Quote Originally Posted by metric_taper View Post
Hope your New Years dinner has something special from the trip to town.
I bet there were a few expletives used to get the diesel running. But you beat the beast into coming alive. And you got a good day in. Can't wait to see the insulation and roof sheeting installed.
I learned with my first car (62 Pontiac Safari Station Wagon ~71) that oil viscosity was everything to getting it started when winter temps in North Dakota were -40F. As well a huge Cadillac battery. Mobil One just started being sold, and it was the missing ingredient to cold weather engine starts (5W-30 it was $2.90/qt, when regular oil was $0.65). Every auto also had engine block heaters, either one that installed in a freeze plug, or separate tank in the heater hose line, and there were dip stick heaters as well. I don't see that anymore, as synthetic oils seem to be the norm in all autos.
A new battery, darn things have gotten expensive. That should fix your tropical temp. engine start problem.
If I would take the time to pull the injector pump and re build it, that would go a long way to curing the starting and low power problems with the old gal. The problem with these old minimatic pumps is with an off the shelf rebuild you might as well be shooting craps in Vegas trying to locate one that is a quality reman. To do it my self would mean the backhoe would be down for the length of time to order in replacements for any worn parts, the price of new NOS is not in budget. I know a pump guy in Florida who used to be good if he still does that sort of thing who used to be fairly reasonable. Maybe this coming summer when the need for the backhoe will be lessened hopefully I will be able to do the pump and injectors