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Hot Stuff!
Take time to warm up properly before you roll.
By Tom Berg
Winter weather demands proper cold-starting techniques to avoid engine damage. It's important to warm up your engine before heading out on the road. There are several kinds of starting aids. Your engine may have one or more of them, so find out what you have and how to operate them. Some aids help warm the engine itself. These include:
- Glow plugs, which raise the temperature in the combustion chambers.
- Block heaters, that raise the temperature of coolant surrounding the cylinders. A block heater can also help keep your engine from cooling off too fast after you shut it down.
- Oil pan heaters, which warm the oil in the sump so the lubricant flows more easily through the engine.
Another cold-weather starting aid is ether. This is a highly flammable gas that starts combustion in the chambers and, it's hoped, ignites diesel fuel that has resisted ignition. Ether is packaged under pressure in aerosol cans that can be sprayed into the air stream. Much safer for user and engine are ether kits that mount to the engine and allow spraying of pre-measured amounts of ether into the intake manifold.
Once the engine starts, run it as slowly as it will smoothly turn, and warm it up slowly to an operating temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Some electronic engines have devices that automatically raise the idle speed. Mechanical engines may have hand-activated throttles you set to raise idle speed as engine temp rises.
During cold weather, check your equipment regularly to make sure that low temperatures haven't caused damage to:
- Rubber parts (hoses, fan belts, etc.). Check them weekly.
- Electrical wiring and connections. Check for frays or damaged insulation.
Other tips:
- Keep fuel tanks as full as practical to prevent condensation on exposed tank walls. Fill fuel tanks if you'll shut off the engine for eight or more hours.
- Try to keep batteries fully charged and warm.
- In snowy conditions, check air cleaners and air inlet daily, or after passing through especially heavy snow or ice.
- In temperatures below 20 F, use No. 1 or winterized No. 2 diesel fuel, which resists clouding and gelling (see below). Either fuel should have a minimum cetane rating of 45, which aids cold starting.
- Below 20 or 15 F, consider fuel additives. These lower the cloud point (the temperature at which wax crystals begin forming and threaten to clog fuel filters) and pour point (when fuel begins to pour slowly and gel). But use only additives that are approved by your supervisor or by the engine builder.
Finally, make as many checks and inspections as possible in safe places — home terminal, truck stops and rest areas, loading and unloading docks — before you head out on the long, lonely, cold road.
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