[Vwdiesel] Too cold

[Chris Geiser]

"The best one was severely pitted at the tip"

Generally pitting or eroded glow plugs can indicate an injector that drips
down onto it - maybe injector tips needed too?

CG
**sent with mobile device
 On Feb 9, 2014 4:21 PM, "Doyt W. Echelberger" <doyt at buckeye-express.com>
wrote:

> January and February have been unusually cold for Ohio winter
> weather.....ranging now from 20F to -14F, with wind chills to 40 BELOW
>  zeroF.  When the cold began in January, my 89 Jetta na diesel, at 100,000
> miles, wouldn't start cold at all, anywhere, without being warmed up with
> the freeze-plug block heater.  So, to avoid frying the starter with 10-20
> second cranks after being in a store for an hour, I did an expensive oil
> change to low viscosity synthetic oil... zeroW-40 Mobil 1, rated for gas
> and diesel.
>
> Changing to low-viscosity oil shortened the cold crank time down to two
> cranking cycles of about 10 seconds each, still not good enough. So (acting
> soley on instinct and without spending an hour finding all the tools and
> doing the prescribed electrical testing) I took the leap and changed out
> all 4 glow plugs for new Bosch, with amazingly good results. The old diesel
> now starts cold without the block heater, almost instantly, after the usual
> glow plug pre-heat.....anywhere, anytime.
>
> I examined the old glow plugs. The best one was severely pitted at the
> tip, and the worst one was covered with thick black soot and probably
> didn't heat at all. The other two were more pitted, blackened, and soot
> covered. These were the original glow plugs that came with the new car
> delivered in 1989.
>
> The heater works and clears the windshield and side windows, the General
> AltiMax Arctic ice tires give traction around the city, the back window
> electric defroster works, and I am happy to be driving a simple old
> non-computerized naturally-aspirated diesel that is (hopefully) good for
> another 1 or 2 hundred thousand miles.
>
> I appreciate the many recent list stories about the TDI's, and will be
> cautious about acquiring one that has to operate reliably without being
> garaged, in these extreme Ohio winters. And I'll extend that caution to the
> hybrids coming on the market. All kinds of conventional hybrid electric
> batteries show sharp and dramatic voltage drops in the range of -20 to -30
> Centigrade.....approaching the extremely low temps that are occurring in
> northern Ohio this winter. (Minus 20 C = minus 4 F  and minus 30 C = minus
> 22 F.)  If my cars lived in garages, low temps would be far less important.
>
> Look at the battery behavior temperature charts yourself at this link, and
> tell e what you think.
>
> http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&
> cd=1&ved=0CCQQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.electrochemsci.
> org%2Fpapers%2Fvol6%2F6040860.pdf&ei=7vv3UpKIC6OCyAGhwIGgDQ&
> usg=AFQjCNHGEZt1-YL2Y12dbFO3oHzRv5dnAg
>
> Doyt
>
>
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