Mighty Cold Test....

truckbouy2 · **Posted:** Mon Feb 10, 2014 11:58 am

-16º F, No Plug-in, actually got to see the glow plug pigtail light, she rolled over about three times and fired right up. Sounded like the piston where changing holes. She smoothed right out and ran just like it was summer. :BANANA:

Mountainman · **Posted:** Mon Feb 10, 2014 12:39 pm

That's great news :rockon:

Maybe we can expand on this thread a bit to optimize our CRD's for below zero weather?

My CRD is soon to be doing several weeks a year at those kind of temps, parked in the wilderness (no plug-ins), and I wonder if the Rotella 5W-40 that I'm running is the best viscosity to make sure I don't hear "loud sounds"? Would the Mobile 1 0W-40 be a little safer when sitting a week in sub zero temps? 165k miles and hoping to nurse these rockers to 300k. The EGR wasn't disabled on this CRD until 140k

Anyone have any experience with Schaefer Diesel Treat 2000 in a CRD or anything else? And, what's the best for the money in the way of winter fuel additive?

I'm probably going to bring a spare battery to clip in parallel with my main to lessen the chance that I walk 20 miles to nearest pavement.

truckbouy2 · **Posted:** Mon Feb 10, 2014 1:38 pm

5-40 Rotella Syn since day one. We bought it it 900 miles on it and the secret egr shut off was initiated. A good dose of Power Service (white bottle) @ fill up and a Sears Platinum battery. I cycled the g plugs twice but the pigtail light only came on the first time I guess they were still on or the one time is all you get. She made a LOT of noise but smoothed right out. I figured they are starting these all over Europe and Russia with cold and colder weather and more than likely not plugged in so why not, Should work, right ? The Princess has started it after sitting out side her clinic all day at -22ºF not too shielded from the wind. She said it was mighty noisy.

joelukex4 · **Joined:** Thu Sep 29, 2011 4:54 pm **Posts:** 386

At -16F typical mornings I would go with a 0W40 Synthetic preferably Amsoil but Mobil 1 if needed.

Drewd · **Joined:** Mon Feb 06, 2006 12:24 pm **Posts:** 902

-18 deg F not too long ago. 2006 Liberty CRD fired up fine (ceramic stock plugs) with 2 glow plug cycles 15 seconds each. She was running on 3 cylinders briefly (think one glow plug is very weak) and I kept cranking and applying go pedal to up rpm's until 4th cylinder caught...about 1600 rpm.

2007 Grand Cherokee CRD took 5 attempts and 300 amp boost from my battery charger to get it running....it usually is more reliable and easier to start in cold weather so this was very disappointing.

Both have 1 year old Costco batteries...both batteries are ok.

5w40 Mobil 1 in both.

flman · **Posted:** Sat Feb 15, 2014 7:29 am

truckbouy2 wrote:

-16º F, No Plug-in, actually got to see the glow plug pigtail light, she rolled over about three times and fired right up. Sounded like the piston where changing holes. She smoothed right out and ran just like it was summer. :BANANA:

You must have those terrible ceramics in there that we were warned about. They are crap, they are going to break and fall inside the engine. darn bean counters should have used steel. :furious:

Now we have all kinds of new threads about poor starting CRDs with steel glow plugs. They are crap, they are going to burn out in a couple of months. :ROTFL:

Keep the ceramics as long as you can.

LMWatBullRun · **Posted:** Mon Feb 17, 2014 6:19 pm

flman wrote:

truckbouy2 wrote:

-16º F, No Plug-in, actually got to see the glow plug pigtail light, she rolled over about three times and fired right up. Sounded like the piston where changing holes. She smoothed right out and ran just like it was summer. :BANANA:

You must have those terrible ceramics in there that we were warned about. They are crap, they are going to break and fall inside the engine. darn bean counters should have used steel. :furious:

Now we have all kinds of new threads about poor starting CRDs with steel glow plugs. They are crap, they are going to burn out in a couple of months. :ROTFL:

Keep the ceramics as long as you can.

You pays your money and you takes your choice. Failure of the Etechno does not endanger the engine. Fracture a ceramic and you may have a real problem. This was sufficient all by itself to persuade me that switching to 7 volt Etechno metal plugs made sense.

flman · **Posted:** Mon Feb 17, 2014 7:34 pm

LMWatBullRun wrote:

flman wrote:

truckbouy2 wrote:

-16º F, No Plug-in, actually got to see the glow plug pigtail light, she rolled over about three times and fired right up. Sounded like the piston where changing holes. She smoothed right out and ran just like it was summer. :BANANA:

You must have those terrible ceramics in there that we were warned about. They are crap, they are going to break and fall inside the engine. darn bean counters should have used steel. :furious:

Now we have all kinds of new threads about poor starting CRDs with steel glow plugs. They are crap, they are going to burn out in a couple of months. :ROTFL:

Keep the ceramics as long as you can.

You pays your money and you takes your choice. Failure of the Etechno does not endanger the engine. Fracture a ceramic and you may have a real problem. This was sufficient all by itself to persuade me that switching to 7 volt Etechno metal plugs made sense.

What about when is starts cold running on one cylinder skipping and jumping and jumps timing. My ceramics will be back in by next winter, once I get the weeks elbow kit. I also have 2 used ones that I got back when the 5V were first introduced. Any one else have a couple of used ceramics they want to part with?

LMWatBullRun · **Posted:** Mon Feb 17, 2014 9:22 pm

flman wrote:

LMWatBullRun wrote:

flman wrote:

You must have those terrible ceramics in there that we were warned about. They are crap, they are going to break and fall inside the engine. darn bean counters should have used steel. :furious:

Now we have all kinds of new threads about poor starting CRDs with steel glow plugs. They are crap, they are going to burn out in a couple of months. :ROTFL:

Keep the ceramics as long as you can.

You pays your money and you takes your choice. Failure of the Etechno does not endanger the engine. Fracture a ceramic and you may have a real problem. This was sufficient all by itself to persuade me that switching to 7 volt Etechno metal plugs made sense.

What about when is starts cold running on one cylinder skipping and jumping and jumps timing. My ceramics will be back in by next winter, once I get the weeks elbow kit. I also have 2 used ones that I got back when the 5V were first introduced. Any one else have a couple of used ceramics they want to part with?

Well, I haven't seen -20, but it's been below zero here in the mountains of the mid-Atlantic, and the CRD cranked right up when I did the multiple on-off key thing. Admittedly, that is not a perfect solution, but for where I am and what I am doing, it works fine. With the new battery and new rockers, it starts fine. I think part of the problem some folks might be having is low effective compression from rocker wear, soot buildup, etc. That makes a huge difference trying to crank a diesel.

If I were running the CRD regularly in weather much colder than, say, zero, and especially if I were away from grid power, like on a back country trip, I'd probably change to 0W oil. and I would probably make up an adapter for my gasoline stove that would heat the oil pan from underneath. I've seen pictures of such things that they use in backcountry Alaska, and it makes sense. Maybe also install a grid heater, and I would think about packing a small Honda generator that I could use to plug in the block heater and a battery charger, too. Or maybe I'd go to a non-computerized 4WD vehicle like an old military 6x.....

DOC4444 · **Posted:** Tue Feb 18, 2014 1:51 am

I bought some 0W-40 TD oil that Mobil only sells in Canada. It comes in Litre bottles.

DOC

Mighty Cold Test....

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