It got down to about 12 below zero F last night and since my FG was sitting outside my house instead of in the storage lot, I thought I'd see how well it started in cold temperatures. It was probably around 5 degrees F when I started it at mid-morning. It has summer fuel and I hadn't added any anti-gel so I thought there was some question as to whether it would start it all. After the glow plug light went off, it took about 20-25 seconds of cranking for it to fire up. Definitely more reluctant to start than it's usual firing on the first compression stroke, but it did start at that temperature without a block heater.
By comparison, my 1985 Mercedes 300TD had sat in the school parking lot overnight yesterday since I had left from school to pick up the FG at the shop. It was about the same temperature when I started it yesterday but it had not been as low a temperature the previous night. It took over a minute of cranking after double glowing the plugs for the MB to start and it had anti-gel in the fuel.
A block heater makes it much easier on your starter, but now at least I know it can start pretty close to zero without assistance.
By comparison, my 1985 Mercedes 300TD had sat in the school parking lot overnight yesterday since I had left from school to pick up the FG at the shop. It was about the same temperature when I started it yesterday but it had not been as low a temperature the previous night. It took over a minute of cranking after double glowing the plugs for the MB to start and it had anti-gel in the fuel.
A block heater makes it much easier on your starter, but now at least I know it can start pretty close to zero without assistance.
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) I think the glowplugs always operate, it's just that at lower temperatures the light comes on to tell you to wait a while before starting. As opposed to the glow plugs themselves only operating at lower temperatures. I've never put a voltmeter to the glow plugs to confirm this.