+8*F Whose 617 starts right up
 

It hasn't been cold her for a few years. I went to start the SD & it only cranked but didn't start. It was plugged in and I cycled the GP 3 times. I don't "know" that the block heater works, only that it was plugged in.

The car normally starts immediately. If everything is in good shape, how cold can it be where a plugged in car that is parked outside starts easily?

Attachment 118081

My m103 started up no problem. Gasoline engines ftw.

Suppose to go down to 8F overnight. I'll see if the 85 300D will start tomorrow with 5w40 syn but no block heater. I forgot to change to synthetic in my Jetta diesel and got caught with a no start in 15F a few days ago. Engine was cranking real slow. Drained the oil and it was almost the consistency of molasses. No wonder it cranked slow. I'm sure that's not good for the starter.

Plug 'er in
 

6* here and goin down to -2* (wind chill -25*...nothin compared to our northern friends)

But looking out the window and seeing the seam between the hood and fender is melting the snow tells me the block heater is gonna make me a happy man tomorrow. :cool:

OM606NA did just fine at 18 this morning.

Mine started fine at 6 degrees not too long ago with no block heat.

Good glow plugs, mongo battery, huge battery cables and connections in good shape, 5w-40 synthetic oil, recent valve adjustment and good compression, semi truck alternator, bigger than stock glow plug wiring. Glowed for a full minute and turned the key, she cranked right up.

I've heard of other people starting at well below zero.

OM603 started right up at +76f today :D

I'll change to lighter oil when I have a chance. Is there a reliable way to test the block heater via the cord (ass/u/ming the cord is good)? Doors were frozen shut so the hood wasn't accessible.

Now I remember why I left Chicago over 35 years ago. Damn, didn't realize it was that long ago. Time flies.

Was 68 here today, and the 240 kicked right over with a 10 sec Glow.:P

Junkman, keep the Hood on the first latch so it can be opened. Put your hand on the VC it should be warm, probably slightly warm with the cold you are experiencing.

Charlie

MINUS 18 here today, yes thats -18, and the 560 gasser started up. I am not sure what would have happened if she was a diesel! But if it was, I would have had it running all night anyway!

reallll funny charlie,

:)
-2° here.... just replaced the dead battery yesterday.
no problems kicking over in -2° woot woot
replace GPs last week with Bosch think that is helping also


Pittsburgh, PA
1982 300d 150k

searching for Manilla beige hubcap please pm me if you have any for sale.

My 617 fired right up after sitting 10hrs today in -1F temps/high winds, so ALL heat was drawn out of the motor. Sat unplugged. Glowed about 1 30-second cycle....cranked about 3-4 seconds and it was up and running. :D Not bad for an engine with 321,000 miles on it!

My TDI fired right up too this evening. :D Glow cycle was about 8-10 seconds, engine rotated twice and was running.

A multi-meter can be used to test a block heater. Check for resistance across the hot and neutral wire off the wall plug. It should not be unlimited.

300dOwner I live in Rochester too haha, small world! My 603 is in the driveway I'll see if it starts in the wee hours of the morning, no block heater...

I live in the "Deep South", where it is supposed to get to 7 deg F tonite. Will know in the AM if my 300SD cranks...

WTF is it with these fridgid temps here in NC? 8F??? in the first week of JANUARY!!! NFW!

this is supposed to be THE SOUTH!!!

alas, I have no MB diesel to start at the moment... but My GMC 6.5 Diesel should not have difficulty starting up tomorrow morning without plugging it in... I hope... I have a 8:00 appointment at the university!

Never heard of such a thing here in SoCal :D

Haha yeah this is the south where snow is rare and temps rarely get into the teens. I've been looking for a suburban with the 6.5 turbo for a while, let me know how she cranks. I too have to leave for work at 8:00 so I've got the timer set to start the 300CD's block heater at 5am. It should be about 15 degrees so I expect a 5 second glow cycle to fire her right up. I'll probably make a video just for the hell of it. :)

I am in So. Cal., but in the high desert. It has gotten below freezing most every night. I have had no problems starting any of the 'Benzs, but my Mitsubishi will NOT even think of starting unless I plug it in for at least 2 hours. The best part of having a block heater (aside from being able to start the car in the first place) is having heat right away! That alone is worth the electricity used even if the car would start without being plugged in......Rich

Okay, never heard of such a thing here in Orange County :D:rolleyes::P

-15 in Wisconsin tonight
 

I was hungry for pizza and hate paying delivery charges, I I decided to try the 300d to see if it would start. I had the block heater plugged in since early afternoon, at least 6 hours. but still -15 F. Three glows and it reluctantly started, knocking adn banging , but it started.
:D

whats up with these temps?!?!
 

hmmmm, "wtf" is it...? Oooh I dunno, maybe ask ol' Al G., he knows everthin'! Why he even invented the Internet!


roflmao!

... I have to leave at 7:15... I gotta BE at the university at 8...

it's showing 10F outside right now... I got up to take a shower... no water in the place. My water main is warm, so it must be a city main has burst, or frozen... great. I went out to the shed and turned on the 75watt light out there. just to be sure there is heat in the shed. GRRRR... my truck BETTER start in a couple hours...

When I left work last night it was about -4F, I was in the middle of the parking lot. The 602 didnt even care. I turned the key after the glow plug light went off and it started. Didn't have to hold the key or anything.

I plugged the block heater in over night, had it on a timer so that it ran from 2am to 7. On the way to work, something in the upper right corner of dash (either speaker or warning buzzer) let me know that the car was just not happy. It just screamed for like 15 seconds. LOL.

If the City's water pressure dropped for an extended period of time, then I suppose you could expect piping upstream of the mains to freeze. We have a small house in the city now and our water was fine at 14 last night, but we also have the HVAC under the house too and that keeps it warm down there.

Did you drip your faucets overnight? Did the 6.5 prevail?

My neighbor was jumping his Jeep this morning when I went and fired up the benz at 8:00 in 15 degrees. I made a video and will post it along with the one I make tomorrow morning with no block heater in the same temps.

Boo hoo.

Forgot to plug the block heater in last night. Would be the first time I've ever used it. Glowed a full cycle this morning.....battery didn't want to cooperate, slow cranking. No start. (84 300D)

So not to be late to work I jumped in the 95 E300 (with 5 working gps) and got it started. Snorted and growled for a bit, but I got here.

0°F When I left at 7:45am. 4°F When I got to work at 9. It's gonna be a cold day.

That's the little draft blower fan for the climate control. Its behind the glove box, it pulls air through a tube across the climate sensor to improve accuracy. Mine would scream too in my 190 so I unplugged it. :D

It makes a big difference whether a diesel car lives in a garage or is kept outside (duh). The cold is not good for rubber seals, batteries, etc. Best to keep a battery charger on the car, a battery heater, oil heater (check this out http://www.amazon.com/ZeroStart-3200003-Lower-Radiator-Hose/dp/B0065V4MLG/ref=sr_1_9?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1389106750&sr=1-9 ) on the battery and a boost kit Clore JNC660 'Jump-N-Carry' 1, 700 Peak Amp 12-Volt Jump Starter : Amazon.com : Automotive if possible. Synthetic motor oil (Amsoil 15W40 Marine Diesel is my preference) flows at much colder temperatures than Dino oil. Anti gel in the fuel, etc etc, but you already knew that....:)

7f actual. Stayed on the boat last night to babysit it, too cold to trust automated systems. The 240D in the marina parking lot with no place to plug in a block heater. She started, summer Rotella T. Wasn't really happy about it and took a good 30 seconds of cranking after 3 glows, but she started.:)

To make y'all feel better, my 2.5L gasser (whopping 9:1CR) running synthetic 10-30 had to make two crank rotations (instead of it's usual half rotation) before it caught this morning.

4F out this morning and the 603 started instantly.

Gasser 300e started up in 2*F on Friday after sitting out all night in it, no trouble at all! I don't think my BMW would have the juice to do it. When I had the 300sd (jooseppi now has), I had started it down to -6*F with no block heater, just a couple glow cycles!

-6 degrees Fahrenheit here when I woke up, the 87 603 started but wasn't happy about it. No block heater just a new battery as of this weekend, lots of cranking and it eventually fired, im still impressed as this was the first real cold shes had to go through with me....

Here a video of my 602 starting up after work in the -3 degree weather. It sat all day without block heater.

WP_20140106_001_1_zps0251a01d.mp4 Video by JamesDean59 | Photobucket

Heat wave here...went from -3 to 2 woo hoo....ol' Blue fired right up...I ALMOST feel guilty about having the block heater on.

At least it'll be 45 this weekend!

85 300D did not start at 4F this morning, 5W40, block heater not plugged in. Took video (11 mb) uploaded to photobucket multiple times but not showing up, don't know why. Basically glowed for 30 sec, cranked for 15 sec and no signs of firing and starter started to slow just a bit so did not try again. Cranking speed sounded fast enough initially but the slow down could be a weak battery or starter.

I did check the glow plugs with a clamp ammeter and it showed initial surge of 100 amps so no glow plugs are burned out. This is not my daily driver and it has 7/8 full tank of summer fuel so I am attributing the no start to fuel gellinng for now. Does anyone know what temp summer fuel starts to gel? I put a charger on battery and plugged in block heater for an hour and it started right up.

It rained hard here yesterday (washed most of the snow away :) ) and I am happy to report my driver's door lock which is prone to freeze did not freeze with my bicycle inner tube bra. It works!

[IMG]http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...231_145132.jpg[/IMG]

was +2 degrees here this morning. my 85 300TDT had been plugged in since about 11pm. i tried starting it this morning, and after the starter decided it wanted to engage, it fired right up and idled smoothly. i let it "warm up" for about 15 minutes to get the interior warm so my daughter wouldn't freeze on the way to school. unfortunately the trip to school wasn't smooth sailing. low power, stumbling up hills, felt like there might be gelled fuel or perhaps frozen water in the tank? i let it idle in park w/e-brake on in the parking lot while i was dropping her off, about 5 minutes, and the trip back home was like normal again. subsequent trips today in the 15-20 degree temps have all been fine.

a 8ish F this morning, my truck fired up without any complaining at all... the GP's stayed on a lot longer than normal, but it fired up instantly, and was not grumpy or noisy that I noticed... I actually video taped it...

My handles are frozen. I have lots of bicycle inner tubes waiting for a patch & ill try your mod. Getting into the 40s tomorrow.:D

10 F this morning and I got the 87 OM603 without a block heater to start up on the first try. I cycled the glow plug light twice and cranked the starter between 15 and 20 seconds. It started up!! I'm glad too; its the only one I have with heated seats.

6 degrees no block started first try single glow. Sadly it smokes for a while....

Even though the car started and ran great, I had no heat to my feet and that... sucks. One of the hoses popped off the foot vent pots which I fixed quickly... thank fully.

26 with 14 wind chill last night. My 85 wagon had a few cycles this morning and a grumpy start. Same at thing 1730 when I left work. Very cranky start :(.

7F this morning and, with no block heater, and an inoperative passenger heater, I'm not torturing my TD or myself in this weather! Still too much salt on the road and I didn't need to go anywhere today anyway.

Happy Motoring, Mark

Just ran out to plug in the block heater on the '87 300TD...Greazzer is sending me new injectors, and until they get here, apparently a new battery, strong starter and new glow plugs still means - if I'm gonna get to work on time - I better plug it in! Luckily I'm on a dead end and they can drive right over my extension cord if they leave before me (unlikely). We'll see.... I miss my '85 300CD which started every time, every weather.

Many mention wind chill along with low temps. Does wind chill add to the low temps and make the engine harder to start? Doesn't wind chill just cool a warm engine down to ambient quicker than no wind?

Just cools it off quicker, the engine will never be below the stated air temp. Windchill is a human thing. :D

AW YISS!
 

as I understand it, wind chill is a 'feels like' temperature used by weatherpeople to jazz up their reports. It is a real effect on exposed skin, but not so much for vehicles.

8 degrees in Newport RI this morning and the 300D fired right up first time after the glow light went out.

over the last period of 40* weather, I changed air filter, the oil to T6 5w40, adjusted the valves (uniformly 0.05 mm tight to start with), and cleaned off glow plugs.

I managed to drop a bunch of the harness retaining nuts into the dirt, but happily discovered that they are the same as that which hold the power anntena to the body. Still 1 short, but there appears to be enough contact to get the job done;)

Let me know if it works.:cool:

My 85 300D did not start again this morning at 9F and acted exactly the same as yesterday. If I plug in the block heater for an hour it will start. So it's either gelled fuel (most likely) or injector nozzles need servicing. Here's the video from yesterday (took 24 hours before it showed up in photobucket). I have not serviced the glow plugs or injectors since buying the car. It did have a bad case of algae which I took care of with Startron and multiple cleaning of the primary filter.

CLICK TO PLAY!
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...107_101158.jpg

mine started at minus 2 with no block heater.However I add two gallon regular to a full tank diesel