sluggish and smokey when cold...

[delicat]

That reminds me of something that went like:

"The Tortoise and the Hare is a fable attributed to Aesop. The story concerns a L400 hare who ridicules a slow-moving L300 tortoise. In response, the L300 tortoise challenges his swift L400 mocker to a race. The L400 hare soon leaves the L300 tortoise far behind and, confident of winning, he decides to take a nap midway through the course. When he awakes, however, he finds that his L300 competitor, crawling slowly but steadily, has already won the race."

[Modsqwad]

maybe a pad/magnetic pan heater could be added to the tranny to help this out?

You could wire it together with your block heater to help get around those " chinookless" mornings and
not have to idle so long on startup. I used to use a lot of the magnetic heaters on rock trucks in the mine
I worked at (sometimes up to 4 of them per truck) and they did a good job. Around 400 watts each I think
so it won't blow a 15 amp breaker either. Let us know how it works out.
Andy Wilson

[Erebus]

is there any way to speed up this process? different transmission fluid maybe? (is there even such a thing?)

There is synthetic transmission oil, which apparently makes the tranny run much smoother. Whether it is compatible with the L400 I don't know, since I don't know what specification tranny fluid the L400 uses.

[MardyDelica]

L400 used Dextron 2 but i usually used dextron 3 as its the upgraded one.
synthetic maybe o.k. for cold weather place like alberta. but agian not sure:

[mararmeisto]

I will echo the first one or two suggestions that it's your transmission fluid being too cold. Again, shift into neutral instead of park, this will increase the rpms, allowing for greater circulation of the ATF.

Most automatics see a drop in rpms when in park or in gear because the engine is being retarded by the parking pawl or the brakes (as the situation may be). By shifting into neutral, the engine is unimpeded, able to rev slightly higher. The hydraulic pump which feeds the automatic transmission is driven off the engine (through the torque converter), so in this scenario will pump a little faster and provided steadily warming ATF to your cold tranny.

[Green1]

looking on the UK site they mention a cold-start setting for the idle speed (lets the engine idle at a higher rev until it warms up) I think I'm going to check on that one. Diesels don't like to warm up much at idle, but if I set the cold-start idle at just under 1000 it should improve some of the warm-up I think (I miss the hand throttle on the L300 already!)

[delicabits]

the preferred ATF for L400 is mitsubishi diaqueen sp 111.

[madmazda]

yea i've noticed over the last few cooler mornings that my delica chugs away I put the turbo timer to maxium minutes ( 9) take key out go get ready for work come out start it up again then drive off chugging boping around then in about a minute or so it runs awesome.....I'm sure when the cold stuff hits i"ll have to come out a bit earlier to let it warm.....

[Green1]

my main concern is what's going to happen if things actually get cold in the mornings...

[aclarker]

No problems with my gasser.. starts like a charm. This being said we're a couple weeks away from the -40.

[madmazda]

my main concern is what's going to happen if things actually get cold in the mornings...

Yea me too however I have a battery heater and an inline heater and some other tricks up my sleeve so I hope the l400 will start no problem. So far not even a hesitation to start so I will add some gas line antifreeze when its really cold and keep the fuel toped up so heres fingers crossed

[Green1]

it's not the engine that worries me, it's that transmission!

[MardyDelica]

Hi, Roger,
you can adjust the cold start idle when rightbeside the injection pump just twick a little bit & adjust little higher & you should be find. just below 1,000 RPM
hope this help:
Cheers;

[Spearo]

Green1 congrats on the new ride, how about a pic or two? Sans smoke of course.

[EnviroImports.com]

Hi, Roger,
just below 10,000 RPM
hope this help:
Cheers;

I'm sure Mardy means 1000rpm....