bigcoupee wrote:
Received my 7v tester plugs from Cristiano at Etecono1 as promised. Poked 'em in about two weeks ago, had one maybe two bad ceramics. Have had quite the mild Jan/Feb weather for Regina,Sask so haven't found the fail to start temp. With old ceramics working well the coldest start dead cold temp was approx. -27C. My coldest start with the 7v steelies was -17C dead cold. My gut tells me this is nearing the max cold start threshold for the 7v steelies. Unless the cycle time is lengthened this is maybe all that we can hopefore from a steelie 7v replacent, while keeping the plug somewhat reliable. A diesel should really be plugged in for any sustained temps under -10C, so to be able to start down -17C without is more than 95% of people require anyways. It's very rare that I'm away from a plugin that often and for long enough that I need to warm my jeep up just insure that it starts later.
heres a tip for installing the glow plugs or any tough wrenching project for that matter; slippery sockets and extentions can be rubberized with a little shrink tubing and heat. It helps with racheting and finger spinning out those difficult to access nuts.
The glow plugs do run longer when it is colder. When I had -20F (-28C) once it looked like they ran about 7 seconds, maybe longer, it was too cold to worry about a stop watch. LOL
One thing that helps any engine start better is a strong battery.
My Sears Platinum P1 is much better than the Optima Red Top ever was.
Guess we are getting an easy winter unlike Europe where it snowed in Rome.
I plan to order a set or two of the Etecnol when US based suppliers sell them, I only buy Guinness or Baily's Irish Cream to help out the Euro, I don't plan on paying there 15% VAT tax.