Thread: 300tdi freezing snow start worries - usually starts first time fine, until below zero

. This is the additive that everyone seems to use.

Originally Posted by Aaron IIA

It has been pretty cold around here lately. I don't think below zero, but there is frost on the grass and ice on the windows. Nearly 10mm of ice on the stock trough. I don't bother waiting for the glow plugs to cycle on my 300tdi, I just hit the starter. It has always started after a couple of compression strokes. The cranking speed is definitely down, as the batteries would be cold and they were already in the car when I bought it four years ago. It is a bit down on power when cold, but this is expected. How your car is behaving sounds like it might be a bit down on compression. The smoke that you saw after it first started, was it whitish?

Aaron

The smoke was a bit white-ish and there was lots of it. How do you check/improve compression? My engine is from 1996 but it still hasn't even done 200,000kms.

Am I right to put that additive into a tank that already has alpine diesel in it though? I'll definitely time is so the tank is pretty empty by the time I get to Bright but just not sure if I need more of the additive in the tank than what is in the alpine diesel already.

My car will be parked up at Hotham for three days without moving and I think it's meant to snow for two days that I'm up there, so it'll get bloody cold and it'll be in the weather.

I just want to make sure it will start on the Monday afternoon when we need to leave, would hate to be stuck at the snow and have to ski for another day

Russians mix petrol in their distillate in their winters. My experience with cold weather starting was decades ago with heavy truck engines. Detroit two strokes always started easily even if almost worn out. Cummins NTC would NOT start on a cold Victorian morning without using the ether bottle. Cummins of this era came standard equipment with the ether cold starting system. Tells you something. The fueled up NTC400 and NTA420 Cummins would cough and splutter, run on one or two cylinders and vibrate like buggery as individual cylinders started then stopped, blew smoke rings, until the engine got a bit of heat into it. Get it started and let it idle whilst one had a hot coffee before driving off.

Going back further to the days of pre-chamber diesels and the likes of the Lanz Bulldog tractors, it was common practice by cockies to use fire to get a reluctant tractor started. Wire an old shirt or singlet on to a piece of wood, dip in in the diesel tank, set it alight, and hold it over the air intake whilst cranking. A blow torch or oxy-acetylene flame was sometimes employed particularly to the pre-heat chambers on a Bulldog.

In my heavy equipment days my then employers represented a US maker of quality and innovative small earthmoving & agricultural equipment. All their equipment had as standard a 110 volt block heater to keep the engine warm overnight in a mid-west winter.

Assuming you have the correct fuel and working glow plugs it should start fine to -40. -6 is nothing. Starts in -30 and lower are normal around here.

The key to cold starting is good timing. If it is retarded a bit, it won’t start. Most Diesel engines have a cold start advance but Land Rovers decided not to fit one. It is this important that the timing is on spec or a bit advanced.

Use a winter diesel fuel conditioner if you are unsure of the fuel.

The compression can be checked using a diesel engine compression gauge applied to either the glow plug hole or injector hole. If it is found to be low, it can be improved with new rings and a valve grind.

Check both the camshaft and injector pump timing. If they are not correct, it can cause hard starting which will be accentuated by the cold.

It was below zero here earlier today. I could not get water out of the outside tap. My 300tdi with over 420000km on the clock started within two or three revolutions without waiting for the glow plugs, so 200000km isn't necessarily old.

Aaron

Well it sounds like a 300tdi shouldn't really have a problem, I actually have a little blow torch and am happy to point it at something under the bonnet if it's safe to do so...?

Go to a truck wrecker and get the ether cold start assembly from a Cummins. Plumb it into your LR intake manifold or between the air cleaner and manifold. The system is operated by a Bowden cable on the dash.

Better still. Avoid frozen starts totally. Go to Queensland for the winter.