Diesels and COLD weather?

[Shawn T. W.]

I put a block heater in my Massey Ferguson GC 1725 MB today, like Mark says it's a fairly easy job ... I already had the loader and hood off for a valve adjustment, and I was replacing the stupid block drain plug with a petcock ...

Knock the Left side in with a punch, pull the other side out with plyers ...

The plug measures 1 7/16"

It bolts under the exhaust bracket, which all three bolts go into slotted holes to allow adjustment.

I positioned the power cord to face up, as it seemed to make oil filter changes easier ...

It was hard to get a complete picture of the data stamp on the heater ... But it pulls 400 watts, at 120 volts.

I paid $239.25 for it.

Here is a video of it starting this morning at 22°F with a 45 second glow ... before putting in the block heater .

Cold start

 

[LouNY]

Dang are you starting at full throttle? All of mine routinely start just a bit above low idle. They don't see that high of rpm for a couple of minutes at least.

 

[Hay Dude]

I put a block heater in my Massey Ferguson GC 1725 MB today, like Mark says it's a fairly easy job ... I already had the loader and hood off for a valve adjustment, and I was replacing the stupid block drain plug with a petcock ...

View attachment 5056390

Knock the Left side in with a punch, pull the other side out with plyers ...

View attachment 5056391

The plug measures 1 7/16"

View attachment 5056392

It bolts under the exhaust bracket, which all three bolts go into slotted holes to allow adjustment.

View attachment 5056393

I positioned the power cord to fase up, as it seemed to make oil filter changes easier ...

View attachment 5056394

It was hard to get a complete picture of the data stamp on the heater ... But it pulls 400 watts, at 120 volts.

View attachment 5056515

View attachment 5056516

I paid $239.25 for it.

View attachment 5056517

Here is a video of it starting this morning at 22°F with a 45 second glow ... before putting in the block heater .

Cold start

Nice install job. I am shocked at what that kit cost. I did a a engine block heater replacement and it was like $185. Looks almost identical to the one you did.

Dang are you starting at full throttle? All of mine routinely start just a bit above low idle. They don't see that high of rpm for a couple of minutes at least.

Yes, I would agree. Just set the throttle about 1/8-1/4 and it’ll be easier on the engine than going stone cold straight up to high RPM.
I won’t hit full RPM for at least 5 and hopefully closer to 10 minutes.

 

[anomad]

I guess you are following your user manual for starting procedure if they were thoughtful enough to include that?

My B2601 wants a hit off the glow plugs in all but the warmest weather.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

Dang are you starting at full throttle? All of mine routinely start just a bit above low idle. They don't see that high of rpm for a couple of minutes at least.

It was just a guess where to up the throttle, usually it doesn't go that high, but that's not full throttle, ... Look at the tachometer ... 3100 RPM is yellow, 3300 Redline! (Which I never do!)

Notice how it sputtered along at 1000 RPM until the third cylinder kicked in ... ? Once it revved up, I cut it back ... It normally idles at 1200 RPM.

Per manual procedure #6 says to move throttle up halfway ...

I guess you are following your user manual for starting procedure if they were thoughtful enough to include that?

Yes, basically ... I did let it glow longer, per my dealers suggestion, as it wasn't starting with a 20-30 second glow ... Using 5W40 T6 Rottela synthetic motor oil ... And I use HotShots Winter Defense Anti-gel, instead of #1 ... Fuel was fine at 1° I started it at a few weeks ago ... And ran it for a few hours without any problems!

 

[M.C.]

Shawn, I would be interested in your experiences with cold weather starting of your tractor with the new block heater. That is the cheapest price I have seen yet for that block heater, congratulations on getting a deal on it. Thanks, M.C.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

Shawn, I would be interested in your experiences with cold weather starting of your tractor with the new block heater. That is the cheapest price I have seen yet for that block heater, congratulations on getting a deal on it. Thanks, M.C.

Battery minder is plugged in now, hope to give it a test tomorrow morning, as forecast is about same temp as the other days video ...

I'll go out and plug in the block heater and give it a 30 minute warm up and see what it does!

 

[Too many Kubotas]

Per manual procedure #6 says to move throttle up halfway ...

Can't recall ever using any throttle (other than on carbureted gas engines) when starting an engine.

This morning I was unusually generous and gave the L3800 close to 15 seconds of glow plug time, a record for me, but it was -5 this morning. And it fired right up, as usual, on its '13 battery.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

My Kubota L5030 needs very little, if any glow, starts on what seems like the first revolution of the crank ... But these little Iseki's 3 cylinders are very cold blooded and hard to start ...

I did adjust the valves yesterday, most were out of spec ... Not sure how, or if that will effect starting tomorrow ...

-----------------------------

Valve clearance .025 mm or 0.010”. (Manual calls for check/adjust every 500 hours)

Counting from the front of the tractor …

#1 Intake was 0.005”
Exhaust was 0.004”

#2 Intake was 0.010”
Exhaust was 0.006”

#3 Intake was 0.005”
Exhaust was 0.005”

 

[Hay Dude]

My Kubota ZD-1211’s won’t start without glow plugs even at 45-50 degrees!!!!. I have never owned a more cold blooded diesel engine.

 

[4570Man]

My Kubota ZD-1211’s won’t start without glow plugs even at 45-50 degrees!!!!. I have never owned a more cold blooded diesel engine.

None of my Kubota diesels are very happy if you skip the glow plus at that temperature.

 

[RjCorazza]

My Kubota ZD-1211’s won’t start without glow plugs even at 45-50 degrees!!!!. I have never owned a more cold blooded diesel engine.

I never really gave it much thought, but I glow my 1211 and 326 for 5 seconds routinely all summer long so they start.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

Well ... Here is my block heater comparison video ... Quite happy with the results ... Notice the temp gauge is up a little off the bottom before I start it, after 30 minutes plugged in with the block heater, same 22°F as before ...

Block heater start

 

[LouNY]

Well ... Here is my block heater comparison video ... Quite happy with the results ... Notice the temp gauge is up a little off the bottom before I start it, after 30 minutes plugged in with the block heater, same 22°F as before ...

Block heater start

Nicer

 

[Too many Kubotas]

My Kubota ZD-1211’s won’t start without glow plugs even at 45-50 degrees!!!!. I have never owned a more cold blooded diesel engine.

My "worst case diesel" is the 6.2 in the M1008 (GM 5/4-ton).

It requires starting fluid even at 70 degrees, and it probably doesn't help that only half the glow plugs work. Or used to anyway.

Once warmed up it starts fine. Unless it's been shut off for two hours or so.

 

[4570Man]

My "worst case diesel" is the 6.2 in the M1008 (GM 5/4-ton).

It requires starting fluid even at 70 degrees, and it probably doesn't help that only half the glow plugs work. Or used to anyway.

Once warmed up it starts fine. Unless it's been shut off for two hours or so.

My 6.5 turbo started good. The 6.5 had more trouble starting warm because the glow plug relay wouldn’t turn on. I put a switch on the plugs so I could turn them on manually. I’ve had half a dozen 7.3s and only one would start without plugging up the block heater. All the rest you might as well call a Uber.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

I caught ANOTHER skunk this morning ... https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/threads/mysterious-unwanted-critter-visitor-s.641154/ so I plugged in the block heater and went back in the house for about 30 minutes ... Came back out, glowed for about 10 seconds, it started OK, but not like yesterday, it idled at about 900 RPM, then after about 30 seconds it reved up to its normal "low idle" of 1200 RPM ... I put the propane torch on the transmission, and then bumped the idle up to 1600 RPM ... and then went about doing other things for about 10 minutes ... Took longer for the "warmup" once started then it took to dig the hole and bury the skunk!

But much faster than digging by hand!

I didn't actually set a timer, just went by my poor memory of about how long on both the plug in, and the glow ... I was confident that it would start ... The other two tests I actually used a timer with alarm, and the counter on the video for my times ... Besides it was colder today ... 14°