Diesel Cold Start Tip If Glow Plugs Don't Work 

Fun fact: if you dont have a heat gun, hairdryer works too just switch it to low airflow so the coils can heat up more. Helped a neighbour once that has a very high milage vw golf 1.9tdi and his glowplugs gone one winter, and had no money to replace it, and I saw him tryna start it in the morning, and it wouldnt, no surprise after 700k miles cant start with no glowplugs in freezing cold. Used this trick with a hair dryer and it took 2-3 mins of blowing air in but worked in the end lol.

Wow that is a great idea that I never thought of. Thanks for sharing. Been working on Diesel engines for 30 years and never heard of that idea.

Hi Caveman, When I was young I used to fuel the city trucks for Franks Nursery in Detroit. Part of my job was tire pressure, engine oil, coolant etc, but I vividly recall replacing the ether can on the motor. Those were 250 Cummins engines and there was a place to mount the can so the operator could spray it from the driver seat. Also, some of the older Detroit Diesels I worked on at Awrey Bakery had a "Pill" that you put into the top of the supercharger and crush it releasing just the right amount of ether. Over my 70 years I have used ether 100's of times, without any problem. I always just started with a tiny amount and see what it does. The only thing I did was break piston ring lands on all 3cyl's of a Perkins English Ford Super Dexta, but that's because I used to starting fluid to rev the engine up not realizing how high I was revving it. My Dad had done the same thing to it years befor but in his case he had filled the whole oil bath air cleaner, tube and manifold with so much it started up and over revved. I wasn't there when he did it but he told me he had a dead battery and by about the 4th time he attempted to start it, he'd filled it up w/ so much starting fluid that it took off on him. I was just trying to bleed the air after filter change.

Thank you so much you saved me the cost of a tow on my Military Humvee. It would not start I guess my glow plugs have failed. Took a heat gun and connected to my intake and she started right up.👍👍👍👍👍

That heat gun fixed .I love that idea.great job

I am now in my 70s when I first started with diesel engines my job was to start all the old trucks in the sawmill ,we used an old burning rag at the intake manifold worked no problem , sorted ? James Stewart X soldier UK

I got a cordless heat gun because it was on clearance and I’ve never had a use for it but after seeing this truck now I know it was destiny

Propane torch works just fine too. A lit one.

Makes perfect sense as the piston compresses air to get it hot enough so the injected diesel can ignite. By heating the air up that goes into the engine you help the process of combustion. I’ve tried this method months ago in our diesel John Deere gator, it worked great!

Great tip. Short and to the point.

I leave a 300w halogen in my hood at night. Works good.

Lol going to try this so funny! I've replaced a bunch of fuel related parts. I will get back to you....thats exactly what my tractor is doing. I'm going to replace the glow plug timer. I think they call it the ECM. Lol This one great thanks.

I've heard of re inventing the wheel, never reinventing the grid heater. It works tho.

You learn something new every day. 👍👍👍

Very cool dude, first time I’ve seen this one

Very clever idea. Never heard about that one. Tks for sharing

That was genius! How about if while is so cold you cover the generator with a plastic tarp, a box of wood, or even cardboard box if not raining or snowing, sort of to cut the heaviest cold towards it, do you still need the heat gun?

Thanks so much! I gotta try that on my 7.3!

Appreciated! My digger has pretty poor compression and winter kills it. Will try this!

Make note: must have generator that starts to power heat gun to start generator. Just kidding I've used that trick myself. Fix them glow plugs! That's a good generator. Kubota makes a nice engine shouldn't be a bad fix

Not heating the cylinders. Your giving it warm air and it likes it 😉

Holy smokey's that was awesome lol 😎👍 best thing since sliced bread

You can do it all the time if you have power just by putting a cube heater in the space and letting it run for a while. If it blows on the block it will heat the block. It can take a lot longer though ...like an hour!..

Great idea Thanks

If it don’t ignite will you get a little blue smoke and a little grey until it warms up then it goes away only cold mornings here in canada

What was the issue? Glow plugs? Glow plug relay(heater relay) Starter or solenoid?

Hold on... is that engine on a rack so it slides out? I've never seen that before

To start the old Diesel Lorries ln Winter take the top of the Breather roll up an old news paper put a Match to it stick it down the plpe press the Button start up take paper out this was in the 60s.

Huh. nifty trick.

Awesome trick

Great fix man👍

Way cool idea bro 👍

We have been using a hairdryer, but we warm up the whole engine bay. It’s slower than this videos technique at about 10 minutes.

Impressive

Thst could be a good replacement for glow plug,

Makes me wonder....if all it needs is warm air, why use glow plugs...which seem to fail all the time, why not some kind of intake heater that blows hot air instead? Only 40 today and my diesel is just saying no to starting, will have to try this.

What temperature where you running the heat gun at? Mine diesel on my log splitter is doing the same, i suspect its the relay or something which is faulty though.

Another tip is you can also spray brake cleaner in the intake manifold then hit the gas pedal full while starting the engine.

Great ...thanks

The little lights aren't twinkling....

very smart!

Damn,that's gangster..

genius!

I use brake clean quirted on the air intake :D

Does a diesel truck need to have the air filter on in order to start.

Thankss worm Brian.. today my brain turn jnto mouse brain

A heat gun, or your gfs hair dryer, or flame from torch, or even small amount of oil, will do the same job. If the engine is in good condition. Either is no no, unless nothing else works. But then engine is in need of some help.

That method wont melt stuff in your intake?

That's great if you have a 110 outlet handy

My glow plugs don't work....I should try your method

Cool,

This works in trucks right

Why are my plugs not turning on?

That's an old trick, prior to that was a rag soaked in diesel & set light to

engine maybe worn low compression.

What kind of heat gun is that?

I use a hair dryer.

Melt your plastic intake manifold at the same time :)

geinus

This Idea isn`t new. Here in England we set fire to some newspaper and hold it over the intake as we crank it. We`ve been doing that for years, certainly since before I was apprenticed in 1971. Tell us something that we don`t know. Paul.