kzimmer

Yup, it kinda sucks, but it just reminds me to look to the cluster when I see -40.

I don't have a heartfelt comment, but I'm currently playing quarter bounce with champagne. Here's to good (bad) choices. Happy new year?

I set the pop pressure to 365 (ish) bar myself.

Extremely good chance. It only waits for 10 seconds. Not adjustable. But the truck was plugged in and usually only cycles for 10 seconds anyway. However all of the other times it was key crank and normal grid times, no remote start.

Wasn't watching, just listened from in the house, hit the remote start. But all of the other times I never noticed any smoke.

I filled up yesterday with a fresh tank. Was at 1/8th. This morning I started it after it had sat for almost 4 hours and it took quite a bit of cranking. Also was plugged in. But again, once it was running, it was great. Drove around running errands today and it ran fine as always. Running the same fuel in my VW without issues. I wanted to do some data logging today but I can't hook up anywhere, the pavement is too damn cold lol.

Woops, sorry @Me78569 I didn't see that you replied and I can't seem to remove what I just posted.

If it helps, Stant 49212 is also the 200° thermostat part number. I'm running this one. First open is something greater than 204 (quad can't see temps greater than 204 on my truck...) and swings down to as low as 186. When things regulate after driving for a while, the swings aren't as bad. Maybe 195-203. Some times worse. If I step on it to pass right before it's going to open it'll have a huge overshot followed by an undershot. I think it's just really slow reacting. I don't think warmup is any faster, but the extra heat is nice in the winter. Before this I ran a gates 33956 180°. Aside from the dumb temperature, it was rock solid. Barely a measurable fluctuation. Actually pretty impressive. My next thermostat will be a gates.

It'll be tough for you to recreate this though, as your area likely doesn't get this cold. I'm curious if you'll see any change in cold starts though.

Sorry I missed this post. Cranks at normal speed with not so much as a sputter. The odd time i'll get one single fire, on one cylinder. That's it, but i'm talking once, at the start of a 30 second crank. No smoke that I've noticed. I know with the size of the injector and commanded fuel there there should be more than enough. I just don't think the injectors are popping properly. Maybe there is an underlying condition amplifying the magnitude of this problem (like a weak VP44). Or maybe, just maybe, nobody else was (dumb? adventurous? ambitious?) enough to try a 365 bar pop pressure at -25 to -30 Celsius. Lol.

Same bodies, I just swapped the nozzles and calibrated pop pressure.

Good info and I agree 100%. I am really looking forward to finding out for sure.

I had cheap DSS 7x.014 injectors set at 340 bar with no issues of any kind. Actually improved cold starts. The DAP 7x.013's went straight in at 365 bar. All in the name of science and experimentation. No regrets! Well maybe a little... Yep, agreed. And there is fuel when I crack the lines, cylinders 3, 4 and 5. Now, that doesn't mean the VP is building as much pressure as it should... but regardless, the problem is only below -20° C. And the truck drives great.

That's a very good question. I remember looking once and not seeing anything. Even when I finally get it running, there is very little smoke, at least no more than expected on an arctic temperature day. Note: I did crack three injector lines on the 25th when I couldn't get it running. Plenty of fuel dumped out when I cranked. I don't think that fuel, or rather enough of it, is making it through the injectors. You should have seen my 2003 Jetta TDI smoke when it started that morning. Made my dodge look like a prius.

Two new batteries this year, very fast crank, and quite a long time before I crank the batteries out of juice. It's definitely 100% related to cold, and my semi-cold starts got noticeably worse when I put these nozzles on. It didn't bug me much, because the truck still started. I'll eat my words if it isn't the pop pressure. VP44 seems healthy but I guess you never know for sure. And just the fact that as soon as it fires, it runs awesome. Drives awesome. Very happy with the performance. If it makes you warm and fuzzy I could put my clamp meter on the grids tomorrow morning. But I definitely saw signs of heating from the grids. And as mentioned above, the block heater is rocking out. Also, if the block heater was messed up, the grids should get it going. If the grids were messed up, the block heater should get it running. At least that's my thought process. Time will tell. I'll try to get my data logs done in the next 7-10 days and then re-pop to 340 bar ish. Then we just have to wait for the next cold front to move in, haha.

Some of us have been experimenting with higher pop pressures, with mixed and somewhat uncertain results so far. Beware of that if you are considering deviating from stock settings.

Here you go.

Oh yeah, I should have been more clear, I meant to soak the injector while it's removed. I don't want to put acid through my fuel system, lol.

I couldn't agree more. I've been trying to find a recipe for a combination of chemicals that will eat soot, and I mean eat... I've seen a video of someone's home made concoction, but he wouldn't say what he used.

Cranking speed is fantastic. I actually run a trickle charger under the hood, so when my block heater is plugged in my batteries get a top-up. Something I've always done with my diesels. If it's cold enough to run the block heater, I believe it's cold enough to give the battery some help. Grid heaters are definitely heating well. Ask me how I know... better yet don't, lol. And it's already been established that my injector pop pressure is making cold starts more difficult if you read earlier in the thread. I do not have injector problems per say, rather I have a pop pressure setting that is not conducive to extreme cold. I do appreciate the comments though, always encouraged. I also really like the idea of heating up the intake with a propane torch. I don't believe it's necessarily a timing only issue, but a duration and volume issue. I don't think I'm getting enough fuel to fire at extreme cold. Pop is happening later, ECM is demanding X amount of fuel. Fuel is cold, thicker. Atomization will be poor. Volume will be decreased. Engine is cold. Air is cold. All things contributing to a no-start condition. It's important to note that with the 7 x .014's at 340 bar, the truck started like summer time regardless of temperature. Now, it never got to -27° C, but I could tell the difference at -10 to -15 with my new setup. If you recall, I noticed immediately that the truck didn't start as well. The only code I've seen is map sensor from unplugging the quad to boost. When the truck fires it runs flawlessly. Runs like it was plugged in all night - just doesn't start like it was plugged in all night. When it fires, there is very little stumble. Not a ton of smoke. Doesn't even sound like cold start 5 seconds after it starts running. It sounds simple enough to touch the block to see how warm it is... but you have to understand how cold -28°C is. Not many people here really know the implications of a temperature like this. It's -30° C right now. Everything is so very cold, including my hands. I can't feel if the block is warm. But I'm extremely confident that the block heater is working. Agreed. I use a timer normally. I just bypassed it for troubleshooting purposes. No worries, questions like this are absolutely what I need for a sanity check lol. I am very sure. I changed the cord, tested everything, fabricated a cheater cord and tested with an ammeter last night. 5.86 amp draw. Measured 20 ohms on the element through the cord. 120vac / 20 ohms = 6 amps. My brother has fried two in his 2007 5.9 diesel though, not uncommon. I really want to change pop pressure while it's still cold out to prove out this theory... but I don't want to do the job while it's so cold out. And I also want to get data at 365 bar for Nick's injector pop data thread before I re-pop. And I need it to warm up so I can hook up to the pavement to do a WOT run, lol. Catch 22.

Well here's a plot twist. The block heater wasn't my problem. No start again this morning, block heater plugged in all night. Looks like I'm back to remote starting every 2-3 hours until either this cold snap ends, or I re pop the injectors to a lower pressure. I couldn't check the ECT because the quad wouldn't connect this morning. However the grid heater cycle was <10 seconds. For reference, it's -27°C. So the block heater worked well.

I guess you don't always get obvious warning signs... like burn marks and a truck that won't start. Haha.

I don't want to scare anybody into throwing money at parts ($35 for a cord!), but when you don't notice until it's too late, life sucks lol. Couldn't hurt to give it a quick inspection or measure current of you have the equipment.

Here's the smoking gun. Important lesson to be learned from this. Ohming out the cord while plugged into the block heater isn't enough. The fluke meter showed 20 ohms on the cord, which measured good. Because of the burned / weak / intermittent high resistance connection, the meter measured an acceptable resistance, however the circuit likely opened to high resistance when 120vac was applied and current tried to flow. I see this all the time at my place of work, so I probably should have thought of this earlier. The moral of the story is, if you want to be sure, measure current flow. With the new cord on I measure 5.86 amps. Perfect. I'm expecting an overnight low of -29° C. I'll know in the morning how much the injector pop pressure contributed to this problem.

So I had checked my block heater with an ohm meter before and it looked fine. 20 ohms. Today I had a hunch, so I put a meter on the line side of the block heater cord, 20 ohms. Gave the heater side a wiggle, and high resistance/open cct. Gave it a tiny little tug and it popped right out, metal collar still threaded on the block heater... FFS! New cord after work I guess... Couldn't hurt.