[AT] Cracked diesel block opinion question and welding cast iron

[Ralph Goff]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "carl gogol" <cgogol at twcny.rr.com>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Saturday, December 03, 2005 10:45 AM
Subject: Re: [AT] Cracked diesel block opinion question and welding cast 
iron


> It is quite cold today about -3 C, or 28 F, and the engine would not 
> start. The salesman was about to get some ether and the engine failed to 
> turn over anymore.  He had cranked quite a while and all we got was white 
> smoke and a few slightly energetic near fires - but it just wouldn't touch 
> off.  I could feel the solenoid kick in with my hand on the starter, but 
> in a way was surprised that the starter wasn't warm to the touch for all 
> the cranking it had done.
>
> Do you think it didn't fire because of low temp or low compression?  Some 
> white smoke coming out of the manifold area, could be a gasket or worse a 
> crack in the manifold.  It was cold out!

Carl that white smoke on a cold start is quite normal I would say. Both my 
old diesels (Case 730 and MF Super 90) need a little help when the temp 
drops below freezing. The intake manifold heater is all I have on the 730 
and it works well until temps get really cold, like 20F or less. Then I 
apply a little heat from the space heater for a while . There are little 
drain holes on the bottom of the manifold and smoke will come out of there 
too when starting cold.
My massey with the 4 cyl Perkins is quite a good starter and would be even 
better if it had the original two battery setup. I only have a single 12 
volt battery on it as the previous owner had run it that way and it works 
most of the time. When it gets really cold the coolant heater is the real 
answer. A half hour of 1500 watts cooking anti-freeze will have that Perkins 
firing up on the first turn of the starter.
Its around +5F here today and I wouldn't try starting any of my diesels 
(even the newer ones)

Ralph in Sask.
http://lgoff.sasktelwebsite.net/