Association Forum - Glow option on Diesels

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 25 Specific Forum

Glow option on Diesels

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

Captain Max
1st Mate

Member Avatar

USA
87 Posts

Initially Posted - 05/01/2011 : 07:56:06

I was curious about when you need to use the glow option on a diesel to warm it up. Is it only used in cold weather? Inquiring minds want to know.

Captain Max
"Wyvern"
84 Cat 25 FK
Bayview Marina
Dallas Tx Area

Edited by - on

Tomas Kruska
Admiral

Members Avatar

Czech Republic
522 Posts

Response Posted - 05/01/2011 : 10:20:02

Check your operating manual, but GLOW is necessary every time, even in hot wheater. Its recommended to glow for 5-10 secs before starting.

Edited by - on

Captain Max
1st Mate

Members Avatar

USA
87 Posts

Response Posted - 05/01/2011 : 11:26:19

Thanks for the reply, this wasn't for my boat, so I don't have a manual. I was on a friend's boat this weekend and he wasn't aware of the heating option on his diesel. (which is there) When I was in Canada this last summer our captain always heated the engine for 20 seconds.

Edited by - on

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

Members Avatar

USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 05/01/2011 : 13:09:41

I don't own a diesel boat engine, but I do own three diesel vehicles and have worked on dozens of other diesels in the USN (yes, I was an electrician, but you frequently get shanghai'd into working on the diesel generators).

My old Mercedes is the grumpiest about starting if you try to start with letting the glow plugs warm up. Basically it simply won't start unless it's a reasonably warm day, or it's been running in the past few hours. Of course we just found out that 4 of the 5 glow plugs weren't working so that didn't make things any better, but it's still very sensitive to temperature. It can take several minutes (not seconds) for the glow light to go out before you can start the engine.

Our F-250 is a lot better about it, but if it's at or around freezing, it really doesn't want to start until the glow plugs have cycled. It was really difficult to start for several months after I bought it (and it was really cold for the Seattle area during that time). I finally brought it in to a mechanic, and it turned out that the relay that actually engaged the glow plugs didn't work, and the timer that it was attached to worked just fine. So while nothing was happening to the glow plugs, the little light on the dash would do it's duty & tell you it was time to start. Fortunately, the International Harvester engine was built in Canada (or originally shipped there?), so they included a block heater. I ran the heater cord out to a Marinco 110AC plug on my bumper, and attached an extension cord on a timer. At about 5am it'd start heating the block for a 6am-ish start. This worked out OK, but turned out to be largely unnecessary once the glow plug relay had been replaced. Who knew? The glow light now goes out in probably less than a minute (there are two batteries so a lot of amps can be dumped on it if necessary). In the summer, the glow light is on for probably less than 20 seconds if that.

Our VW Jetta TDI probably has a glow plug thingy on the dash somewhere, but I don't know where it is, and the car has never once refused to start, even in fairly cold (down in the teens) weather. Of course it's a fairly small engine compared to the other two (Mercedes is a 3 liter 5 cylinder, and the Ford is a 7.3 liter 8). I think it's a 1.4 liter turbo charged 4? So it's easier to get spun up to speed and begin self-heating from the compression.

Edited by - delliottg on 05/01/2011 13:12:36

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

Members Avatar

USA
5902 Posts

Response Posted - 05/01/2011 : 14:29:36

My C&C has a 30 hp Yanmar diesel, and it starts very easily in the spring, summer and fall without glow plugs. I store it on the hard each winter, beginning usually in mid-October, and it has to be pretty cold before it gets hard to start. Apparently some designs are more cantankerous than others. I guess I got lucky with the Yanmar. I crewed on a boat that heated the engine before starting all through the summer, and even then it was hard to start.

Edited by - on

Captain Max
1st Mate

Members Avatar

USA
87 Posts

Response Posted - 05/01/2011 : 16:10:51

From what I am hearing, if the engine is starting fine, there is no need to use the glow warmup procedure, it doesn't hurt the engine. Is that correct? Once again, I don't have a diesel, so I don't have a manual.

Edited by - on

glivs
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
836 Posts

Response Posted - 05/02/2011 : 03:41:31

Whether or not a diesel has glow plugs depends upon its design. In warmer temps smaller diesels will likely start just as easily without using the glow plugs but will often smoke (excess particulates)upon starting and then quickly settle in. At colder temps, it will be even more pronounced.

Edited by - on

Stu Jackson C34
Admiral

Members Avatar

844 Posts

Response Posted - 05/02/2011 : 11:44:21

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Captain Max
 From what I am hearing, if the engine is starting fine, there is no need to use the glow warmup procedure, it doesn't hurt the engine. Is that correct? Once again, I don't have a diesel, so I don't have a manual.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Nope. The key is not the weather, but the compression of the pistons in the cylinders. For instance, Universal engines are rather low compression engines and have glow plugs for starting after the engine has been off and cooled down. They are almost always required to start the engines. Yanmar engines are higher compression and don't have glow plugs.

Most older Universal engines had glow plugs wiring running from the batteries to the engine cockpit panel and all the way back to the glow plugs. In small wire. With resultant voltage drop, which required the glow plugs to be held on for almost 30 seconds. The fix, which many of us have done to our older circuiting, and which has been done by the factory on newer M35 series engines, is to install a solenoid at the engine, so that the current doesn't have to flow all the way back to the cockpit panel. This reduces glow plug hold time to 12 to 15 seconds. When daysailing, our engine will start without using the glow plugs after sailing for an hour or so.

Edited by - Stu Jackson C34 on 05/02/2011 11:47:07

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.