Let's start with the fact that over the past ten years, cars became a viable alternative gasoline analogues for a variety of reasons. At the same time, significant fuel savings due to better and other positive qualities motors of this type.
However, this type of engine is also not without drawbacks. The main problem all diesel engines without exception modern cars is the vulnerability of the sensitive fuel system, as well as the difficulty of cold starting. It should be noted that certain knowledge makes it possible to avoid a number of such troubles during the operation of a diesel engine.
In this article, we will talk about what a novice "dieselist" needs to know about the features of engines of this type, as well as how to start a diesel engine in cold weather and do it right with minimal damage to other powertrain systems.
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Cold start of a diesel engine in winter: difficulties and nuances
As a rule, problems with a diesel engine begin precisely when the outside temperature drops to zero or below. At near-zero and negative temperatures in any engine, there are several, the fuel evaporates worse, it discharges more strongly, etc. As a result, launching can be naturally complicated.
As for the diesel, in this case special attention deserves . The fact is that diesel fuel is divided into "winter" and "summer". This division is dictated by the fact that this type of fuel tends to thicken and paraffinize in the cold. If this does not happen in warm weather, then in winter thick diesel fuel simply will not be pumped through the power system.
It turns out that in the summer at gas stations they sell the so-called "summer" diesel fuel, while to solve the problem with the onset of cold weather, "winter" diesel fuel is supplied to the gas station. Simply put, special additives are separately added to summer diesel fuel, which allow this type of fuel to remain fluid even at sub-zero temperatures.
At the same time, it is important to understand that in the off-season, when it is still relatively warm during the day, and it is already cold at night, not all gas stations have time to switch to winter diesel in a timely manner. Considering that winter fuel itself is also more expensive, then some unscrupulous sellers, in pursuit of profit, quite often sell summer diesel fuel at the price of winter fuel before the onset of stable cold weather. The situation is further complicated by the fact that it is impossible to distinguish summer diesel fuel from winter diesel fuel visually, by smell, consistency and any other signs.
How to start diesel in winter
So, we sorted out the "fuel" risks. Now it becomes clear that common problem when starting a diesel engine in winter, which leads to difficulties during a cold start, is unsuitable for the season or low-quality diesel fuel. in the right ways To avoid such problems are the following solutions:
- parking the car in a warm garage or heated parking lot;
- installation of systems, etc.;
- independent use of additives-antigels;
If everything is clear with the first two methods, then the third solution is many engine repair specialists and experienced car enthusiasts are being questioned. The fact is that the addition of various third-party additives to the fuel tank can be unsafe for diesel system power supply and the internal combustion engine itself.
By the way, many official dealers separately indicate that if any breakdowns occur due to the use of different antigels on diesel cars that are under warranty, then such a malfunction is not warranty case. This means that repairs will be carried out solely at the expense of the owner.
Let's go back to cold start. Let's imagine a typical situation where there is no garage, and the car itself has been standing on the street for a long time. At the same time, the car is not equipped with any additional heating. In this case, you need to know how to start a diesel engine in winter and what needs to be done to do everything right.
First of all, it is taken into account that starting a diesel engine in winter compared to a gasoline engine can be difficult due to the individual differences in such a motor. More precisely, fuel injection and further ignition of the mixture of fuel and air in a diesel engine occurs somewhat differently than in.
Also, owners of diesel cars that are operated in regions with fairly severe winters can be advised to install various preheaters (and power systems, preheater engines such as Webasto or Hydronic, etc.)
It is also recommended to separately insulate engine compartment and engine. It is well suited for this, which retains heat and prevents the internal combustion engine from cooling down quickly. Warming will not be superfluous. For these purposes, various solutions can be used, the simplest of which is the installation of a dense cardboard “flap”.
Finally, we note that for a long time, since the motor of this type warms up only in motion under load. This means that 3-5 minutes after the start of work on diesel car need to drive, however riding for the first 5 km. should be smooth, without a significant increase in speed, sudden starts and braking, movement on overdrive etc.
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Oil is a mixture of many hydrocarbons, from the lightest to tar and asphaltenes. When separated into fractions, all types of diesel fuel are obtained from oil.
An oil refinery somewhere in Russia...
Before being in fuel tank motor vehicle, tractor or tanker, oil will have to go through a difficult first stage of oil refining, which results in the best fuel in many respects.
Processing takes place in distillation columns - there, heated to high temperatures, oil releases certain fractions required to obtain a given product. For example, to obtain diesel fuel, a temperature of 180 to 360 °C is required. This stage of production technology is the easiest, cheapest and fastest, but provides the most low level output of diesel fuel - no more than 22-25%. Other, heavier hydrocarbon fractions require further processing by the cracking process, the output of which is the components intended for combustion in the cylinders of a diesel engine.
Several types are knowncracking process: thermal, carried out without catalysts, hydrocracking, during which the crude oil interacts with hydrogen contained in the reactor, as well as catalytic, where metals such as iron, nickel, and sometimes spongy platinum serve as accelerators of the process. This is a complex, energy-intensive, but necessary step that increases the yield of light fuel components to 70-80% of the feedstock volume.
Further semi-finished diesel fuel must be cleaned from sulfur and other impurities for which oil products are subjected to hydrocracking. In the process of interaction with hydrogen, which has a high chemical activity, at high temperature and pressure, sulfur and other compounds are formed, which are then removed from the reactor. Sulfur removal is expensive, often exceeding 50% of the cost of diesel production. Costs are further increased if the feedstock is today's most common sour crude. Final stage purification of diesel fuel from impurities - alkaline cleaning with a solution of caustic soda, removing organic acids and sulfur compounds.
If the finished fuel will not be subject to high requirements or imparting specific properties, then the final stage follows. diesel fuel production - blending (compounding). Products of cracking and direct oil refining are mixed in the required proportions based on the permissible sulfur content, enriched with various additives. Although it seems simple, mixing is a long and expensive process. Composite fuels with dozens of additive components require many chemical analyzes during the process, strict observance of mixing parameters and modes. Compounding often occurs when elevated temperatures and pressures, on very complex equipment. If it is necessary to obtain highly frost-resistant fuel, dewaxing may also be required.
It happens that winter can come suddenly, and when winter diesel fuel appears at gas stations is unknown, but you have to go. Now many different fuel additives have appeared on sale, which, when added to diesel fuel, can significantly lower its pour point. But the quality of many leaves much to be desired, what kind of engine resource will be from this chemistry is unknown, and these additives also appear in the dead of winter, when they are already at gas stations winter diesel fuel. In this article, we will look at how you can afford to drive in winter on summer diesel fuel, at least before the appearance of normal winter diesel fuel, which appears at gas stations much later than the frost that hit.
Many people know that diesel fuel can be summer, winter and arctic, and it is natural that from the names themselves it is clear which one is intended for what. And one of the characteristics of the fuel is its cloud point, that is, the beginning of paraffin crystallization in the solarium. At the same time, the fuel becomes cloudy, becomes similar in viscosity to jelly, and begins to be pumped worse through the elements of the diesel power system (we read how to improve it), or even not to be pumped at all.
With more cold weather, below the cloud point, in diesel fuel harder layers are formed on top of the “kissel”, and then the “kissel” also solidifies. Moreover, normal winter fuel begins to become cloudy at minus 25 degrees, and for arctic fuel, the clouding start parameter does not have a norm.
And the cloud point temperature of summer diesel fuel is minus 5 degrees, which means that with normal (fresh) filters fine cleaning fuel, starting and operating a diesel engine, does not cause trouble in light frost. Well, if you keep your car in a warm garage at night, then a lower temperature (down to minus 10) will not be an obstacle to driving summer diesel fuel.
After all, the excess fuel heated from hot injectors is drained along the return line back into the tank, thus heating the summer diesel fuel in it. But with such trips (especially at minus 10), you should not leave the car for a long time without movement on the street (for example, you came to work and left it on the street for the whole day). Since there will naturally be no circulation and heating of the fuel when the engine is not running, and the fuel will solidify during parking (especially if it is not minus 5, but minus 10 on the street).
You can enhance the effect of heating the return (fuel line backflow into the tank) or drainage if you take a copper tube and wrap it with a coil around the exhaust pipe of the muffler (about five turns are enough), and then connect a rubber backflow (return) gas line to this copper tube in series.
Another way is to run the return hose through a simple heater that will run on hot coolant temperature. In detail how to make it with my own hands, I described here great dignity such simple methods described above, in contrast to factory devices (such as a boiler powered by onboard network), which are installed on some foreign cars intended for the northern regions, is that they do not consume a single volt, which means they do not discharge the battery that is already overloaded in winter.
Another option for effectively heating the fuel in the tank, which also does not consume a single volt, can be seen in the figure on the left. Making such a heater in your garage is not at all difficult, if available. From sheet metal with a thickness of about 3 - 4 mm., A steel box is welded, with a height of the side walls of about 70 - 100 mm - this height depends on the clearance ( ground clearance) of your car, 100 mm can be made on jeeps, and 70 mm is enough for low cars. The box is tightly attached to the tank from below, for example, using band clamps made from steel plates.
And it is enough to make the area of the box such that it occupies about one third of the area of your tank. After the box is made, a pipe is welded to it, equal in diameter to the diameter of your exhaust pipe, and through a conventional T-tee is connected to exhaust system your machine (see picture). It is useful to make such a heater adjustable (switchable), since in summer it should generally be turned off as unnecessary.
To do this, install a damper in the tee, which will work from the tension of the cable, and at an unnecessary moment (in summer) when this cable is pulled, the damper will block access to hot exhaust gases to the box under the tank. However, who does not want to bother with the damper, then you can simply remove the heater in the spring, and screw a suitable plug into the tee.
The main disadvantage of the above methods is that diesel fuel is heated by heat from an already running engine. This means that it is only suitable for those cars that are stored at night in a warm garage. For cars stored at night in a parking lot on the street, such methods will not work.
You will have to use fuel additives that do not add "health" to the diesel, or install in a filter or tank electric heaters(some install in oil pan), which also have a number of disadvantages, the main of which is that it is possible to heat up the fuel in such a way that the energy of a battery that has lost capacity in the cold is no longer enough for a fun scrolling of the engine crankshaft starter, with oil thick from frost.
Although it is now possible to find good branded heaters on sale (as in the photo on the left), which do not drain the battery so much, and work from both 12 and 24 volts.
Yes, and a lot depends on the ambient temperature, and naturally, the lower it is (the stronger the frost), the longer the electric heater will have to work to defrost the thickened diesel fuel, and the more the battery will be discharged.
There are heaters that also work from a 220 volt network, but of course these are only suitable for a cold garage that has an outlet. It is unlikely that someone will use such a heater if they store the car in a street parking lot and pull a carrier from somewhere. Still need to find where to connect it.
But most drivers, faced with the problem of sudden frost and thickened fuel, use more simple ways, for example, a hairdryer, but here, too, a 220-volt network is required, which is available only in the garage. Although some pull the carrier from the apartment if the car is stored under the window.
I hope all drivers have enough common sense not to use an open flame in such cases. Indeed, despite the fact that the solarium does not flare up like gasoline, there is still a great chance to be left without a car.
And one more important point. Some drivers add kerosene or gasoline to diesel fuel to lower the pour point of diesel fuel. And if kerosene can still be used as a last resort, then gasoline should never be added to the tank diesel machine it is forbidden.
Because expensive parts High-pressure fuel pump, in 95% of all diesel foreign cars (high-pressure fuel pumps that are lubricated by a separate oil supply are very rare), are lubricated with diesel fuel. And the lubricating properties of gasoline are zero, and when it is added, not only strong and rapid wear details fuel equipment, but also their breakdown (chipping).
And even if there is a high-pressure fuel pump, the parts of which are lubricated engine oil, then all the same for gasoline cetane number 25 - 30, while diesel fuel has about 45. Therefore, when adding gasoline, diesel engine will work very hard, and the resource of parts not only of the high-pressure fuel pump, but of the entire engine will be drastically reduced. In addition, when gasoline is added to a solarium, vapor locks may appear in the suction line and air in the fuel system.
And finally, a couple of tips. If you live in a region where frosts can hit before winter diesel fuel appears at gas stations, and you keep your car not in a warm garage, but in a windswept parking lot, then take care of the stock winter fuel in advance, at least so that it would be enough until such fuel appears at gas stations (you can stock up at the end of winter and keep it until the first frosts next winter). After all, diesel fuel is like wine, the more it costs, the cleaner and healthier it is for the engine and expensive fuel equipment.
Or look in advance for a proven additive to summer fuel (which will not ruin diesel), because you may not find one at the moment when the frost hits. Well, those drivers who keep their car in a warm garage can manufacture and install the above-described heating devices on their car in order to easily meet the first frosts and drive in winter summer fuel, which is cheaper than winter, good luck to everyone.
In the article “What is advised to fill in diesel fuel in winter time» we will tell you what you need to fill in fuel in winter. Many car owners believe that the main part of the troubles that are associated with the operation of a diesel engine in the winter appears because the fuel does not correspond to the season. Three grades of diesel fuel have been installed. The most common type of diesel fuel is considered to be summer fuel (L), used from zero degrees Celsius and above. Up to - 30 degrees Celsius, diesel winter fuel (Z) is used. And at very low temperatures air usually use Arctic (A) diesel fuel.
The main relevant feature of diesel fuel is the cloud point. At this temperature, paraffins, which are contained in diesel fuel, crystallize. It becomes cloudy, but as the temperature drops further, diesel fuel resembles something like a fatty frozen soup or jelly. Small paraffin crystals settle in the pipeline channels, clog the safety nets and pores fuel filters, which immediately immobilize the operation of the motor. By the way, the cloud point for summer fuel is 5 degrees Celsius, for winter temperature turbidity is - 25 degrees Celsius.
Winter diesel fuel does not differ in smell or color from summer diesel fuel. So it turns out that only the tanker understands what is essentially poured into the tanks of cars.
Diesel in winter, as experience shows, can also work on summer diesel fuel. If there is no diesel fuel in winter, then a mixture of kerosene and a mixture of summer diesel fuel are used. For example, when the air temperature is from -20 degrees to -30 degrees Celsius, it is necessary to use a mixture that consists of 80 or 90% of summer fuel and 10 or 20% of kerosene. If you operate a diesel engine at this consistency at low temperatures for a long time, this will not be able to have any significant effect on the parts and components of the car.
Gasoline can be added to diesel fuel instead of kerosene, but this is in the latter case. Because the car runs on such a consistency, it can affect the long-term performance of the parts. piston-cylinder group, the hardness of its work increases, the characteristics of the diesel engine deteriorate. After all, diesel fuel has lubricating qualities for clear parts of nozzles and fuel pump. In this way, by adding gasoline, there will be no improvement in lubricating parameters, so you don’t need to get carried away with it.
It's great when there is a warm garage, but you need to put the car there with full tank, since a large volume of fuel cools slowly and retains heat better. With this method of operation during parking, it is impossible to dry out an idle engine for more than 2 or 3 hours.
It is necessary to declare war on the water contained in the fuel. In winter, it crystallizes even earlier than paraffins. Many diesel imported cars have sensors with indication on the device panel. And when the light starts to say that it is time to drain the contents of the sump, then, without delaying for a long time, it must be done. And ideally, without waiting until the indicator lights up, or, focusing on a certain mileage, which is 3000 km, drain the sediment once a month, and no less often.
On sale there are special such depressant additives for diesel fuel, they respond positively about them. They remove water from the fuel, lower the thickening temperature of the fuel. For half a ton of diesel fuel, the costs will increase by 7 or 8 bucks, the game is worth the candle.
It’s great if it is foreseen in the design for heating diesel fuel in fuel filter. After all, not all fuel is used for the working process. Through the drainage pipeline, a significant part of it returns to the filter or tank and slightly warms up the supply that is located there. Such heating should work automatically, no matter what the temperature is in the filter, and this does not interfere with checking.
Now we know that it is advised to fill in diesel fuel in winter. Use our advice, and in winter you will not have problems that are associated with the winter operation of a diesel car.
