decompressed 6.5L starting

[94TDsuburban]

Hi, I am just wondering how well they start in cold weather??? Thanks

[Fuel Pump]

My 97 is stock, I have been driving my 97 this week in the morning. I have had it is plugged in at about 0

[Robyn]

If you are refering to the 18:1 engines??
They will start fine as long as things are right with them.
If the temps get really cold they could get a little balky and maybe need an extra glow

[ronniejoe]

My 18:1 starts very well with some extended glow time. I have a manual glow control to give some manual pre-glow and some manual post glow and can get it to start very cleanly even when near zero without being plugged in.

Once the temperature drops below about 35F, extended glow time is required to start cleanly without smoking.

Kennedy is developing chip programming with my truck that should eventually allow for automatic starts without manual glow help. We're on about our fourth or fifthe iteration and coming very close. When this is finished, it will be a very cool feature with his programming. (We're making gains in power as well!)

[dieseldummy]

As long as it's an electronic pumped 6.5 you'll be doing ok. The DB2 equiped trucks seem to suffer a little more... With that said mine has been starting the last few mornings without a blockheater (that's a whole other story) at 0 degrees after overnight lows of -10. I have mine at around 17.5:1 CR... the smoke takes a while to clear up, but eventually does. A friend of mine has a '96 that's 18:1 and it fires off no problem and doesn't smoke much.

[94TDsuburban]

THANKS, also how much boost do you guy's run with a 18:1 cr.

[arveetek]

My 19.75:1 cr mechanically-injected 6.2L starts fairly well, with extended glow time of about 12 seconds. Still smokes quite a bit if it's really cold. My boost tops out at 18 psi with a non-wastegated turbo. Most of the time the boost stays in the 12 to 15 psi range when working hard.

Casey

[Cowracer]

My 18:1 truck starts incredibly hard, but it does always start.

I cannot plug it in at work, so it takes a bit of cranking. It seems like 3 or 4 clys start hitting pretty quick, and then the rest come on one at a time. It needs at least 5 to run on its own, so there is a long time where I am using the starter to help keep it turning over until more clys start popping.

It positivley SPEWS white smoke during this, and on the whole it would be quite embarrassing, if the truck didnt run like a striped-a$$ed ape, (my truck has a mondo rep with the guys here at work). But even after sitting out at 5 below all day without being plugged in, it WILL start, if you work at it.

Now with all that being said, I have finally put the GMTDScan on the truck and found out the timing is way out. if memory serves, my base is like 12 degrees. So I imagine that getting my timing set will improve matters.

I run the stock GM-4 with a turbo-master, and I can run up to 15 lbs if I whip it hard, but I usually try to keep the boost in the 12-13 lb range with no I/C.

Tim

P.S. Before you ask, yes. the glow-plug system is in fine shape.

[Patrick m.]

my 18:1 engine starts fine, (temps here hit low of 18f so far).
The old engine always had starting issues, it never started right away, it would miss and jerk for about 4 to 6 seconds. i believe the new IP has cured that.