Cold weather starting

[cory]

All good info and ideas, thank you all. I will reply more later.

 

[FireFighterZero]

The quick connects work well, and not for just little stuff. My dad's cousin had coolant quick connects on all of his construction equipment, big scrapers, D8's 9's and others. They worked great.

Glue on oil pan heaters are durable and effective, as well as heated pads the batteries sit on.
I have not used synthetic oil in a while, but the benefits are undeniable, albeit pricey.

 

[Cobleskill]

Synthetics don't have to be "light weight." They just don't thicken up at cold temps like petroleum.

 

[brendonv]

I think i am going to synthetics this year. With four diesels now i want to try to run the same in all of them. Have to find a happy medium for all of them.

 

[1BUS]

By light weight I mean lighter than manufacturer recommended, substituting 10w30 for 15w40 and so on. Also take into consideration the ambient temp.

 

[squisher]

Up here and north of here I've heard of people using a lighter cold viscosity like 0-40 or 5-40 obviously with a diesel I don't think you'd want to vary from the 40 unless recommended by the manufacturer.

 

[cory]

The engine is a 3054E CAT. The dealer says it has no glow plugs or preheater. The synthetic oil might help a bit.

I had a block heater installed. I plugged it in for 20 minutes on a 15*F morning, it didn't make a difference but I realize 1 hour is probably the minimum required for the block heater to make a difference.

 

[Reddog]

Cory, if you want to add a intake heater call these folks and see if they make a bolt in for that model. A couple wires from the battery and a heavy momentary switch and relay would set it right up nice.

http://www.phillipsandtemro.com/heating_technology/air_intake_heaters.asp

 

[cory]

Reddog, thanks for the link.

Also, re your earlier question, I haven't had the injector pump checked, I presumed it was good cuz the machine runs great. My mechanic says since the machine runs well, it probably isn't worth it to take it off and check it, nor to do over the top end.

 

[Dave Shepard]

My 24 valve Cummins has one. It's works really well.

 

[802climber]

Does it only have trouble cold starting, or does it ever have trouble starting when it's been running and already warmed up?

I don't know anything about CAT's but if your lift pump was bad for awhile it probably overworked your injection pump which is probably slowly shitting the bed from doing the lift pump's work on top of its own. I would have your fuel pressure/flow checked and injection pump checked.

The air grid heater sounds like a great idea, and also maybe an electric lift pump? But just beware of band-aid solutions, a fuel system issue is only gonna get worse over time.


On another note. Are you running a winter fuel additive such as PowerService (white bottle for winter, not gray bottle)? I run that stuff at 2x the dose on the bottle.

In my opinion, the synthetic oil is worth it only if you will run it for that much longer, which you certainly can in some applications.. it should also give easier cold starts and a slight HP gain.

I would recommend the Rotella T6, it is really not much more expensive than the conventional Rotella 15w40.... But if you read up on synthetic lubricants, they're mostly a crock of shit anyway unless you buy the really fancy stuff.........

 

[cory]

It only has trouble with cold starts. Starts perfect when already warmed up or when ambient temp is above 35-40*. I run additive in all machines when temp gets below 20*

 

[802climber]

So it cranks at its usual fast cranking speed but just won't start?

 

[cory]

Exactly.

 

[802climber]

Well if your lift pump is good, it could be air getting into your fuel lines somewhere, (bad pickup etc) or some screwy solenoid/sensor on injection pump? Or injection pump itself is shitting the bed. With an electronic motor there are so many possible causes for hard starting. If you disconnect the batteries for a couple hours maybe it will reset the PCM?? I know I'm not much help.

 

[cory]

Good ideas. I appreciate your thoughts.

 

[FireFighterZero]

It couldn't possible an ambient air temp sensor could it? That would make adjustment to the computer for a cold temperature injection advance.
Sorry you are still having trouble.

 

[cory]

That's a good idea. I don't know if this machine has one. Or do they all have 'em?

 

[FireFighterZero]

Most diesels would have some means to advance timing when starting cold, even the old non computer controlled ones. It might be a separate sensor threaded into the coolant jacket or may be in the computer itself. I am not familiar enough with Caterpillar/Perkins to know for sure.