Silly me, I did the oil change with rotella 15w40 on my old deere and I couldn't figure out why it has such a hard time starting. Mornings are just 5-6 degrees Celsius above freezing. Poor thing has such a hard time cranking. What a waste, new oil only has about 5 hours on it now it's going to get changed. Soon itll be creezing here, is conventional 5w30 enough for below freezing starts, or should I skip to a 0w30 or 0w40?
My old Deere book says 15w40 is good from -15 to 40 C. 5w30 is good for -35 to 10 C so that would be too light if you get above 10 C during the day while you're working. If you're not planning to start it below negative 15 C, then leave the oil. Plug it in if you want it to start easier. Or fix the other problems with the starting system.
Nowhere to plug it in, it's in a forest. Maybe 35 years ago with 15w40 it started alright in winter, maybe a new starter might fix it. my much newer dodge ram diesel doesn't like 15w40 below freezing, but then it had old batteries, just bought some new ones this week. Maybe the excavator needs a new battery but it looks new.
15w40 should not be an issue even at -20C in my opinion if all else is in good nick. Might have to go to 10w30 around that area or below. You either have a weak starter/electrical issue or something is causing backpressure and the pumps are fighting the starter. Try it with the flow control cable knob in and out? We had 690B's, turned good even at -10C but would take a sniff of ether to light, we never ran winter mix, always just #2 off road diesel.
Use a good synthetic 0w-40 and/or a pan heater. A oil sample will convince you and you bearings will thank you.
A butcher has gone through this machines wiring with all the precision of- well a butcher. I don't think I have a flow control switch. I have a rabbit/ turtle and one that seems to be a swing lock most switches and fuses are missing, replaced.
Should be a push pull cable:
That looks like my throttle. Where should it be, and where is it hooked up to?
You could use a propane engine heater or go with an espar or webasto diesel fired engine heater, or old school and 20 feet of heater hose with some quick connectors on your truck, but put a valve so at -40 you can slowly circulate a little heat at first.
I wouldn't mind a 1500 or 2000 watt heater with pump in the coolant circulation connector. With an electric generator I could also give the battery a boost as its trying to start
You won. The ground was bolted to a steel plate, paint and all. I don't see how it even started, I can't see a clean enough patch for conduction other than the jagged edge of the hole where the wire was squealed in. Cleaned all the rest of them, ecept the starter terminal, it's too corroded to loosen. I will have to spray some penetrating lube on it and do it next week.