Comments on: Cold Weather Starting Tips

By: Pete

Pete — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:32:49 +0000

At what temp should you plug in the engine block heater before starting?

By: Bob F

Bob F — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:20:44 +0000

How well do the radiator hose heaters work. What the pros and cons as compared to the block heater. I hava a L245 DT

By: Rick Bromstad

Rick Bromstad — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:28:35 +0000

To help with transmission operation in winter I switched to an equal synthetic tranny fluid reccomended by my bulk oil dealer. I’ve used it for 20 years now and never had a minute of trouble,and what a difference in warmup time

By: Mike J

Mike J — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:14:45 +0000

By the laws of science a battery is at 50% efficiency at 32F (0C); that means your 800 CCA (Cold Cranking Amp) battery is down to 400 even before you start. A really effective and cheap aid is to buy a battery heating pad and put it under the battery. Sorta like that hot pad Granpaw put under his achin back Then just plug that heating pad for an hour before cranking and… wallah, full battery power.

By: John Milito

John Milito — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 01:59:19 +0000

Hi Vic; Thanks for the tip. I figured out my battery didn’t have enough power. The cold weather killed it down, so my glow plugs didn’t heat up enough. The temperature that morning was -22 C. I had my block heater on but I missed the part you said about taking your battery in at night. I’m a Kubota newbie and loving the cold learning curve. Thanks! John

By: Vic

Vic — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:02:10 +0000

John, There is no cyl head decomp on your B20. Are you having trouble starting it? Assuming you have a good strong battery with a MINIMUM of 850-1000 CCA try this start technique on that cold blooded Kubota! Don’t glow the plugs, but crank the tractor over for 15-20 seconds until it starts to blow white smoke. Stop cranking, and then glow the plugs for a full 45-60 seconds. This will feel like an eternity when you’re freezing your ass off, but it has to be done! After glowing for the appropriate time, crank the engine over, with the throttle or gas pedal held half way. When tractor fires it may start running a little lumpy, so, re-glow the plugs until the engine smooths out, (usually only a few seconds) then reduce throttle to high idle after running smooth. That’ll get ya goin’!!

Service Dept Vic

By: John Milito

John Milito — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 04:51:17 +0000

Hi Vic; I have an old B-20 and I don’t have a cylinder head decompression knob you mention on CRANKING, on my dash or anywhere else I can see. Do I have one? Would be helpful for cold weather starts in Canada. Thanks for your expert advice.
John

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:21:56 +0000

You should be able to leave it plugged in. When I was running a dairy farm, I used to keep the main tractor plugged in 24/7 in the winter because if we lost power I’d have to be able to start it immediatly to run the generator. Now that starting is less critical, I usually get up around 4:30 to plug in the block heater, then go back to bed until 6:00, 1-2 hours is generally enough to warm the engine. If it’s going below -30F, I’ll probably plug the heater in the evening (mostly so that I don’t have to go out in the morning until I’m ready)

By: Vic

Vic — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 02:34:06 +0000

Mary Beth, You can leave your Kubota plugged in for days if required. The element in the block heater is designed to crank out a specific amount of heat, and is “high limit” thermo protected.

Overheating the tractor with the block heater would never happen as the heat generated from the block heater does not become an exponential.

Plug it in for as long as you feel necessary being mindful of energy conservation. Overnight is completley acceptable!

Service Dept Vic

By: Mary Beth

Mary Beth — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 01:05:00 +0000

I have a plug -in block heater I installed in my B7510…I always wonder how long I should keep it plugged in before cranking it up…it seems like it smoother when its plugged in for at least a few hours…is there a point where leaving it plugged in overnight is harmful to the engine? For example….if I know its going to be minus 10 overnight and I want to plow the next morning would it be ok to plug her in the night before?