-10 and wont start

[jpedro]

so its fairly cool here. went to start my car without being plugged in, and no such luck. it just cranks and smokes a lil, let the glow plugs go there duration and it tries but wont take off, battery is good, glow plugs are good, compression is amazing. just wont start, so i plugged it in for 4 hrs or so and tried again let the glow plugs go and wham right now she fired up? and ran awsome. it seemed to turn over fairly fast without being plugged in and it wont go what should i do cause it cannt always be pluged in when im at work or what have you. what should i do?

[maxfax]

What weight/type of oil are you running, and where is your timing set?

[Mark(The Miser)UK]

so its fairly cool here. went to start my car without being plugged in, and no such luck. it just cranks and smokes a lil, let the glow plugs go there duration and it tries but wont take off, battery is good, glow plugs are good, compression is amazing. just wont start, so i plugged it in for 4 hrs or so and tried again let the glow plugs go and wham right now she fired up? and ran awsome. it seemed to turn over fairly fast without being plugged in and it wont go what should i do cause it cannt always be pluged in when im at work or what have you. what should i do?

Carry a spare battery with jump leads for a 'boosted' start...

[jpedro]

it currently has cheveron delo 400 LE 15w 40 oil but i dont see that being the problem as it spins nive when its cold. and as far as a spare battery thats what ive got in there hahaha

[79rabbit4dr]

I've heard from a 30+ year diesel mechanic, but never tried, that soaking a rag in gas and then putting it over the end of the intake tube can help. Then again, I've read many times on here that SPRAYING any type of starting aid into the intake is bad. Maybe having the fumes without the fluid is the difference, I'm not sure. Just thought I'd share that tid-bit.

[trev]

Go with a lighter oil. Pop test your injectors. When the atomisation goes, so does the easy start.

No advance lever until it fires. Mine actually cranks slower with the advance out. I should check the timing on mine again.

Check your timing.

Consider a bypass switch for more glow heat.

I've never had to resort to it, but a Tiger Torch in a chunk of stovepipe will warm the oil pan pretty reasonably. An elbow on the end of the pipe to point the heat at the oil pan... Due care and attention required.

Walking out to the parking lot on breaks sucks, but is a lot cheaper than a fuel fired engine heater.

Cheers
 Trev

[8v-of-fury]

I think that if she spun fast and smoked whilst trying to start earlier in the day.. then you have 2 or more gp's out.

If after plugging in the block heater it fired (simulating a hot engine where a 2 second glow is more than enough) the 2 plugs (if any) could have easily started it, Like it did.

Replace your gp's, no more problems. I think 15-40 is good down to like -15c isnt it?

[jpedro]

so i pulled all the gps and checked them all they all glow nice and red..... so put them back in and tried it again and it will just crank as its cold. plug it in for an hour and vroom away she goes. on days when it was only about -5 it started no problem let the plugs glow and away she goes now its cooler out no such luck could it be the plugs are just not getting hot enough?

[maxfax]

could it be the plugs are just not getting hot enough?

What brand are they???   It so happens a few years back I had a Benz in the shop that acted the same way..  We removed the Autolite gps that all appeared to glow nice and red, and replaced them with Bosch.. Fixed it right up.. 

[rabbitman]

Does the cold start knob make any difference?

[theman53]

Do the GP glow on the bench or in the car? Do you have power to them in the car is what I mean.

[rodpaslow]

Just one other note - I don't know if this is your DD, but if you got some bad fuel or some summer fuel from a station that isn't a big user of diesel, I've had that problem before as well, especially (here anyway) being the first cold snap.  I make sure first part of winter below 0, that I always buy from a station where I know they go through a large amount of fuel, just my $.02.

[410]

Injection pump timing makes a huge difference when it comes to cold weather starting.  I would say that your glow plugs are getting power otherwise it would be hard starting in any weather except maybe +30'C.  If the engine cranks slower when the cold start lever is pulled out then your timing is just about perfect for our Canadian winters imo.  If it cranks faster when the cold start lever is pulled, I would bump the injection pump timing up the tiniest little bit and see what happens.

I actually change my pump timing for the different seasons.  Less static timing in the summer keeps the clatter to a minimum and more static timing in the winter for better starts.   

[jpedro]

i poured 20L of fresh diesel into the half tank that has been sitting in there since april or somewhere there and without being plugged in today its about -8 out let the plugs glow and vroom might have been some poor fuel im thinking

[maxfax]

Sounds kinda like crappy fuel if the problem went away that fast...  May wanna change the filter and run some diesel purge..