If you're finding, or expecting to find it difficult to start the old rattlebox in the cold, these tips may help.
Compression is your best friend. Consider a valve job, or entire rebuild. Perhaps in the past, too thick a head gasket was installed? I've found engine RESTORE does help compression a little bit.
Ensure your glowplugs are ALL functional, your timing is correct and your coldstart mechanism works.
Know your engine. Every one is different. One of my cars likes to be started with the coldstart knob in, and as it starts to cough and bark, slowly pull the knob out as it comes to life, but not before. Another likes the knob pulled out from the beginning.
Block heaters work wonders.
Avoid ether.
Keep a tow strap and a good set of booster cables in the trunk.
Use a good quality winter fuel additive, such as stanadyne. (Giles sells it cheaper than the dealer)
Glowplugs continue to burn after the light goes off. Don't crank the engine until you hear the plug relay click off. (15 sconds after light-out on my car) This will allow battery voltage to recover, giving you faster crank speeds. A fast cranking speed is critical.
After it starts, if it's rough and smokey, you can quickly flick the key off and on (don't hit the starter again!) to put the plugs through another cycle and smooth out the idle. Use throttle to maintain the minimum steady idle. Don't rev the crap out of it.
In bad cases, you might have to towstrap it in gear (key on) to get it to light off.
One surefire method I've used in the past is to power the starter motor with 24v. This is less trouble than the towstrap method and can be done alone.
Keep a spare battery in the trunk with your jumper cables. (give it a charge now and then!)
Modify your positive battery cable terminal. Purchase the type that has a stud and wingnut. Always keep the alternator output, fusepanel power wire and other power consumers attached to this stud, which stays at 12v.
Make a 10-12" jumper wire with an appropriate female spade terminal at one end and bare wires or another terminal at the other end. Should be 8-10 gauge. This jumper will trigger the starter solenoid with 24v. Triggering a 24v starter motor with only 12v to the solenoid won't always work. The motor spins past max engagement speed before the solenoid can throw the gear out.
When in need, haul out the booster cables, and spare battery and set it on the ground in front of the car. Remove the starter's power supply wire from the positive terminal stud. Tighten the wingnut back down on the consumer wires. Connect the
first red booster cable clamp to the
main battery's positive terminal. Connect the
second red booster cable clamp to the
spare battery's negative terminal. Connect
the first black booster cable clamp to the
starter power supply wire. Connect the
second black booster cable clamp to the
spare battery's positive post. You now have 24v supplied to the starter. (it won't turn yet.) BE CAREFUL!! It's a helluva spark if you accidentally short circuit 24v.
Next, remove the starter trigger wire from the solenoid and install your jumper wire. Turn the key on and ensure the trans is in neutral. Put coldstart knob where it likes to be. When the glowplug light goes out, move to the front of the car and touch the solenoid jumper wire's bare end to 24v. (probably the clamp on the starter's power supply wire would be easiest.)
It'll probably spark, and you'll probably jump and let it go. Grow some nuts and try again. This time, as you hold it in place, you'll be amazed at how quickly the engine turns over, and.... STARTS! (hopefully you remembered to leave it in neutral) Apply throttle by hand as neccessary to maintain idle. Release the jumper wire as soon as it's running.
Now carefully unclamp the starter power supply wire and avoid shorting it on anything.
You'll want to let it run a few minutes to warm up first, because loosening your wingnut might disrupt power to the fuel solenoid causing a stall. While it's warming up, why not set up the booster cables to give the spare battery a charge? Don't forget to remove the jumper wire and re-install the car's trigger wire.
After the engine's warmed up, put the starter power supply wire back on the positive stud. With a little practice, you'll be able to do this without stalling the engine. Throw your junk back into the trunk and drive away happy. This method has yet to fail me on any but the most hopeless case.
Check out the diagrams below:
In case you're worried about your starter's health, don't. Extended cranking with dropping voltage is much harder on it than a short burst of higher volts. Remember, amps=heat. Higher volts= less amps. It's one of the reasons big machinery motors are 220 or 600v.
Topic: Dr. D's helpful winter starting tips (Read 4913 times)
