Reliable start-ups also below -15F?

[FordGuy100]

Stock was a direct drive. My stater gave up the ghost and a gear reduction starter went in. It definatly cured the slow start.

Drawing less current is just that much easier on a system.

 

[Boston]

starter in mine is pretty old and tired so I been listening to this debate with some interest as my truck is very difficult to start in any kind of cold weather

could also have something to do with the lousy glow plugs

cheers

 

[icanfixall]

Install a quality gear reduction starter and you will kick yourself for not doing it sooner... You really can't count the starting rpms with a gear reduction starter.... Remember these engines start by making heat for combustion. The faster the piston goes up the hotter the air charge is.... slowly compressed air wont make much heat at all. Diesel requires 940 degrees to ignite..... Thats how hot the compression needs to be for our engines to lite off.....

 

[Black dawg]

starter in mine is pretty old and tired so I been listening to this debate with some interest as my truck is very difficult to start in any kind of cold weather

could also have something to do with the lousy glow plugs

cheers

get the nippondenso gear reduction starter they seem to be the most trouble free

 

[94turboidi]

My nippodenso style starter should be here today! On a side note I don't think there is seriously wrong w/ my starter. I probably will take it apart and fix it sometime. I can take a bottle torch and heat it up when its below freezing and it will crank over. If I don't it just clicks. Must have some moisture in there that freezes.

 

[bucholzi]

Thanks for all the replys, for now I have swapped the oil for full synthetic 5w-40 and I reckon that will be it. I could swap in a nippondenso-style starter instead of the mitsu-style, but I'm not sure it will help that much. I got a real got listen the nippondenso starter when I tried to install the faulty one the other day, especially when it suddenly started cranking the engine just after I had finished tightening the connections My impression is that the nippodenso looses quite a bit of it edge when the temp drops, and does not crank with much (if any) better speed than the mitsu-style in cold weather. Does anyone have first-hands experience in cold weather with fresh/new starters of both types?

And merry christmas, by the way!

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

Diesel requires 940 degrees to ignite.....

What does it do at 939 degrees ??


I totally agree on the high speed cranking.

The more cranking authority the batteries and starter have, the quicker and more positive the starting process.


Unlike an old plug-fired gas-burner, once a diesel's batteries weaken and cranking speed starts to slow, all any more cranking is going to accomplish is to further drain the batteries.

 

[94turboidi]

Yeah if it doesn't want to fire right off it seems I want to figure out a solution real fast or I will end up charging the batteries. My truck has been starting pretty good despite the starter problems. Got my new starter today and whenever it feels like summer again I will change it. I think I would stick with normal oil. If its too thick I would get a heater. I have thought about a heater for the pan. I wonder if when the circulating heater is on for awhile if the oil warms up some? The reason for that is I had mine on all night awhile back when it was really cold and I was taking the injector pump off. The block was warm at the top but I didn't crawl under and check the pan. The coolant heater seems to do the trick every time though if its really cold. I don't have an aftermarket oil pressure gauge but my factory one reads normal on start up.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

The block-heater seems to put a lot of warmth into the oil, whether it really does or not.

I know an engine sure spins over easier with the block-heater than without.

A block-heater along with one of the better oil-pan heaters should really make things summer-like.

 

[RLDSL]

Thanks for all the replys, for now I have swapped the oil for full synthetic 5w-40 and I reckon that will be it. I could swap in a nippondenso-style starter instead of the mitsu-style, but I'm not sure it will help that much. I got a real got listen the nippondenso starter when I tried to install the faulty one the other day, especially when it suddenly started cranking the engine just after I had finished tightening the connections My impression is that the nippodenso looses quite a bit of it edge when the temp drops, and does not crank with much (if any) better speed than the mitsu-style in cold weather. Does anyone have first-hands experience in cold weather with fresh/new starters of both types?

And merry christmas, by the way!

I would watch for leaks . I have been using and selling Amsoil for over 25 years and I would not just switch one over to a synthetic without preparing the engine first. You have a lot of good high quality synthetics available on the shelf in your part of the world, but you still need to clean out the engine and still run the risk of leaks. After winter you might seriously consider running a couple of treatments of Auto RX to get ready for next year and beyond.
If you look on ebay Germany, there are TONS of used Eberspachers for sale dirt cheap ( educate yourself on the styles, a lot are pulls from Golfs), controllers as well,Most sellers wont ship to the US, but they will ship to where you are

You said your batteries are Optima type, at 900 cranking amp. Optimas have inadequate reserve capacity for a diesel in arctic conditions, they boast high cranking amps, but it's the reserve capacity that keeps you cranking long enough to fire, and the optima batts are pitiful in that respect. If your batts are rated comperable, then you do not have enoug cranking power to turn the thing over long enough to fire when the temps drop. You need a set of group 31s commercial truck batteries and you will then have plenty of cranking power.

 

[Diesel JD]

Now that he's poured the synthetic in isn't it just a matter of hoping that his engine is already pretty clean and when the gunk does come out it comes out very small so that the filter can grab it before it goes somewhere it shouldn't be?

 

[Simp5782]

I run a inline heater, block heater, and oil pan heater when its below -20. I have several inline heaters I can mail ya if needed just pay for the shipping. I also just use the magnetic heaters from oreilly for my oil pan and i have 2 on my in bed tank to help incase it drops severely. Just ran em all up to the radiator with a 3 to 1 plug in. Even not plugged in at all i fire right off at -40 below and -60 below wind chills. I ran that 10-30 rotella synthetic blend and it seems to do pretty well.

 

[RLDSL]

Now that he's poured the synthetic in isn't it just a matter of hoping that his engine is already pretty clean and when the gunk does come out it comes out very small so that the filter can grab it before it goes somewhere it shouldn't be?

Most synthetics will clean at a relitively slow rate as to not knock big chunks off ( with the ocasional exception, one of the reasons Amsoil is so picky about folks flushing before switching), but they will clean off seals fast enough to remove the layer of crud that is holding most of the oil back. Eventually most synthetics will condition the seals same as the Auto RX does as for stopping the leaks, but you can go through an awful lot of expensive oil during that time. THankfully the dino oils available to him in that part of the word due to European regulations have been a ton easier on his engine than anything we could ever dream of seeing and he's not going to have the kind of soot and carbon buildup problems that the rest of us have to deal with, so it's not going to be as big a shock on his engine as it is on our engines over here.With over 60% of the vehicles being sold having diesel engines, Europe is a few decades ahead of us on running the things and they have managed to figure a few problems out a LONG time ago .

 

[RLDSL]

I run a inline heater, block heater, and oil pan heater when its below -20. I have several inline heaters I can mail ya if needed just pay for the shipping. I also just use the magnetic heaters from oreilly for my oil pan and i have 2 on my in bed tank to help incase it drops severely. Just ran em all up to the radiator with a 3 to 1 plug in. Even not plugged in at all i fire right off at -40 below and -60 below wind chills. I ran that 10-30 rotella synthetic blend and it seems to do pretty well.

Those things wouldn't do him much good. They run a much higher wall current there with really funky plugs

 

[kpj]

Hi, I switched from Kendall's 15W-40 mineral to Teboil's 5W-40 Full Synthetic S-HPD oil, which is CI rated for heavy duty trucks. Mainly because of cold winters that we have. Before the change i used Auto-RX to clean up my engine and for the first batch of synthetic oil i took it out after 2000 miles. After every oil change i opened the oil filter to see how much dirt there is, but actually i didn't find any visible particles from it. And after that break-in for synthetic oil i have been driving about 5000 miles change intervals, could probably drive a longer intervals, but i haven't got any chance for a lab tests. Last summer was a record hot summer here and first i thought that i need to change to little thicker oil, but then thought that i'll wait and see how the thin oil behaves and as a result i didn't found any reason why i should change to thicker oil, because engine was running smoothly, quiet, no leaks and didn't consume any oil even thought it was 38 Celsius (about 100F). Now saturday here was about -36 C (33F) and truck started at first start with one cycle, but then again i have Eberspächer (5kW) doing preheater job and i kept it going for 50 minutes before start. If you find one for the right price i really recommend installing one of those. As for oil, i would have tried Amsoil synthetic, but they cost about 28€ a liter in here so i think i don't have to say anything else, but Teboil Synthetic costs about 6 € a liter...