Great...stuck in Fennville w/a no-start CUCV any suggestions

[mangus580]

Dont feel bad about it Amy... I had my 1009 gel over this morning. Spent probably 4 hours getting it running again. Now I dont want to shut it off!!

 

[ida34]

You guys need a heated garage like mine. It only gets down to 30 in the garage with the outside temp -8 before the windchill. Started the deuce the other day and it was the first time I used the ether start system.

 

[ojsdna744]

You guys need a heated garage like mine.

I sure do Chuck, I sure do....

Glad you got it going Amy!!

 

[rdixiemiller]

Amy
Break down and get a deuce. That way you can carry the CUCV in back instead of a spare tire!
Glad you got going young'un!
Let's see pics of the Packard.

 

[mangus580]

Even my deuce didnt wanna start today... It needed a sniff of ether.

 

[steelsoldiers]

Glad you are rolling again Amy! Back when my M1009 was new to me in '95, I could be seen creating huge smoke clouds trying to get mine started with about 1.5 glow plugs! I ether'd, I poured hot water, I cranked... phew. My left rear parking brake froze solid once after a rain and freeze. I took a dryer hose, taped it to a tailpipe, taped a trash bag to it and wrapped it around the drum. After about 15 min with the engine running I was off again. Reneck engineering at its finest!

Bjorn, love the stencil!!

 

[amy1009]

Thanks for all the good advice! I think that I'm going to be ordering not just the freeze plug heater...but a dipstick heater, a magnetic fuel tank heater...and I'm thinking of permanently affixing a battery charger in that spacious engine compartment! ha ha. Of course, by the time it all gets here and I get the guts to install it in (in the driveway) in the -7F weather here, spring will have sprung!) Perhaps for now I'm should pick up a 4' tube from which I can spray ether into the intake while sitting in the truck cranking it and working the pedal...I don't think I work with one person who could handle either the cranking or the spraying...and if word got out of what I was up to they'd probably fire me!) I wonder if the B20 made the situation critical...hmm...well thanks again! Oh - Fennville is sort of between Saugatuk and South Haven about 5miles from Lake Michigan so ton of lake-effect snow. I'll see if I can post a pic of my tarp tent w/ the heater in the engine compartment it's pretty funny!

 

[ARMYMAN30YearsPlus]

Please do post the pictures sounds like a good laugh now that you are running and warm. I am glad you got going. When I was a truck mechanic in the Berkshire Mountains big trucks would jell up all the time in the winter if they did not run Power Service or another brand of de-icer.

They would either be stalled and I had to drag them with the Michigan loader or they would come in limping unable to get full power. I would get them in the bay close the door and put a salamander heater right up next to the saddle tank. You could easily see the jelled fuel in the tank, I would then sell them some Power Service additive and send them to the dinner for a meal while the fuel warmed up.

Don't worry about the smell of an airport all my diesels smoke when started cold it is a matter of living with combustion ignition. It does smell different with either too makes for a nice change of smell. Plugging in the block heater will make the starting easier but the cure for jelled fuel is addidtive all the way.

 

[mangus580]

Amy, I wouldnt bother with the dipstick heater. I have heard they tend to 'cook' your oil. I think your problem was related to the B20, not enough anti-gel, and quite possibly a few faulty glow plugs. My 1009 normally will start in 0-5 degree weather with no issue. I just went out and started it now at 12 with the block heater plugged in.... Started like it was 60 out! The block heater does wonders. Get that, and I like the idea of the fuel tank heater.

 

[surpdlr]

FUEL GELLING IN THE COLD??

Best thing all us CUCV and Multi Fuel jockey’s can do us use Stanadyne Proformance formula plus. I have never had a gel issue since I started using it in the early 1990's. The added bonus is that it will help your pump live longer on the garbage low sulfur and ultra low sulfur fuel we have now. Who better to treat the fuel that goes through your CUCV Stanadyne pump, then Stanadyne themselves!!

If you have a Gel issue, you need to remember that you have just caused the paraffin or wax to solidify in the fuel also. It will not just magicly absorb back into the fuel!! Stanadyne makes a product called Ice Breaker for just such an emergancy.

Best to change Fuel filters after a Gel adventure!!!

A sure sigh of gelling fuel is a big white cloud coming out of the exhaust, meaning that you are burning very lean. Watch trucks coming south to north in a sudden clod snap and you will see this!!

Isn’t cold weather fun!!

 

[AJMBLAZER]

RE: FUEL GELLING IN THE COLD??

So on a related subject...

...I think my M1008 has a block heater...at least I think I can see a plug wire hanging underneath it. Haven't bothered to investigate further. Did these things ever come with some or was it common for the military to put them on?
All of my service was in SoCal so obviously plugging them in at night wasn't an issue.

Meanwhile my truck's been sitting outside for most of a month and has a nice heavy coating of snow on it now. I've been meaning to fire it up but haven't had time to and have been a bit scared of the prospect of it not starting...it's my first diesel. I use additive, add a little ND30w to keep the pump happy, and it has always started on the first try when it's warm-ish outside and the second when it's been cold. However now it's COLD...
Thoughts and/or advice?
It's got a full tank right now.

 

[mangus580]

RE: FUEL GELLING IN THE COLD??

Plug it in... Let it warm up for about an hour or 2... and fire it up!

 

[amy1009]

RE: FUEL GELLING IN THE COLD??

Okay...well she hasn't started since I made it home!( I'm going to check the glowplugs tonight, maybe get new batteries since whatever pathetic life they had left I'm sure I've burned up over the past few days... Has anyone got the magnetic block heater (300W Kat?) or know someone who has it and whether or not it works? Interesting about the dipstick heater...I've been studying locomotives and cold weather for work recently and granter they're a bigger beast, oil heaters play an extremely important role in cold weather startups - not just emission-wise but to reduce engine damage so I figured the dipstick heater was a must-have - cook the oil huh? Shucks.

 

[hippiedude]

I have used dipstick heaters in the past... never cooked up the oil ?? Problem with them is they can crack from bending though the dipstck tube... plus it is so cold were you are you need all the heat you can get...

 

[ida34]

Amy,
If you get stuck and need help figuring the system we could work out a meet time and I could try to help you. I think you have something else going on. Mine has not had a problem yet and it is parked outside from 1pm until about 10pm. I would check all the glow plugs for function. It only takes a few minutes. The trouble shooting section of the -20 works out pretty well for checking out the system. Did you fill it up with #2 on your way back? Do you think it is gelled or do you think the glow plugs are not working? Does the voltage gage show a deflection when the wait light is on? Let us know how it works out.

Chuck

 

[surpdlr]

Re: RE: FUEL GELLING IN THE COLD??

Okay...well she hasn't started since I made it home

If you gelled your fuel, you probably also waxed your fuel filter, change it!!!! Should work wonders.

 

[mangus580]

Re: RE: FUEL GELLING IN THE COLD??

Okay...well she hasn't started since I made it home

If you gelled your fuel, you probably also waxed your fuel filter, change it!!!! Should work wonders.

Agreed! It was when I changed my filter Monday, that I was finally able to get going again...

 

[amy1009]

You know - I am mostly still suspicious of the fuel...see I left Saturday morning, and the weather was cold - and she started w/no problems...then I drove it til she was low on gas and filled up at the Meijers station in Plainwell (W-MI) and it hasn't been right since. I've heard that other people have had trouble with this new ULSD in the cold, has anyone else? I called Meijers to ask if they'd had any complaints, of course the girl who answered the phone said 'no' - but I figure that's cuz they were like me - too busy trying to start their truck to call and complain... Tonight I'm checkin the glowplugs (I've read that I should just unscrew them one at a time, ground it and cycle the key - sounds like a good method to me as long as I don't break something unscrewing them...) and my block heater (coolant style) should be in...hopefully I can be back on the road tomorrow as I'm really sick of this lame F350 gas-hog (gas-dog really it's so slow...) and I miss my truck! You know, the post about me getting a deuce...hmmm...so tempting...I wish I had kept the one I had ten years ago, although it was an M52 (I think) not a 'deuce' right? That was the perfect size. I saw a post here somewhere where someone had a picture below their name of a tow-truck with what looked like a Suburban hanging from it...now that's just COOL!!! I'd like one of those!!! Here's a pic of my Packard - somewhat relevant since Packard built a lot of things for WWII I guess...

 

[surpdlr]

You know - I am mostly still suspicious of the fuel...see I left Saturday morning, and the weather was cold - and she started w/no problems...then I drove it til she was low on gas and filled up at the Meijers station in Plainwell (W-MI) and it hasn't been right since. I've heard that other people have had trouble with this new ULSD in the cold, has anyone else?

Low sulphur caused lot of gelling problems when it came out years ago. I wouldn't be surprised to find the same for ultra low sulphur fuel. Go to your local fuel injection shop and get a bottle of Stanadyne Ice breaker. Treat the fuel with that. Also get some Stanadyne Proformance Formula Plus and use that in every tank. Should end any fuel related problem!! Been working for me for well over 10 years now.

 

[mangus580]

They had trouble with school busses and such in our area monday. The stuff I found at the local auto parts was a red bottle, called Diesel 911 worked pretty good for me. I suspect its similar to the Stanadyne Ice Breaker. (might be a little easier to find)