Well! I just recently fixed my overheating problem, and now its getting seriously cold out! Further, I'm moving from Denver up into the mountains: 10k ft altitude, and some really bone chilling cold days. My hope is to use public transit alot but even a 75% solution still leaves me dependant on an engine known for its distaste of the cold.

I know cold is "hard on the engine". I dont know what that actually means. What injury does it do? This really scares me the most-- having no idea what "bad" I'm doing. Having a 6-cylinder with the known "head gasket" problem just makes me more nervous, but I have no idea if these two problems inter-relate!

I just got an oil change, and forgot that 15w40 may not be the best choice. I know 10w40 or 5w40 will flow better at cold temperatures, but what impact will it make having 15w40? Will it harm the engine more? I suppose sans filter an oil change wont be that expensive-- how vital is the change-over?

Block heater. I'm not sure yet what kind of power access I'm going to have for the block heater. Onboard I have two deep cycles and a 3kw inverter (for the tea kettle), and I've already tested out running the block heater from the onboard power-- it works, but a full charge to painfully empty will happen in less than two hours. How long do I have to run the block heater to make a difference?

What about fuel? Can I just switch to No. 1 diesel and be content? During the summer, I've found running biodiesel or lubricant additivies helps enormously with keeping my engine smooth running, yet bio is obviously out and I have no idea what coldweather additives will help. Cetane boost, which I've never used, advertises better cold weather performance, but seems more geared towards keeping the engine running than towards the lubrication properties of biodiesel. What about engine lubrication, and injection cleaning? Do I have any options for this in the cold?

Long post, feel free to expound on whatever you're knowledgeable about.


Thanks all!
rektide

First of all...........a 603 has no distaste for the cold. It will usually start without too much difficulty with ambients all the way down to zero. Additionally, it will warm itself within 5-7 minutes, considerably faster than its cast iron predecessor. If you give it the luxury of a block heater for three hours, it will behave nearly like a gas engine when you start it.

Cold is not "hard" on the engine. It's the moron behind the wheel that's hard on the engine. The moron expects the cold engine to perform as though it was warm, and when it doesn't, he mashes the pedal even further down. This is the behavior that is hard on a cold engine. Drive it carefully for the first 10 minutes and keep the rpm's below 2000 and the engine won't suffer a bit.

15W40 is definitely not the best choice. Change the oil to a 5W40 synthetic.........and do it now.

If you have power for a block heater, use it when the temperature drops below 20F. You'll need about three hours just prior to start. If you don't have available power, don't be concerned about it...........just be absolutely sure the battery is less than four years old and the glow plugs are working well.

With regard to fuel, use about 6 ounces of Power Service conditioner in the white container for each tank...........whenever the temperature is expected to drop below 15F. It's cheap insurance. However, you can't simply add it to a tank of standing fuel. It must be added prior to a fillup. Some planning in advance is required.

You're overly concerned about the cold when the system, in proper state of maintenance, won't be bothered by it.

Regards to oil, why the switch to synthetic? Once I go synthetic, I need to stay synthetic dont I? I cant remember the specifics with regards to switching to synthetic.

Overall, I'm feeling much better. Thanks!

Synthetic oil does not thicken as much when cold, so it allows faster cranking and faster pump-up, very helpful in cold starts.

You can switch to and from synthetic whenever and as often as you wish, I've been doing it in old and new cars since '75. My father used to run synthetic in his "airport cars" in the winter and dino oil in the summer (when they were getting older) with no ill affect.

The can't switch thing is a myth, in the '70s it was true but the myth hasn't kept up with technology.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

I read that it only takes about 20 minutes for a block heater to be maximally effective. 3 hours is overkill.

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1983 240D 3.0T 4-speed manual, now sold

1989 Subaru GL Wagon 5-speed Touring Edition

Be interesting to confirm that with an infrared device.

20 minutes seems a bit on the short side................

I think that a better question is "why not switch to synthetic?"

The dino oil needs a change every 3K and the synthetics can easily go 6K on a 603. Therefore, when considering the filter, the additional cost of the synthetic is a wash and it saves you the labor of an oil change.

I got stuck in a snow storm heading towards Denver this thursday past. It was ~10 F outside, and I was a little nervous. I've been living in the Denver area, including the foothills, where starts at -10 F werent entirely unknown, so I knew it would start, but after the recent rumor mill of people claiming it was "hard on the engine" to start in these temperatures, I was a little paranoid. Also, I'd just installed my 2500 watt alternator + batteries this summer, so I had a new capability: using the car to block heat itself. I block heated for about 45-50 minutes, and it started right up... not bad for cold temperatures with dino oil at the end of its cycle. None of the holding the starter on for 20 seconds while the engine / oil spool up. I'll do some more emperical experimentation... 500 watts isnt a ton, but across 30 minutes, thats a not at all insignificant amount of power. Given the wiring hassle, I may not do it very much anyways, but in the name of science it'd be good to find out.

I'd be curious to know what its heating; whether it heats the block, or the oil directly; heating a huge block takes a lot of energy, but just getting the oil above bone chilling temperatures would be very useful.

Well, if you put it like that, what have I been doing all this time? Given that this 15w40 is not the right oil, I'll definitely go synthetic in this coming switch-up.

Are there any cases at all where synthetic is not the right choice?

I never did fully grasp the logic of using dino oil. The only possible benefit is that the oil will carry less soot at 3K than the synthetic will at 6K. Of course, the synthetic is touted to easily handle the increased soot load, but, I'll leave that for others to argue about.

I switched to Rotella 5W-40 about the time that I originally purchased the SD and have stayed with it ever since. The 617 goes 5K with a reasonable soot load and the 603's go 6K with even less soot than the 617 at 5K.

I will note that Mobil-1 Turbo Diesel Truck is a better product and should be seriously considered now that the price of the Rotella has climbed to $19.00 per gallon.

I've been buying Mobil-1 Turbo Diesel Truck 5W40 at walmart for $22 per gallon recently.

I don't think that using synthetic changes the time interval, though. So that's 6,000 miles or 6 months, up from 3,000 miles or 6 months. I never drive more than 3,000 miles every 6 months anyway, so why spend the money on synthetic?

__________________
1983 240D 3.0T 4-speed manual, now sold

1989 Subaru GL Wagon 5-speed Touring Edition

I'm going to whack mine out to 1 year with synthetic, which should be about 14k next time its due.

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1991 W124 250D - 130k Miles

Tom, am I being overly paranoid or what? I have the same engine as you in my 93 300D (same as a 250D across the pond I think) and I am sweating because I have 4500 miles on my Delvac 15w40. Next change (this weekend) will be Rotella Syn 5w40.

Do you often go 14k (miles or kilometers?) between OCI's and what oil do you use for that interval?

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1993 W124 300D 2.5L Turbo, OM602.962
2000 Chevrolet Cavalier, 2.4L DOHC
2002 Ford Explorer, 4.0L SOHC
2005 Toyota Prius, 1.5L

http://www.fuelly.com/sig-us/40601.png

Oh wait, you use miles in the UK, don't you?

__________________
1993 W124 300D 2.5L Turbo, OM602.962
2000 Chevrolet Cavalier, 2.4L DOHC
2002 Ford Explorer, 4.0L SOHC
2005 Toyota Prius, 1.5L

http://www.fuelly.com/sig-us/40601.png

my Wal Mart doesnt carry it so I stick to dino