the plugs, stock controller, 15/40 Rotella w/3k miles on it. 5-6 secs and she fired.

No problem!

Fresh GP's and a good fuel system I assume? I don't think my truck will start in this weather...

 

[Black dawg]

-17 F this AM. I didn't think I needed the truck today, so I didn't plug er in.

1 cycle of the plugs, stock controller, 15/40 Rotella w/3k miles on it. 5-6 secs and she fired.

No problem!

was the temp of your engine -17?

 

[Black dawg]

Were can you get one?

search kats ether start system or ether quick start. ther are around 100 bucks

 

[f-two-fiddy]

was the temp of your engine -17?

Yeah, sitting in an unheated garage.

Plugs are 5 years old, or so. I went thru the starter, cables, batt's 2-3 years ago. Fresh injs last year

 

[CDX825]

Should I worry about switching to a 5w-40 syn if my hot idle oil pressure with 10w-30 dino is 12ish psi?

Nope should be fine.

 

[Jbevs]

Fresh glow plugs, plugged in for 3 hours, 15w40 and she cranked over and fired with <10 sec. cranking. I'm happy. 23 degrees. It wouldn't even turn over when it was single digits. I did use a jumper box to fire her off as the batts are 4 and 6 years old.

 

[idiabuse]

I tried to crank the cold iron and she refused to fire.
So I had to break out the big tools to get cold iron firing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6ZzlSw_kus

Glow plugs R nice!

Javier

 

[ohiozj]

38? thats not cold.....

it was like 12 here today.

 

[idiabuse]

38? thats not cold.....

it was like 12 here today.

12F! that is a lifestyle, you need to travel south...

38F aint all that cold if you know 12F

38F is cold when 89F is the average!


Javier

 

[ohiozj]

i know... i hate it. i wish it was 38 here

we got about 3-4 inches of snow this morning, so i took the wifes cherokee

 

[oilburners]

38 degrees. wow... What ever happened to sitting in the truck and turning the key on to start the truck? Gauges hanging off the engine, a generator in the background running to power the truck? I don't get it. I get in mine, turn the key, tap the pedal, wait, turn the key a little more and it starts. No butchered glow plug wiring and a push button, no ether, no pulling the engine half apart and jumping wires together.

 

[idiabuse]

38 degrees. wow... What ever happened to sitting in the truck and turning the key on to start the truck? Gauges hanging off the engine, a generator in the background running to power the truck? I don't get it. I get in mine, turn the key, tap the pedal, wait, turn the key a little more and it starts. No butchered glow plug wiring and a push button, no ether, no pulling the engine half apart and jumping wires together.

AWWW I only have to do this once in the morning, and I am the only driver for this vehicle, I think it fits me ok.
And that generator is a holley blue fuel pump generating 6 psi to the injection pump.

Glow plugs are not butchered just not plugged into my truck.
I trigger the relay for the G/P with my onboard jumper cables, I use to get you back home if you get a dead battery.

where is the ether? I lost my can, you see it someplace?
what engine did you see half apart? did you eat breakfast yet?

Javier

 

[IH_444]

I put a different starter on mine, cranks plenty fast, still doesn't start worth a ****.

Today it was around 10F. Cycled twice, it sputtered two times then nothing. Cycle again, sputters once and thats it. It will only kick once every time you cycle the plugs. Somehow after probly 10 tries it started but I was standing outside the truck and didn't get my foot on the pedal fast enough and it died. Then after recycling the plugs it wouldn't even fire.

I got the battery charger out, left it for about 20 minutes, came back, cycled plugs once, cranked about 10 seconds and it started.

I don't know what to do anymore, I assume all 8 plugs work, they stay on for 15+ seconds. Starting to wonder if controller is going bad again. How many volts should I have coming out of the relay? Is it 6 or 12?

 

[Agnem]

Are you sure your problem is glow plugs? If you plug in the block heater and have these problems, you may be looking at the wrong issue.

 

[rhkcommander]

I put a different starter on mine, cranks plenty fast, still doesn't start worth a ****.

Today it was around 10F. Cycled twice, it sputtered two times then nothing. Cycle again, sputters once and thats it. It will only kick once every time you cycle the plugs. Somehow after probly 10 tries it started but I was standing outside the truck and didn't get my foot on the pedal fast enough and it died. Then after recycling the plugs it wouldn't even fire.

I got the battery charger out, left it for about 20 minutes, came back, cycled plugs once, cranked about 10 seconds and it started.

I don't know what to do anymore, I assume all 8 plugs work, they stay on for 15+ seconds. Starting to wonder if controller is going bad again. How many volts should I have coming out of the relay? Is it 6 or 12?

you can unplug the relay and jump the glow plugs directly... its alot of amperage so BE SAFE. Give it 10 or 15, whichever you normally do but make sure its real seconds not counting in your head unless you've had practice

If it still doesnt start, I'd check your batteries first and see how healthy they are. Bad batts could be the culprit, a tired engine, dead plug(s)/relay/controller. Off the relay should be the same as your battery(s) almost, near the glowplugs some voltage drop is typical iirc