Diesel pre-heater.

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KevR
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Diesel pre-heater.

Post by KevR »

Necessary in our climate or not....?

I need to replace the fuel lines on the grey one, but the hoses to the pre-heater are a bastard to get at (this is the kind with the preheater down between the water pump and steering rack), so I was wondering at the wisdom of bypassing the heater altogether. After all, my tractor, JCB and Land Rover, all of which have the same basic type of Lucas pump, make do without any kind of pre-heater.

Thoughts,. anyone?
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JayW
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Re: Diesel pre-heater.

Post by JayW »

I bypassed the one on my TGD because it was porous and letting air in. Made NO difference whatsoever. Modern diesel is good for much lower temperatures than it used to be when the BX & XU were designed.
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Re: Diesel pre-heater.

Post by KevR »

Excellent - that's what I wanted to hear!
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Thread Bear
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Re: Diesel pre-heater.

Post by Thread Bear »

No use if your a veggie 'burger', though.

A good battery seems to be the key thing. As long as the compression stroke is snappy, you get going. Hence some folk running with a second battery to switch in to kick the engine into life on older or cobbled up machines. Not sure about BX starters but many will take 24v, so if you isolate the circuit from the rest of the electrics you can really get in the swing.
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Re: Diesel pre-heater.

Post by KevR »

Veg oil's not legal over here, and anyway I do enough miles so I'd spend all my life in and out of Aldi or wherever and filling the tank! Also diesel over here is a lot cheaper than petrol so I doubt there'd be any significant saving anyway.

Always used to leave the 6V starter in place when converting older Beetles to 12V - gave a nice quick kick to the starting and never seemed to cause a problem.
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Re: Diesel pre-heater.

Post by Thread Bear »

I am not using it at the moment. Need to be serious and buy in bulk to get a good saving. I do consider adding a bit in a % mix and it seems to keep the system clean, unlike used chip oil. Whole different game.

Indeed 6V starters seem happy enough on 12v. Even Bubblecar Dynostarters can cope. Trouble is the more modern the less leeway and the more damage you can do with wrong Voltage in the wrong place.
Miguel - 16 TRS Auto S, light blue, 43k miles - £450
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Scraper- 17 TZD Turbo E, blue, 208k miles - parts
Homer - 19 TXD E, Red, 189k miles - £250
Gary - 17 TZD Turbo E, 118k miles - in work

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citsncycles
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Re: Diesel pre-heater.

Post by citsncycles »

My first RD also had the pre heater bypassed due to it leaking and it ran fine. Timex has the electrical one but I'm not convinced it actually works. The only problems I have is cold mornings with a veg mix, but I tend to avoid using veg in winter anyway as I've heard of the increased restistance of cold veg oil in the pump killing the cambelt.
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Re: Diesel pre-heater.

Post by Thread Bear »

Seems in cold countries they effectively put an immersion heater in the fuel tank to get a reasonable ambient temperature and good flow for best use. If you were to use Coconut Oil here, we would need to do the same thing here.
Still have not got to the bottom of LPG injection on diesels.
Miguel - 16 TRS Auto S, light blue, 43k miles - £450
Pluto - 14 E S, White, 105k Miles - in work
Egbert - 19 16v Gti, White, A/C & Leather, - Keeper
Walt - 17 TZD Turbo S, graphite, 70k miles, good op extras - Keeper
Scraper- 17 TZD Turbo E, blue, 208k miles - parts
Homer - 19 TXD E, Red, 189k miles - £250
Gary - 17 TZD Turbo E, 118k miles - in work

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Re: Diesel pre-heater.

Post by MULLEY »

Thread Bear wrote:Seems in cold countries they effectively put an immersion heater in the fuel tank to get a reasonable ambient temperature and good flow for best use. If you were to use Coconut Oil here, we would need to do the same thing here.
Still have not got to the bottom of LPG injection on diesels.
I wouldn't bother with LPG on a diesel, it enhances fuel economy, not significantly though, however, you can't run one solely on LPG, it still uses diesel as part of the mix. I made some enquiries with a LPG firm, they said don't bother as the advantages will never outweigh the cost of the conversion. Now if it reduced the cars emmission levels & there was a change in Govt policy regarding road tax on older vehicles, then it would be worth getting it done.
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