cold start's

[hklvette]

With a half tank of summer blend diesel and a couple gallons (5 or so) of summer gas, mine has been difficult to start on cold (10-15F) days, even with a functioning manifold heater. I plan on putting 2 gallons of gas and the rest diesel in the tank tonight. Not sure if it actually helps, but I keep the gas in there to keep water from building up in the tank and prevent gelling, and the winter blends should light a bit easier when cold.

As for "bumping" the MH: When I had my injector out to make sure it was spraying okay, I found that during the first second of having the switch turned on, the injector throws out a stream (not a spray). Only after pressure builds does it create a fine mist that the plug can ignite.

my $.02

 

[1978davidw]

You dont want to add gasoliine to your tank at all. It kills your cold start ability as it dramatically lowers your cetane of your fuel and raises your octane.. Since the multifuel fires from the compression and not a spark lowering your cetane and raising octane is a bad thing in cold weather. as for keeping water out add some methanol to your fuel not gasoline... gas does nothing to prevent water.. I run a 50/50 mix of deisel and 20w used hyd oil.

 

[hklvette]

You dont want to add gasoliine to your tank at all. It kills your cold start ability as it dramatically lowers your cetane of your fuel and raises your octane.. Since the multifuel fires from the compression and not a spark lowering your cetane and raising octane is a bad thing in cold weather. as for keeping water out add some methanol to your fuel not gasoline... gas does nothing to prevent water.. I run a 50/50 mix of deisel and 20w used hyd oil.

doesn't meth move your octane up just the same? It has an octane rating of about 129 (source: wikipedia)

In either case, your point about cold starts is quite valid. Time to pony-up for for the white bottle from Power Service.

 

[Wildchild467]

I started my truck yesterday morning it was -3 F. Hit the starter and it cranked over for about 3 seconds and started to fire some then died. I waited a few seconds and done this again with the same spit and sputter that lasted just a little bit longer. Done this a third and fourth time and on the fifth time she fired up and kept running. All with no manifold heater and i didnt even use my cold weather ether start. Needless to say after the 45 min drive to work my hands were froze almost to ice and the cab temp even with the heater inside probably never got above 45. i have a large cardboard in front of the radiator and the engine still struggled to get to 155-160.

I put cardboard over my radiator before i got the winter front cover and it did help, but the temperature was about 35 degrees out. -3 degrees out is really cold no matter what, but maybe the thermostat is stuck a little and not letting it warm up. Im not suggesting to tear right into it because its -3 out and maybe its just too cold to warm up.... i dont know. I do know if its that cold you should have the winter front cover over the grill. That helps out a lot! my truck was not running that well even though i drive it down the highway to work at temperature. it never skipped, but just lacked some power. i put the winter cover on the front and got the temperature up to 200 and it ran a lot better like it burned all the crap out of it. It is like what is suggested in the TM if it is wet stacking, load it up and get it on the highway and work it. it really helps a lot. the winter front covers are not that expensive, so its worth it to have the engine running at the correct temperature and to have your fingers not freezing cold.

 

[1978davidw]

Yeah im definitely going to invest in a winterfront. As far as methanol goes it does in fact raise the octane up but you only need to add a few ounces to take care of the water..Or you could just drain your fuel filter housings and change your filters regularly and then you dont have to worry about the water issue at all.

 

[Maverick1701]

I tried to make a video of mine cold starting at 14* w/wind chill of -9...well I should have charged batteries

I setup my camera, hopped into my truck and engine turned over a few times and stopped.....DOH!

Its charging right now, ill post a starting video soon when everything charges