On Thu, 4 Jan 2018 20:23:23 -0500, Alex wrote:

wrote:
On Thu, 04 Jan 2018 08:43:37 -0500, John H
wrote:

On Wed, 3 Jan 2018 17:13:48 -0500, "Mr. Luddite" wrote:

On 1/3/2018 3:18 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 3 Jan 2018 11:28:11 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 1/3/2018 9:51 AM, John H wrote:
On Wed, 3 Jan 2018 05:26:28 -0500, "Mr. Luddite" wrote:

On 1/2/2018 9:39 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 02 Jan 2018 16:28:38 -0500, John H
wrote:

On Tue, 02 Jan 2018 16:07:13 -0500, wrote:

On Tue, 02 Jan 2018 12:47:56 -0500, John H
wrote:

On Tue, 2 Jan 2018 09:45:49 -0500, "Mr. Luddite" wrote:

On 1/2/2018 8:31 AM, John H wrote:

A friend reported it was so cold this morning that he actually saw a liberal with his hands in his
own pockets!

Pushing 12F right now.

A regular heat wave. I'll take it.

Eyeing this potential coastal storm for Thurs - Fri.
Might luck out and have it go too far out to sea. Otherwise ...

Only problem is that after it passes, the cold returns with overnight
lows predicted to be minus 8 or so. That's temp, not wind chill.

This has been one of the coldest December/January months I can remember
having for a long time. Soon will break a 100 year record for temps
remaining below 20 (F). For the past week the daytime temps haven't
even got close to 20, staying in the low to mid teens at best. 0
degrees yesterday morning. This morning it actually warmed up to 3 degrees.

Remote starter getting a workout! :-)

My remote starter, which has been working just fine for years, decided to go haywire. The truck
starts, runs about three seconds and dies. A 'check engine' light showed up about two weeks ago, and
I've not yet run the diagnostics. Maybe they are related.
That could be a bad sensor. It runs in "open cycle" when it first
starts then switches to "closed cycle" where the ECU controls the
emissions and a bad O2 sensor or MAF sensor can screw up the mix
enough so it stalls at idle.
If I start it with the key in the ignition, there's no problem at all. I've had an MAF sensor go
bad. That affects the running of the truck. Don't think that's the problem, or at least I hope not.
Those damn sensors are not cheap.
Are you touching the gas pedal? Nobody does that with the remote.


Don't know how John's diesel truck works but both my former Ford F-350
diesel and John Deere tractor diesel had glow plugs. I didn't have a
remote starter for either. In the truck you'd turn the ignition key to
"on" and a glow plug light would illuminate. You waited for it to go
out (only took a few seconds) and then you'd start it. On the tractor
the procedure to start in cold weather was to advance the hand throttle
control to almost full throttle, turn the key to the left for about
15-20 seconds that would heat up the glow plug and then turn to the
right to start, with your other hand on the throttle arm. As soon as it
fired, you pulled the throttle back to idle.

I don't even know if John's truck has a glow plug.
Yeah, I've got eight of the little *******s. And they're a pain in the ass to change. But, I would
think the glow plug process would be part of the remote start process when it's cold.

You'd think. Is there a delay from the time you push the remote to
start it until the engine actually turns over? The glow plugs need a
few seconds to heat up. Maybe your remote is designed more for using in
hot weather where you want to start the AC ahead of time.

If it fires at all the glow plugs did all they can do the way I
understand it but maybe the cylinders are still not hot enough to
support combustion. Try starting it normally, run it a minute or so,
turn it off, then try the remote start.


Speaking of starting ...

In anticipation of this "winter hurricane" all the weather people are
talking about I dragged my old faithful Honda E-2000 out of the shed
to start it up and get it ready for probable use. Last time I ran it it
was about 2 months ago and then it had fired up on 2 or 3 pulls.

This time ... no go. I must have pulled the damn cord a hundred times
and it wouldn't even burp. Tried full choke, half choke, no choke.
Took the plug out, cleaned it, but it looked fine. Tried starting again
but no joy in Mudville.

It's been really cold here for over a week with nighttime temps dropping
to zero several times. Highs no higher than mid teens.

I was ready to quit but just for kicks, I took the side cover off, got a
hair dryer and with it set on low I directed warm air on the carburetor
area. Only did it for 3 or 4 minutes because I really didn't think it
would help. Put the hair dryer down, pulled the cord and rrrrroooommmm
.... fired right up.

Only thing I can think of is there was some moisture in the gas (even
though I had put some Stabil in it) and it froze on the float assembly
or something. I let it run for over an hour and it ran just fine.

Good tip. Thanks. Was going to suggest putting it in the house overnight. But the hair dryer was
probably quicker.
That is one good thing about the propane kit I have on mine, no
gasoline to varnish up or collect water. I am not sure how frigid cold
would affect it tho.
I still would end up on gasoline if I had to run for a week or more
like Irma tho. I imagine I could get it going on propane and switch it
over running if I could move the valves fast enough.

Before I put the generator away after a storm I run the pump gas out of
it, pour in a half gallon of this, and run it a few more minutes to
purge the carb. I run it quarterly for 10 minutes at a time after
that. Never had a hiccup.

http://trufuel50.com/

Sounds like a plan, and it's carried by Home Depot. Will give that a shot.