2LT - cold weather recommendations

[jmylie]

Now that it is getting cooler, starting my LJ77 takes a bit. Wondering if there are recommendations for starting in cold weather other than letting it crank until it starts.

Turn the choke before starting? If so, how many turns? (weird that it turns and does not pull out).

Pump the accelerator pedal 1 or 2 times or not?

It hasn't been all that cold, just a bit below freezing.

Thanks,

 

[Nas90tdi]

That is not the choke. It's an idle speed adjustment.
Leave that alone unless you want to idle the truck up a bit after it catches.
Do not touch the accelerator.

Try running the glow plugs twice. Let them run through until the relay under the hood clicks. Turn off an do it again. That helps them usually if they are being a bit tough to start.

 

[OGBeno]

Actually, Toyota recommends that the accelerator pedal be halfway or fully depressed on cold start ups.

I do it this way as well both on cold and regular days. I use the throttle control (idle) to increase RPMs after starting and keep the RPMs at about 1000 for about 2-3 mins to get the "coughing" out of the engine.

This is a good guide below for all Toyota diesel engines:

 

[Nas90tdi]

I had never seen that. There's your answer. Every diesel I have ever had would throw the start mixture off if you touched the pedal. And, I have never had an English language owners manual for the Toyotas.

Thanks for posting that Beno.

 

[jmylie]

Thanks.

Very different from my HJ60.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Actually, Toyota recommends that the accelerator pedal be halfway or fully depressed on cold start ups.

I do it this way as well both on cold and regular days. I use the throttle control (idle) to increase RPMs after starting and keep the RPMs at about 1000 for about 2-3 mins to get the "coughing" out of the engine.

This is a good guide below for all Toyota diesel engines:

I had never seen that. There's your answer. Every diesel I have ever had would throw the start mixture off if you touched the pedal. And, I have never had an English language owners manual for the Toyotas.

Thanks for posting that Beno.

That start procedure is interesting, but I think it only applies to the mechanical injection pumps. Electronic injection (2LTE), the computer takes care of everything.

When you have good compression, a well maintained glow system, and a good battery, starting should be easy with the 2LT/2LTE. I've had both engines, and with one factory glow cycle (waiting until you actually hear the main glow relay open - about 7sec), they both start perfectly and with no smoke or miss-firing. I never even did the throttle half down thing. This in temps down to about -10C (14F). Lower than that, the double glow would be necessary.

My old short block in my 2LTE did have compression issues, and required a double glow all the time to start clean with no missfiring/smoke.

Best way to check the glow system is use a volt meter to measure the voltage at one end of the glow rail. Have someone glow the engine while you measure. You should see about 10.5V initially and it'll go up to about 11V as the elements heat up (resistance rises). Should see it for around 7sec.

Also, you can pull the glow rail off, and measure the resistance of each glow plug to make sure they're not burnt out.

 

[Nas90tdi]

Tried it just out of curiosity. Makes my 2LTE start like crap. Smokes a ton and wasn't any easier to start. I normally get just a bit of smoke and a second or 2 of roughness. Depressing the pedal dumped a load of diesel resulting in a ton of smoke.
I agree, mechanical pump maybe. But the electronic pump is not a fan of using the pedal.

 

[coldtaco]

If I plan on not running my truck for more than 8hrs I try to remember to set idle to 1000rpm then shut down. This gets the throttle close to where it needs to be when starting cold, then I don’t have to idle up after start as much, and it seems to like that setting at start up. This is for my 2H.

 

[OGBeno]

Tried it just out of curiosity. Makes my 2LTE start like crap. Smokes a ton and wasn't any easier to start. I normally get just a bit of smoke and a second or 2 of roughness. Depressing the pedal dumped a load of diesel resulting in a ton of smoke.
I agree, mechanical pump maybe. But the electronic pump is not a fan of using the pedal.

Thanks for trying it out. As the image above shows, it's not applicable to the computer-controlled diesels.

 

[ALEXY]

my early 2lt, after the IP was revised, keeps the rpm at 1100 for a while untill the engine warms up.

If I use the webasto, then it does start with normal idle rpm, 800. sometimes I press throttle or turn the idle knob up a bit.

I say a nice thing for cold start on any old engine is a webasto. send a text message to your gps locator and you have a warm engine 20 min later. easy!

 

[jmylie]

I did the "pedal to the floor" start and it workd well.

I believe my 91 LJ77 is from Spain, so "outside Germany".

 

[jmylie]

Ordered new glow plugs from Beno and installed them on Sat.

This morning it was 24 F / -7 C, perfect test weather.

Immediate start after turning the key after the glow indicator went off.