Cold Weather Delica Owners

[archibald]

Hey anyone driving delica's in Calgary or Edmonton or wherever it gets cold in the winter. Has anyone installed a block heater? My van is struggling to start every morning and its not even too cold at nights yet. I am afraid that eventually it just won't start over the winter. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[mdrive]

First test your glow plug if they are ok, then add a lower rad hose coolant heater from lordco 1.5" dia.

[jymz]

Im in Winnipeg. Glowed no problem and started with minimal foot input, held a steady idle in less than a min. This was at -10C. Co-op Diesel and a fuel conditioner.

I was going to put in a mag-coil oil pan heater, whats this coolant line heater???

On a side note, a guy in town here installs vacum thermo cylinders to hold extra coolant. It can keep the coolant temp up for about a month inside the large thermos. Then you prime the engine with hot coolant before starting and you get instant heat. Drawback is the coolant thermos is like 8 litres or more. Works like a acusump oil system only with coolant and no pressure.

[Green1]

if the vehicle is complaining at this temperature something is DEFINITELY not right.

I have yet to add any heater to my vehicle and started just fine last winter down to -15 or so (only had it for a few months of winter) and works fine so far this winter
If you have problems now I recommend checking some things, starting with the glow plug system (you ARE waiting for the glow plugs to warm up before starting right?)

[piyeguyo]

If you have problems now I recommend checking some things, starting with the glow plug system (you ARE waiting for the glow plugs to warm up before starting right?)

Roger, what do you mean by that???

Are you supposed to start the car differently during winter time???

Thx,

Fabio

[Schwa]

When you put the key in the "run" position you should hear a click come from behind you, then you're supposed to wait until you hear the click again, then start it. The clicks are the glow plug controller and if it's not working properly that could be the problem.

The other thing I'd recommend is to have your injection pump timing checked and set since if it's out you'll have shaky idle and a hard time starting in anything but ideal conditions.

[Green1]

Are you supposed to start the car differently during winter time???

no, you should always wait for the glow plugs, however some people (especially those who aren't familliar with diesels) turn the key straight from off to start without letting the glow plugs do their thing, you can often get away with this in warm weather, however it makes it VERY difficult to start when the temperature starts to drop.

[JMK]

Couple of thoughts on the above just to mix it up a bit, but I'm still curious, are there L300 block heaters or do you have to mount an generic aftermarket product?

Next, sounds like you may be in Calgary, so from Brian Halliwell, probably one of the best mechanics in Calgary, when I asked him about my diesel:

On another track you are buying used cars here and as such you have no idea what state of tune you’re getting and there sure aren’t many people out there who tune up diesels. I have used John Stringer at GLC fuel systems here in Calgary. As long as there is decent atomization by the injector you should get decent starting you could pull a injector as see if it produces a fine broken up stream if you find it starts poorly

Now back to block heaters. I saw a post yesterday that ranked the effectiveness of the various block heating systems. The rad hose insert (as recommended above) was second from the bottom after the electric dipstick. The heater hose recirculating unit was the top:

http://www.teamswift.net/viewtopic.php?t=20017

did some research... in order of effectiveness, here's how i would rank different engine heater styles:

1 - inline pump recirculating (splices into heater core hose)
2 - frost plug internal (traditional block heater style)
3 - block mounted external element (bolt on)
4 - magnetic block mounted element (if there's some place to attach it)
5 - inline non-circulating (rad hose)
6 - dipstick heater

i put #3 on my car. #2 wasn't available at the parts store i use and i didn't know about #1 until i started looking this stuff up today.

See also:

http://metrompg.com/posts/block-heater.htm

[patty]

im having no problem starting,but once is has started its a very violent shake for like 40 sec.worries me becuase its not even cold up here yet i think it was only 0 last night.ill see what happens as the season goes on

[BCDelica]

Wow, this seems like a nice addition - http://metrompg.com/posts/photos/blockh ... ncirc-.jpg. Too bad it's for 220v!

I have a lower Rad heater that I don't use/need available to a good home for cheap-cheap (think it is only a $30-$40 item new). I left it off when I replaced my lower rad hose, it does speed warm-up when set on a timer for 2 hours, or less, before start up. My engine starts the same with or without it the the coldest conditions I've encountered, but with it the heater starts blowing warm is seconds.

Same as mine, but new.


Hey, possible trade for some little Delica nick-nack. Josh do you still have that interior table?

[marsgal42]

im having no problem starting,but once is has started its a very violent shake for like 40 sec.worries me becuase its not even cold up here yet i think it was only 0 last night.ill see what happens as the season goes on

This is standard Delica behaviour! FWIW, my cold weather starting drill (more-or-less verbatim from the JPNZ manual, and consistent with the Japanese manual) is:

1. Glow plugs.

2. Accelerator to the floor.

3. Crank engine. When it catches, release accelerator after shaking subsides (should only take a second or two) to maintain 1500 RPM. Use hand throttle to hold speed.

4. As the engine warms up, the revs will creep up. Use hand throttle to stay in 1200 to 1500 range.

5. Once the engine has calmed down (30 seconds to a minute), release hand throttle, drive off. Drive gently for the first couple of kilometers.

In warm weather you don't need the accelerator or hand throttle. If the engine is warm, you don't even need the glowplugs. I grew up in the Interior and have started diesels that were a lot harder to get going than a 4D56...

...laura

[glasseye]

I installed that exact rad-hose heater on the 3 cyk Perkins diesel on my tractor. Makes a world of difference to staring at -20C. As does the BEEYOOTIFUL cranking battery I bought. 1200 CCA, I believe.

A timer's a good idea for the heater although I just leave it on overnight. I think it only draws about 100W. Mine's 110VAC.

[JMK]

Just a head's up on the lower rad heaters. When I was going through a bunch of the forums elsewhere that dealt more specifically with diesel engines and block heaters and the options for same, there were some horror stories about them. It seems to relate to the fact that the warm water can't really get past your thermostat so most of the heat is simply dissipated by your radiator to the air, (not really the greenest of solutions either). So if the thermostat doesn't open up, often the water can actually start to boil in your lower rad hose and all your block gets is some conductive heating, better than nothing I suppose. ALthough circulating heaters may cost at least twice as much (they go into your heater hoses) they are thought to be far superior to the lower rad hose heaters because they actually circulate warm coolant around the block. Apparently you want the type that does not have the check valve. There are some on eBay for around $30.00. If you want a good read on it:
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.ph ... =zerostart

Again: Does no-one out there actually have a proper inline block heater specifically designed for the L300 that goes into the frost plug on the block? Surely they must exist?

[Schwa]

I believe you can get a standard frost plug type block heater, but it's a genuine pain in the ass getting it into the block on a Delica, hence the popularity of other solutions.

[knight]

so thats why I cant find a glow plug light on the dash. I have to wait to hear the clicks. LOL