starting the diesel engine

A

adventres

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 10, 2015
Messages
99
Fluid Motion Model
C-288 C
Vessel Name
Adventres II
We are enjoying our winter boating here in the PNW. This weekend we headed to Tacoma, Dock Street Marina, for the first time. Upon leaving our home dock at Elliott Bay Marina, the R29 it had a a hard start turn over. It was cold outside.
Our question: When starting the engine, do we press and hold the start button till the engine start. or do we press the start button and let go?
thanks,
Lisa
 
If you continue to hold the start button down and the engine is not starting, you are going to dramatically heat up the high current wiring associated with the starter circuit. If the engine isn't firing off within a reasonable time from prior experience it is best to let go and let the circuit cool down. Maybe only a minute or two is normally plenty of time to cool things off. Starters and circuits are not designed for continuous duty. Only short burst to get the engine going. Or did I misunderstand your question?
 
Thanks for the answer. When we were discussing about the starter during our cruise, we discussed about how there are no spark plugs etc, because it is diesel engine, so the thought was to hold the start button. But then we thought if we held the button too long then we could wear down the battery. So yes, you did answer the question. thanks!
 
Also, If your engine does not start within a reasonable amount of time, STOP CRANKING! You could ingest water into the cylinders and cause a hydrolock.
 
Most all diesel engines start hard in cold weather. This is why many diesel pickups have 110V block heaters. There are 4 Rangers in our marina and as people were away for the holidays I was watching over 3 of the boats and all three started hard in the cold, even though all three have engine compartment heaters that keep the temperature between 41 and 50 degrees. Diesels have glow plugs not spark plugs. They are basically heaters to ignite the fuel. If you wait about 10 seconds after hitting the ignition button before hitting the starter button it gives the glow plugs a chance to heat up, and makes starting easier. Also, if most of your fuel is from the summer blend it may tend to congeal making starting more difficult.
 
I could be wrong here, but if my memory serves me correctly on the Yanmar engine the glow plugs do not exist. Not sure about the Volvo.
 
knotflying":v7wy1d3n said:
I could be wrong here, but if my memory serves me correctly on the Yanmar engine the glow plugs do not exist. Not sure about the Volvo.
Click to expand...
Modern diesels are now equipped with high pressure fuel injection systems that utilize a "glow combustion sensor" or GCS. Basically it is a glow plug with a pressure transducer. Not only can the GCS heat the combustion chamber, but it can also measure pressure in the chamber. The engine computer can now see what's happening inside combustion chamber and make changes from the imputs and make corrections to fuel during the warm-up period, under boost, during the EGR cycle, and while cruising......In order for the diesel engine to fire in a cold weather, the glow plugs have to come on for a period of time in order to heat the air in the combustion chamber.
 
last week it was 40 degrees and my Volvo took two turns to fire! usually starts on first.
"Radio Active" R31CB Volvo D4-300
Bill
 
also battery performance is lower due to cold temps.
 
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