hard starting skidder, 353 detroit

[xalexjx]

yep motor is mostly apart not tore down yet, wouldnt fire on a wif of either so i was convinced it was a timing issue but i ran it last weekend and it had power loss for the first time and seemed as it was only running on 2cyl's. Ill know when i can get back to garage to tear it down and inspect rings pistons and cyl's. Was hoping to have someone come in and rebuild it so i wouldnt have to be bothered but everyone's at least two weeks+ out. Did find a low hour 460 im going to look at sat though.  ;)

[John Woodworth]

The biggest complaint with starting most diesels can be traced back to the use of either, it knocks the top edges off of the compression rings, wether you or those before you, a motor gets addicted to either if that's the problem. What weight motor oil, being that cold drop your visc. Rating , oil is oil wether it's 10 degrees or 80 can 't expect it to start with too heavy a oil for the weather conditions, battery's up, starter good then start looking at your oil.

[David-L]

For those of us in the cold getting these Detroits running, 1/2 hr on a block heater with your portable gen set and no either needed. Yesterday was 6 degrees and 30 minutes and it fired up. Doesn't take much. cup of coffee and get the gear out and 10 minutes of warm up and your working.

[Stephen Alford]

 I do the same as David L.  With all the temperature spikes the generator supplies power for a heatgun ,when the started sticks or switch cables freeze, plus a power source for a 10 amp battery charger.  The down side to the generator was loading and unloading it.  Have a plastic barrel that I set it on so you can avoid the lift from the ground. 

[Polish Hammer]

My 240 did this when I first got it. Ran great for a week then out fuel in it, then ran like crap then wouldn't start. Pulled the one way valve on the fuel line that feeds the filter. It has a fine mess screen in it that was full of rust from the tank. It restricted the fuel flow to next to nothing. Cleaned the screen and installed back to like new. The fix was about 10 min.