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From: ndsss@ihuxx.UUCP (Alfred R. Zantow)
Newsgroups: net.video
Subject: Re: Consumer Reports - Diesel Starting Procedure
Message-ID: <882@ihuxx.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 8-Dec-84 01:27:37 EST
Article-I.D.: ihuxx.882
Posted: Sat Dec  8 01:27:37 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 9-Dec-84 02:21:17 EST
References: <765@hound.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 34

=
=Preparation:
=1. Make sure you have an adequate size battery in good condition.
=2. Make sure your glow plugs are operating (you can tell if they are
=   not because cylinders with dead glow plugs will not fire when starting.
=   If the engine runs ragged more than a few seconds, one or more glow
=   plugs have "gone west.")
=3. Make sure your fuel is free of water and you have used a "pour point
=   depressant." Some areas provide "winterized fuel" at filling stations,
=    many do not. You cannot depend on the opinion of most gas pump operators.
=   They will almost surely say the fuel is winterized, even when it isn't.
=   Best to add your own. Only a couple of ounces per Rabbit tank does the
=   job (down to around 20 below, I understand. Below there you use block
=   heaters, semi-warm garages or let it idle all nite, I guess).
=4. Make sure you are not using summer weight oil. Use at least a 10WXX
=   oil. In this area, Mobil 1 is the only 5WXX oil available. I use that.
=   (XX = 30 or 40)
=
	This is in regard to the last part of step 3.  A little trick
we used back on the farm in South Dakota (God's Deep Freeze) was to
stick a 100 Watt light bulb under the oil pan (or under the hood) of 
trucks and/or tractors when the red stuff huddled in the bottom of the
thermometer.  This would keep the oil more fluid, so that it took less
torque to crank over the engine (most oil at -20 F is like syrup or worse).
You could get the same results with heat plates or similar equipment.
REMEMBER:  A light bulb gets things HOT within a few inches, so use your
head if you do this, don't put it on a cardboard box to get it closer to
the engine.  Of course, flames will warm up the entire car and garage
for a short time, and will give the fire department something to do on
a slow night :-).


			Al Zantow