As has been said before, Gasoline engines will start
in truly horrible temperatures. Diesels need a
preheater to liquify the diesel and allow them to
produce power when cold. I'm talking a block heater
not the cylinder preheaters that most diesels have. A
diesel is significantly down on power till it warms up
as it relies on cylinder temperature for combustion.
I've gotten my 300D into embarassing situations where
it would not motivate uphill and had no other way to
turn to get out of trouble. Had to wait till the
engine was thoroughly warm and then it would move.
Diesel fuel also turns to jelly at low temperatures.
There are winter formulations of diesel that gel at
much lower temperatures and old timers mix gasoline
with diesel where it gets seriously cold so the fuel
will flow. In my case, I'm not talking Alaska, btw,
but frigid Kona. Imagine how much fun a cold diesel
is in places where cold has real meaning.
I think the most common reason is that it isn't really
cold in most parts of the US, however. Grew up in
Michigan where 0 degrees F was not uncommon.
Temperatures below 0 were extremely rare, however.
Most winter nights were in the teens or low 20's.
Frosty but not REALLY cold. Never had a motor in good
condition with a decent battery not start right up.
The Northern tier States, with the exception of
Washington, and/or the Northern part of these States
and certain mountainous regions are the only places
that get bitterly cold on a regular basis. New
Hampshire is not Connecticut as far as temperatures
are concerned. Low viscosity oil and a good battery
are about all that's needed most places.
Aloha
Peter O.
Suffering through another bitterly cold winter, it's
66 degrees at 0600
--- David Scheidt <dmschei@attglobal.net> wrote:
>
> >Sorry for the cross-post but I think this might be
> of interest to everyone.
> >
> >Does anyone have any thoughts on why engine
> pre-heaters don't seem
> >as popular in the US as they do
> >elsewhere?
> >
> >Although several companies (Eberspdcher, Webasto,
> and Kenlowe) offer
> >pre-heaters, only Webasto and
> >Eberspdcher appear to be represented in the US.
> According to their
> >web sites, only Webasto offers a
> >pre-heater for petrol vehicles.
> >
> >As everyone knows, it's a little chilly here, so
> does anyone else
> >find this a little odd?
> >
> >Are they too expensive?
>
> I suspect it's that gas is too cheap. Modern petrol
> vehicles will
> start in just about any weather, so you don't really
> need it for
> starting. (And in those parts of the country where
> it's routinely
> really cold, electric block heaters are pretty
> common.) If you're
> too much of a mamsy-pansy to just drive off, you can
> let the car run
> for a few minutes while it warms up a bit. With US
> gas prices, that
> doesn't cost too much; if you paid what people in
> other parts of the
> world did, you might think twice about it.
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