Cold Weather = Compression Test
 

1st winter for our 300d, plenty of miles - daughter is driving.

The car was sitting out all day today until I took it for an errand about 8pm and +20f degrees outside. Normal glow, started right off - although idled a little slower than normal initially. I'm running Rotella synthetic 5w40.

Absent a compression test, can I take this as a "good sign?"

Yes.










.

20 degrees = eh, no big deal. Could be worse I suppose.
-20 degrees = damn good, I wish mine did that. Wouldn't even bother testing it.

That sounds "normal" and probably means the glow plugs are working and the compression is at least decent. Starting at 20 F shouldn't be a challenge, 10 F and below is more of a test.

Edit for temp +20 currently (not -20).

I've seen them with low enough compression not to start below 32F. Mine started at 4F last winter which was the coldest morning we had. Wasn't an easy start, but I figured not bad for 230k miles.

With a long glow, my beat up engine will start in sub-zero temps. It's all about maintenance.

My shot SD is good down to about 20, below that its iffy. Back in its day the PO was telling me how he used to take it skiing, back in oh 1985 or so. According to him -20 degrees on the side of a mountain not plugged in, and it started!:eek: At the time I think it only had like 25k miles on it.:cool:

0 seperates the good cars from the tired ones. I only tested the SDL once since its not driven in the winter, but -2 not plugged in and she fired off no problem. My friends E300D has seen a couple starts below -5 degrees and again, lights off like a gasser, well err a little rough for a second or two.

The computers make the newer diesels behave in cold weather!:D