Glow Plug Installation

[Sailmonkey]

a hair dryer also blown in the intake will work also......but again you need shorepower.

[Redbeard33]

I also have a yanmar without glowplugs (2qm15), assuming I ended up adding a small electric/engine coolant water heater would it be a decent idea to add a circulator pump to preheat the engine coolant/block prior to starting? using the heat exchanger in reverse, is there any obvious problems that I'm overlooking?

[DRS]

Webasto TSL17 diesel fired water heater. Used all the time on equipment. Has a 12 volt water pump the circulate the coolant. Plumb it into the fresh water side. If you have hot water heating will get the cabin warm too. Available with or without timers. They will take a truck left out at -30 and heat it to running temp in less than an hour.
Just a thought

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by Redbeard33

I also have a yanmar without glowplugs (2qm15), assuming I ended up adding a small electric/engine coolant water heater would it be a decent idea to add a circulator pump to preheat the engine coolant/block prior to starting? using the heat exchanger in reverse, is there any obvious problems that I'm overlooking?

Nope, but your're overcomplicating an extremly simple thing. You have a 2 cyl engine, heavy equipment, tractor trailer trucks, offshore supply vessels. all have much larger engines to heat, and none has a circulator. It's enough to heat one part of these small engines, all the rest follows.

[klem]

Originally Posted by michaelmrc

what i have found that seems to work ok is pulling the decompression lever spin the engine for a few seconds to warm up the cylinder then push the decomp lever back in and it starts to fire, sometimes takes me a couple of tries to get it to start if really cold out but it does start. starting system is great spins fast, is there any downside to the procedure im doing now.

That is a perfectly acceptable way to start it and one of the major advantages to having a decompression lever. When you are turning it over without compression, it doesn't build much heat because friction is a small percentage and you are not compressing the gas much (you only have overpressurization due to the valves). The real idea of it is to get the engine spinning quickly so that the first revolution or two with compression it heats everything in the cylinder really well.

[michaelmrc]

so your saying im better off not pulling the decompression lever. i have heard that spinning it too long will allow the raw water pump to fill up the exhaust and could cause hydrolicking in the cylinder causing a bent connecting rod any truth to this.

[klem]

Originally Posted by michaelmrc

so your saying im better off not pulling the decompression lever. i have heard that spinning it too long will allow the raw water pump to fill up the exhaust and could cause hydrolicking in the cylinder causing a bent connecting rod any truth to this.

Sorry, I must not have been clear on what I said. Using the decompression lever is helpful because it allows the engine to spin faster. When you flip the lever back and the engine has compression, it will generate more heat because the piston is moving faster so leakage matters less and overpressurization (good for starting) matters more. This benefit is very short lived because the engine will slow back down to its normal cranking speed quickly however, you only need to get it to fire once usually. It will certainly never make it harder to start. On some engines it provides a benefit from building fuel pressure required to pop off the injectors as well.

You are correct to worry about a hydrolock situation but that is a risk with any long cranking. For this reason, only hold the decompression lever long enough for the engine to start spinning as fast as it can (battery voltage is the limiting factor here) before engaging it.

I hope this clears it up, you are doing the correct thing, I was just trying to explain why.

[michaelmrc]

thanks sounds just like what im currently doing just wanted to make sure i wasnt at risk of damaging the engine. i would say that at most it takes me 10seconds to fire the engine in really cold weather.

[Charlie]

As an aside if you do need to crank for an extended period of time you can close your seacock so that the engine doesn't get any water. This will prevent the hydrolock. As soon as the engine kicks over open the seacock. It won't cause any problem b/c the engine hasn't had time to create any heat yet

[Bottom_End]

Yanmar 1GM10 is a warm blooded beast and hates the cold. Here are some of my tricks after twenty years of cold start grief. WD40 has propane and works well. Pour a little hot water into the cooling system with the intake closed. This will warm up the head enough to fire. The diesel fuel must be free of contaminants so always use Racor or Killem anti-fungal treatment. Keep the tank full to reduce condensation. I flush the fuel system every three years. I use full synthetic engine oil for diesel and change it twice a year. Never use ethanol but keep a can onboard when all else fails and you need an emergency start.

[Alberg30Shill]

I'm fairly confident you have low compression. Checking it would confirm but I have a 2GMF20 and have started it at 9 degs F and it fired right up. You should fix the root problem rather than adding a block heater or oil pan heater that won't help you start it on a cold morning at anchor :-(

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Bottom End.