It's a diesel.

Any diesel at -10 is going to rattle and shake.

Turn key to on, wait for buzzers to go off, then start.

Many have indicated that the glow plugs are actually on longer than the glowplug light suggests. I use to go by the light and had looong starts. Now I wait until the chimes go away and it starts up much better. Mine will start this way down to 0 to -5f on 3 glowplugs, the first time. I'm using the 7v etecnos.

You're going to a lot of effort to prevent the rattle but this raises a couple of questions:

- I too cringe at the rattle/smoke but is it really that bad for the engine?
- Would it be beneficial if we could cut the signal to the injectors and allow it to crank for a few seconds before providing fuel?

I've only ever run with ceramics and have spares to keep me going a bit longer. Seeing these vehicles having more starting issues as they age I'm kind of thinking the reward may be worth the risk.

I don't know if it is bad...but I'm guessing that it is combustion that is occurring while the piston is traveling up...that can't be good for rods & bearings. Then again, the 7.3L Powerstrokes are the kings of death rattle and seem to last forever....

Finally got to take my Jeep on a really good cold weather trip. I put pipe insulation on the grill to try and keep the temperature up, but my weak thermostat still wasn't able to keep up.

The temperature dropped quickly. 80MPH at 14 degrees F.



Which resulted in this:



The next morning it was -10F, and starting the KJ was...interesting...perhaps "exciting"...



We got in late, so I didn't have the presence of mind to leave the block heater plugged in. I remembered about an hour before we had to leave, but, it didn't help. The block heater can maintain some warmth on a hot engine, but, it is way too weak to warm up a -10F block. Took about 10 tries.

I *think* I got the hang of it though. I turn the key and let the lift-pump run for the full cycle. I do this until the pitch of the lift pump changes, indicating the system is fully pressurized. I then crank until it catches once and stop immediately to prevent death rattle/smoking. I repeat this process a bunch, not letting it catch, to build up heat in the cylinders. Then, on the 10th try, it fires up *fairly* smoothly.

I've got the Bosch 5V steel, but, I miss the 7V ceramics. I've been pushing NGK to make a ceramic plug for us, but, the volume is too small to make it worthwhile they say. I hope we can convince someone, somewhere to make ceramics again...

It's a diesel.

Any diesel at -10 is going to rattle and shake.

Turn key to on, wait for buzzers to go off, then start.

Many have indicated that the glow plugs are actually on longer than the glowplug light suggests. I use to go by the light and had looong starts. Now I wait until the chimes go away and it starts up much better. Mine will start this way down to 0 to -5f on 3 glowplugs, the first time. I'm using the 7v etecnos.

I've got the Bosch 5V steel, but, I miss the 7V ceramics. I've been pushing NGK to make a ceramic plug for us, but, the volume is too small to make it worthwhile they say. I hope we can convince someone, somewhere to make ceramics again...