cold weatther starting

[g.spier]

Cummins diesel hard starts in cold weather. Engine cranks for 30- 40 seconds couple of times. Want to stay in another month any suggestions??
Is it ok to use a little ether?? Smokes for about 1 minute than clears up

Not ready to give up boating!!!

[LarryOwen]

I am not a diesel mechanic, but have you checked to see if your air intake heater is working? When you turn on the ignition key, you should see the voltage meter indicator needle drop for about 10-20 seconds, then move back up. At this point the engine should start readily and run without smoke. (I had 330B Cummins in my '95 28TE and have one in my '02 28TE).

[Pitou]

You can usually get away without the pre-heat in the summer months or when the engine compartment is warm, but not for initial start-up this time of year. As described in the previous post, turn the key and watch the voltage drop. This tells you the pre-heat for the air intake is warming up and when the voltage comes back up you're good to go and you then should have limited to no white smoke.

[chiefrcd]

You guys must be living right, I've never seen a diesel started in cold weather that didn't smoke, especially a Cummins. Pre-heating is the way to go, but even with that I get some smoke. I'd be very careful grinding the starter for that long. I have no clue as to your set up, but I know that some engines ( gas and diesel) will suck water up from the exhaust and into the engine if you grind on the starter too long. Check your engine manual regarding starting or go to the Cummins website and see if you can find some info on that particular engine.

[DougSea]

Are you on a dock with Shorepower? If so you can add a block heater (at least I assume there's a block heater for the Cummins engines).

I have my boat sitting in a slip as I await haulout and I turned on the block heater when I left it last night. Got down to the boat today and she fired up instantly with very little smoke. Since the oil, cylinders and rings are also warm there's also a LOT less of the normal cold start clacking noises from the engine as well.

[chiefrcd]

Checkout Kim Hot Starts. we used those on our twin Cummin's 903's and they worked great.

[Russell]

I had the circulating type heater installed by my Cummins mechanic last year and it works very well. It looks like the Kim small tank heater shown on their web site but I think it was obtained directly from Cummins. We fish all year around and the engine starts with a touch of the button. In addition it is supposed to prevent internal rusting of bare metal parts which would condense water when colder than the ambient temperature during the day time.

[TD]

I have the 6B 370HP Cummins and had to replace the contactors that turn on the heater for 20 seconds before you start. They are located the side of the engines: port engine location is in center of boat side and starboard is on the outboard. There are two contactors per engine and I got mine at Cummins. I am told the starter uses the same contactor. Contactor P/N is 3916301 and is easy to replace. These contactors are not continuous duty and are prone to failure. I talked to Cummins about it and one guy told me he wired around them, but I am going to see how long they last first.
By the way the 1-2 volt drop for twenty seconds when you turn the key on is correct, but doesn't necessarily mean the heater is working. Good luck.