ianwoods
Well-Known Member
I have always had very sluggish starting from cold with this engine which has a saildrive leg. Colleagues have pre heaters in their larger engines.
I decided, having read and tried a hair drier on the mouth of the air filter that starting on bitterly cold mornings could be accomplished with preheat. I removed the felt wadding from the air filter and the cone. I drilled a hole in the centre of the round end of the airfilter canister and fitted a diesel glow plug. I used a short reach one:Wellman W632 at £7. Two nuts and a spring washer hold the glow plug in place. The thread is finer than the standard metric thread. The nuts I use were about half as thin as the normal nut; this allowed one outside the cannister and the washer and the second nut on the inside.
I earthed the plug with a 27amp wire and terminal to the earth
bolt on the engine and took the live connection to the domestic battery via a 30amp switch which I installed next to my Morse control. I switch on the glow plug for one minute. The engine fires virtually instantly. I turn of the glow plug and remove the switch key. This has worked over the last 4 mornings with temps as low as -3C. The cannister gets warm but the paint has remained intact. I am pleased it has worked. No more idle thrashing away with the usual clouds of smoke on ignition. Engine is a little more noisy with the sound reducing removed from the air filter. I have a disc of expanded metal attatched to the spout of the air filter canister
to prevent ingress of debris. I hope this info may be useful to Forum readers.
I decided, having read and tried a hair drier on the mouth of the air filter that starting on bitterly cold mornings could be accomplished with preheat. I removed the felt wadding from the air filter and the cone. I drilled a hole in the centre of the round end of the airfilter canister and fitted a diesel glow plug. I used a short reach one:Wellman W632 at £7. Two nuts and a spring washer hold the glow plug in place. The thread is finer than the standard metric thread. The nuts I use were about half as thin as the normal nut; this allowed one outside the cannister and the washer and the second nut on the inside.
I earthed the plug with a 27amp wire and terminal to the earth
bolt on the engine and took the live connection to the domestic battery via a 30amp switch which I installed next to my Morse control. I switch on the glow plug for one minute. The engine fires virtually instantly. I turn of the glow plug and remove the switch key. This has worked over the last 4 mornings with temps as low as -3C. The cannister gets warm but the paint has remained intact. I am pleased it has worked. No more idle thrashing away with the usual clouds of smoke on ignition. Engine is a little more noisy with the sound reducing removed from the air filter. I have a disc of expanded metal attatched to the spout of the air filter canister
to prevent ingress of debris. I hope this info may be useful to Forum readers.