[AT] Glow plugs

charlie hill charliehill at embarqmail.com
Sun Dec 20 04:55:06 PST 2015


Getting a little further off topic than road tractors but well on the point
of cold weather and diesels.  I know a guy who used to work for
an air cargo company that serviced the oil fields up in northern Alaska.
This was in the early 80's I think.  He said all of their company vehicles
were diesel Chevy Suburbans.  6.2 liter I think.  He said they NEVER
turned them off.  They sat running all day while at work and all night
in the parking lot of the motel where the crews lived.  Once a month
they would drive them into a heated shop and shut them down and do
a complete service job.  When they left the shop they ran until they
came back in the next month.  I can remember a few times when we
left some of our road tractors running over night as well.

My point is that diesels and cold weather don't get along very well
regardless of the size or brand.

Charlie

-----Original Message----- 
From: Mike M
Sent: Saturday, December 19, 2015 11:04 PM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] Glow plugs

Good point Charlie, with the cost of batteries getting higher and higher
I've invested in about 3-4 of the little battery tenders. They keep the
battery topped up and ready for use.  I usually can find them on sale
for about $20 a piece. Cheaper than a $140 battery.

Mike M

On 12/19/2015 8:34 PM, charlie hill wrote:
> years ago..... 40 years ago or so.... I had a road tractor with a Detroit
> 8V71 two stroke
> diesel.  It would usually start ok in cold weather but it's not good for
> them to do so.
> It's hard on batteries and the engine and starting fluid will eventually
> kill them.
> What I did each night when I came in was to hook up a trickle charger to 
> the
> batteries,
> plug in a 110V block heater that had it's coil mounted in the water jacket
> of the engine block,
> and turn the cab heater fan on low.  The next morning the Detroit would 
> fire
> as soon
> as I hit the starter and even in 15 deg. weather the cab would be about 50
> degrees inside
> from the thermo syphon effect and the slowly running heater fan.  Made the
> days work start
> much easier at 4 AM.
>
> Charlie
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Henry Miller
> Sent: Saturday, December 19, 2015 3:11 PM
> To: Antique tractor email discussion group ; Mike M
> Subject: Re: [AT] Glow plugs
>
> I wait year round in my vw, but I can't buckel my seat belt before the 
> light
> is out. On anything else you don't need to wait if it is above 45 or so. 
> It
> doesn't hurt to
>
> Remember to use winter diesel, if the fuel won't flow nothing will help.
> Wait, but starting without glow plugs is not harmful. Just wait for things
> to warm up before you start moving. It can be bad for the hydralics to try
> and push full power through cold fluid.
>
>
> On December 19, 2015 1:13:38 PM CST, Mike M <meulenms at gmx.com> wrote:
>> Hi All,
>> I have a question about glow plugs, my Mahindra is the first diesel I
>> have owned that has them. In the summer, I don't really bother with
>> them, but now that winter has arrived here in Michigan, I assume I
>> should be using them all the time. When I turn the key the light comes
>> on for about 30 seconds, then goes off, and I fire it up. Is there a
>> rule of thumb as to when I should be using them, or is it just whether
>> is starts easily enough without them? Will not using them cause any
>> harm
>> to the engine? Any thoughts would be appreciated. My old Massey didn't
>> have them, if it was below 40 degrees, you plugged in the block heater,
>>
>> or you couldn't start it.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Mike M
>>
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