I would like to have your thoughts on starting a deisel vehicle in the cold weather.This is my second Winter here and I must admit I go to my truck with apprehension when it has stood under the car port for a few days in the cold and go to start it. I am usually armed with a portable fan heater and throw it under the bonnet for a few minutes to try to get the diesel fuel to liquid again so I can start it. Now I was told that one answer was to put a couple of pints of petrol in the tank and this will prevent the diesel from thickening up with the cold, never really fancied doing that as I don't know what adverse effects it could have on the engine. My brother in law who lives in Pittsburg in the USA said that with his vehicle which is petrol he puts a cable under the bonnet with a light bulb attached and said that works, I can't see that a light bulb would have enough power to keep the fuel from thickenning. I was also informed that the filling stations here put additives in the diesel to prevent the fuel from thickening in the cold weather but as far as I'm concerned they obviously need to put more additives in the fuel then.
When I lived in Canada we never had any problems as we had fitted on the vehicles an engine block heater which was attached to the sump and plugged into the electric over night keeping the engine warm. When I was young my dad used to put a petrol filled "
Tilly"
lamp under the car which used to work pretty well but all in all I think that is a bit dangerous if it got knocked over by some cat! So if anyone has a a tried and tested and safe way of starting a diesel in the cold your suggestions would be welcomed TA!

If the glowplugs on your diesel are working properly you should have no problems starting. In last years minus 25 degree spell all three of my vehicles started easily. During winter I use the winterised fuel from OMV as I will never put petrol in with the diesel..that might work ok in older, less sophisticated motors, but the newer, computer controlled versions can give you some grief.

A strong, reliable battery is a must during the colder months. If you have to sit and wind the motor over for more than a couple of seconds, then you have a problem which needs to be addressed.

A lot depends on the age of your vehicle, pre 2000 are normally IDI (indirect injection) and like lots of heat via the glow plugs so if it is very cold, say loer than freezing, do a couple of glowplug cycles (ignition on and wait for orange light to go out) before turning to the start position. As stated ALL your glowplugs need to be in good condition as even one that is not working will comprimise starting.
If your vehicle is year 2000+ it is probably DI (direct injection) these normally have a shorter glowplug cycle and start readily even in minus temperatures provided your battery is in good condition. The correct grade engine oil will help with a lower viscosity of 10W. If you think you are running on summer grade diesel up to 25% of petrol can be added but this will not normally apply if you have recently bought fuel.
Other than that good servicing should help (air filter, no air in fuel line etc)

That is good advice from bigcat and very much what I was getting at. I've been surprised many times to learn that few diesel driver s actually know what the orange spiral light in the cluster means or is for. I also give my motors a treatment of injector cleaner (I prefer Valvoline) around every six months or 10000 kms and it seems to help quite a bit....I also use 5W-40 oil during the winter. I normally get around 350,000 miles out of a motor, so I'm happy. I actually have one back in OZ that has over 800,000 miles on the clock..and it's not had a pampered life, I can tell you.

We used to run a very old HGV across Europe to our factory in Prague , it was so old it had no heater plugs on the engine, i turned the air inlet behind the cab to point slightly upwards and used to tip 100ml of diethyl ether into the intake , after a few seconds i would start the engine and it would start no problem
I discovered how to get it to start when i stopped overnight in Berlin at -15C and flattened the battery trying to start it, a lorry driver from Lithuania gave me a bottle of ether and jump started it for me, he said he had been using ether for this for years

Easystart sprays contain ether, but not much , pure ether is better!

I've used a similar trick on a very old, pre WW2 diesel, with a petrol soaked rag, held over the air intake whilst cranking, but wouldn't suggest it, or "
Easystart"
on modern motors.

I agree with all of the above ... we also add diesel addertive to prevent gelling you can buy it in Kaufland it prevents gelling down to minus 15 and significantly helps below that. Instructions are in English too which is a bonus we've never had a problem since doing this... touch wood! :lol:

Perhaps the worst popular diesel engine to start from cold was the Ford 'York' as fitted to the transit about 30+ years ago. The 'updated' ones left the factory with no less than three seperate cold start devices fitted, and they were still pigs to start. Firstly they had glow plugs, I believe manually operated (no auto timer), a flame box in the inlet manifold and an excess fuel button on the pump (excess fuel devices are now not permitted on new vehicles). Many drivers also used 'Easystart' although that can damage glow plugs and crack cylinder heads, having said that 'York' diesels were quite capable of cracking cylinder heads without any outside help.