Hello all, it's been a while since I've posted. Although I haven't started work on the truck that I mentioned in my previous thread (from a long time ago), so I haven't tried to start it yet. The -30 Celsius weather in my area yesterday got me thinking; how cold does your truck comfortably start? What was the coldest you've started it? Fahrenheit or Celsius welcome.

The conversion is:
F = Cx9/5 + 32
Conversely:
C = (F-32)x5/9

 

-15F was the coldest.
just last month -10F and it has almost 494,000 miles on it. (i was wrong with the 497, i looked on monday when i moved it)

and i never plug it in.

 

Plugged in mine always fires up, or at least so far. It got down to -15* to -20*f. Wind chill was 30 below. Started up fine but figured out I had gotten some bad fuel when it stalled out agian. Had to crawl under it with a hair dryer to de-ice the fuel line.

There were a couple of times when I forgot to plug it in and it got down to about 0*f at night. Cycled the gp's 2 or 3 times and fired right off. No high idle or timing advance......sensor is bad.

 

I'll point out that I've not plugged it in, in the two years I've been driving it to work.

For me, somewhere around 10/15F. When it got that cold, I had horrible trouble -- I suspect the fuel was starting to cloud/gel, because my IP sure didn't want to inject much of anything(despite having pressure at the filter). Took me a few minutes, but I finally got it started with quite a bit of ether and praying.

After that, I started mixing in plenty of Diesel anti-gel additive while it's been really cold, and haven't had any issues since.

Anywhere over 20F, it starts just fine on GPs(if I have a least 6 or 7 working - manual system).

 

-15F is the lowest Ive gotten it (not plugged in)

 

How many times did you cycle the glow plugs?

Did you notice that it turned over slower? Once the temp gets down to about 0 I have noticed mine turns over alot slower if it has not been plugged in.

 

Your timing makes a big difference. I had mine at 10btc and it would start in single digits, then I backed the timing to 7btc and you better have it plugged in at around 20f or it's not going to start, but it's a 300,000 mile plus motor that needs valve work.
My other that I just rebuilt, but with .060 shaved off the pistons, will start in single digits, but it's tough. The timing on it is at 7 too. I'm going to switch my oil to 10-40, that was a big help with my ex's 6.5t suburban.

 

Once, only tried it to see if it could as a worse case scenario (normally drive my Miata as its a lot cheaper ) as far as cranking speed, it cranked a little slower but not bad, without a doubt a lot better then the Mata does for sure (half the time when it gets down to single digits Im wondering if I need a jump box, 1-2 slow revolutions and it fires right up though)

 

(this is with chip truck.)
sure was a mean winter.hit some nasty lows.mine started right up -20F.the batteries took a hit from the cold,you could tell she didn't spin fast,but within a few seconds after one normal cycle of the gp's without a block heater,she fired up.

i do seem to have a drain,cus after a couple weeks without starting it,she did need the batteries charged up.think i had to put it on the charger twice this winter.maybe 3 times.if i was running the truck much i probably wouldn't have had to.

7.3l
banks sidewinder
dual 850cca
3/awg bat cables
duralift e-pump
engine timing @ 7 BTDC/2k rpm
lil over 100k miles
fresh ip (IFS reman)
fresh (new) factory turbo stanadyne fuel injectors/G codes
oem gp system (fully tested/cleaned connections.)
completely replaced fuel system (minus a pickup with pin holes in rear tank.use front tank only.)
block heater condition = unknown (iv seen the cord,so i know there is one lol.)
autozone reman oem Mitsubishi starter
mobil 1 turbo diesel truck 5w-40 synthetic motor oil



she starts easier than my little 4 cyl in my mazda beater car.iv never had a gas engine start anywhere near as easy as this engine does.wasn't always the case.previous owner neglect was the cause of very poor (even when warm out lol) cold starts when i bought it.