I think the block heater battery can be done but youd need a serious battery. Our batteries are for huge amperage draws over a shirt time only. They only have a 100ah capacity. Get a golf cart battery or two, and put them in parallel with an inverter. That should be more than enough. The hard part would be charging them and keeping them isolated. I guess you could tap the charging system with a diode but you wouldn't want it to suck down every last amp. I still think the propane water heater idea with the aux pump on is your best bet but the aux pump draws to much power to have on the cranking battery, you'd need a separate battery just for that. Have you tried hooking another diesel battery up to the normal battery with jumpers in parallel? When I do this I can usually crank much faster and longer without it gradually loosing speed.



But seriously, just replace your GP's

__________________
1981 300SD 512k OM603

Not for any argument's sake but a properly functioning auxillary pump will draw less that 1 amp at 12 Volts it's actually a quite small power drain at 12 watts!

Attached Thumbnails

 

Perkins Diesel and others have used a thermostart as a cold starting aid. Looks like a sending unit screwed into the intake manifold. In usage before cranking a 12 volt element heats up and diesel flows onto it when a bi-metal valve opens. Only takes about 10 seconds to get a fire going. I have used in on a Perkins 6-354 and it was a great help. Could be simple to add to your engine.

Is this what you are talking about? Interesting idea.

http://www.parts4engines.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=269

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

but of course 1/2 hour and pocket change for glow plugs will solve his problem, (o.k. maybe valve adjust too so there is another hour or so)

__________________
Thanx,
Alberta Luthier
1983 300CD ('Stinky')155k miles, 2.47 diff, EGR removed, AAZ injectors with 265 nozzles from Sean,and vogtland lowering springs.
1984 300SD ('Old Blue')150k Klicks from Japan originally, came with rear head rests, no sunroof and never had an EGR

Kerry: Yes, that is the unit.

for new member