Cold starting a PT422

emr · Dec 22, 2016

Fired up the loader today without doing anything. It was about 30 degrees out and it started perfectly. I was very happy to see that.

MossRoad · Dec 23, 2016

That's encouraging! :thumbsup:

Frank Sorbello · Jan 8, 2017

16 degrees in my pole barn. PT-422 with new 25hp Kohler fired right up - no hesitation, no pre warming. Choke and turned key. That's the way they all should start!

Marks481 · Jan 8, 2017

Frank Sorbello said:
16 degrees in my pole barn. PT-422 with new 25hp Kohler fired right up - no hesitation, no pre warming. Choke and turned key. That's the way they all should start!

Now you are just being cruel to us Robin folks. Come on, rub it in a bit more.

joshlee · Jan 8, 2017

Way to go Frank :thumbsup:

Frank Sorbello said:
16 degrees in my pole barn. PT-422 with new 25hp Kohler fired right up - no hesitation, no pre warming. Choke and turned key. That's the way they all should start!

joshlee · Jan 8, 2017

Did you ever put that Amsoil in it?

emr said:
Fired up the loader today without doing anything. It was about 30 degrees out and it started perfectly. I was very happy to see that.

emr · Jan 8, 2017

Not yet. Probably going to wait until it's first oil change is due.

joshlee · Jan 8, 2017

An interesting tid bit I learned at the John Deere Dealership the other day, was that when oiling pivot points on cylinder ends and things, conventional oil works better than synthetic, because the synthetic travels more as where the minerals in conventional help it to stay at the joint. This guy seemed to know what minerals were in the different lubricants. In his opinion, since Chain and Cable Lube might work the best for those type of pivot points, because they have graphite and travel far in its initial stage by foaming up, getting back into tight areas, then the lube stays. Because it has the graphite, even when it tends to get dry, it will still lubricate. A Steiner tractor I bought new said to use Chain Lube in the owners manual, which it seems they knew what they were talking about.

cqaigy2 · Jan 8, 2017

Interesting info about lubrication of cylinder ends.

I've been using lithium wheel bearing grease dissolved in old gasoline. Paint it on with a chip brush. It seems to migrate well then dries and leave a grease residue. I particularly like this because it's so easy to do and very inexpensive, so i do it with regularity.

I don't recall, but im pretty sure i learned the grease gas thing from somebody here on TBN, specifically the Power-Trac forum.

MinnesotaEric · Jan 8, 2017

tmarks11 said:
If you do a little searching in this forum you will find a lot of discussion of the poor cold weather performance of the robin engine. It doesn't help that while you are trying to start it, the starter motor also has to deal with spinning the oil pumps with cold oil in them.

suggestions:
1. keep it in the garage (this, however, won't solve the problem, just help)
2. put a magnetic heater on the oil tank
3. put a space heater behind it blowing into the engine compartment for half an hour before you want to start it

Assuming that the engine turns over fast enough, and that the fuel isn't gelling, the issue with starting diesels is getting heat into them. Figure out how to get warm or hot air into the intake. A heat gun running on a generator for 15 minutes and then turn the engine over with the heat gun blowing hot air into the intake.

Other wise with 120v, block heaters, hydro heaters, and fuel heaters.

joshlee · Jan 9, 2017

Thats interesting and makes sense.

cqaigy2 said:
Interesting info about lubrication of cylinder ends.

I've been using lithium wheel bearing grease dissolved in old gasoline. Paint it on with a chip brush. It seems to migrate well then dries and leave a grease residue. I particularly like this because it's so easy to do and very inexpensive, so i do it with regularity.

I don't recall, but im pretty sure i learned the grease gas thing from somebody here on TBN, specifically the Power-Trac forum.

joshlee · Jan 9, 2017

Awesome video!

EricTheOracle said:
Assuming that the engine turns over fast enough, and that the fuel isn't gelling, the issue with starting diesels is getting heat into them. Figure out how to get warm or hot air into the intake. A heat gun running on a generator for 15 minutes and then turn the engine over with the heat gun blowing hot air into the intake.

Other wise with 120v, block heaters, hydro heaters, and fuel heaters.

emr · Dec 19, 2017

This year I got sick of fighting the cold and I have seemed to find a solution that works so far. We now keep a generator on the trailer that we haul the loader with. We plug in a battery charger that has a jump start function to the generator and hook it up to the battery. That works great! For colder days I bought a propane torpedo heater. It's just a small one, but I aim that at the air intake and let it go for a few minutes. Again, that seems to work wonders. All and all, I bet it takes us a half hour of messing around to get it stated. That's fine with me because we usually have some time at the beginning of our job where we're getting set up on other things as well. It's just part of our routine now. I feel a lot better just knowing that we will get it started.

MuncyBob · Dec 23, 2017

I recently installed the Kat's heater pad on the hydraulic tank. This thing gets HOT!!
Wish I had done this winters ago! Was around 20 degrees the first time I started it and was an instant start after running the small battery charger for a few hours.

emr · Dec 23, 2017

We have one of Kat's magnetic heaters for the hydros too. It does get hot but I'm not sure how much good it does. It's just too small to make a significant difference.

Frank Sorbello · Dec 26, 2017

emr said:
We have one of Kat's magnetic heaters for the hydros too. It does get hot but I'm not sure how much good it does. It's just too small to make a significant difference.

Before I swapped out my Robin for a Kohler, The first two years I had the machine I had 2 KAT magnetic heaters. They were pretty much useless. When Terry told about the silicone pad I was very skeptical but also desperate. So I bought one and installed it just like Terry said to do. It was 100% better than the magnetic heaters and the propane torpedo heaters etc... I have still have the silicone heater attached to my 422, but never have had to use it since putting in the Kohler. If you are not planning on swapping out your robin for a Kohler in the near future - the silicone pad is the way to go for cold starts

emr · Dec 26, 2017

Any chance you could post of pictures of your set up?

MossRoad · Dec 26, 2017

Started my 2001 PT425 with the Kohler at 4 degrees F this morning. Fired up pretty good. :thumbsup:

SpringHollow · Dec 26, 2017

I used 3 of the magnetic heaters when storing the tractor in unheated space. They definitely helped but not a great solution. The glow plugs (intake manifold heaters) worked as well or better than the magnets down to 20° F.

Ken