Cold weather engine starting tips

[jrh]

In honor of this week's frigid weather, I was wondering what tricks you use to start piston engines in cold weather.

Some of the ways I've used in the past:

Hangaring the plane.
Preheating the engine using engine block heaters or heating carts.
Throwing an old sleeping bag over a hot engine to keep it warm overnight.
Pushing the primer in as the engine "catches."
Hand propping, if the battery is too weak to crank the starter.
Priming, pulling the prop through a few times, then priming again before attempting to start.

Any other methods?

 

[Texasspilot]

crank with the gas off the get the plugs heated and dried out if it sat out all night.

then of course theres the

crank crank crank, you SONOFA#@$*$)$*)#($ why wont you start, crank crank crank, @#$@#)$(*)JESUS IN A HANDBASKET(*&(*&(*&(*&(*, CRANK CRANK *POOM* BLUE SMOKE....

thank god now i can turn the heater on.

 

[Ian_J]

I love it when I am having trouble cranking in the cold with a relatively new student and they look at you one of two ways:

1. Why in the world am I learning to fly in this POS?
or
2. My instructor is a moron! He doesn't even know how to start the engine!

 

[falconvalley]

LOL I LOVE that.

 

[montanapilot]

Pushing the primer in as the engine "catches."

thats seems to work the best for me. However, it never gets super cold out here in Orygun.

 

[MSUDAWG]

Priming, pulling the prop through a few times, then priming again before attempting to start.

Any other methods?

Thats how I do it in my airplane......Hand prop it about 8 times to get oil flowing (not sure if this is accurate) and then priming it 3x's and it seems to fire right up......Although I do leave a moving blanket over the engine for the night.....Not sure if all this is right but it works for me

 

[DMBinHBurg]

Don't do cold starts (less than 30 degrees F). ALWAYS PREHEAT when it's this cold!

 

[TheOneMarine]

crank with the gas off the get the plugs heated and dried out if it sat out all night.

then of course theres the

crank crank crank, you SONOFA#@$*$)$*)#($ why wont you start, crank crank crank, @#$@#)$(*)JESUS IN A HANDBASKET(*&(*&(*&(*&(*, CRANK CRANK *POOM* BLUE SMOKE....

thank god now i can turn the heater on.

Haha, I love that, lol.:rotfl: I tried a cold engine start for the first time over X-mas in Indiana (Im from Florida) and this was exactly what I sounded like. Mind if I use that quote for my signature Texas?

 

[surreal1221]

In the 172k I'm flying regularly it's 2 to 4 pumps of primer, then mixture full, throttle 1/8 in, turn the ignition to start - if it doesn't start after a few seconds, begin pumping the throttle until it does - once it starts, let it run at 1200rpm for a few seconds, then back to 1000 rpm. Time to fly.

 

[jrh]

Don't do cold starts (less than 30 degrees F). ALWAYS PREHEAT when it's this cold!

Ummm...you're saying if preheat isn't available, to cancel the flight? What if you need to fly?

 

[jrh]

In the 172k I'm flying regularly it's 2 to 4 pumps of primer, then mixture full, throttle 1/8 in, turn the ignition to start - if it doesn't start after a few seconds, begin pumping the throttle until it does - once it starts, let it run at 1200rpm for a few seconds, then back to 1000 rpm. Time to fly.

Will that work when it's below freezing? I'd love it if it were that easy for me year-round!

 

[surreal1221]

It was M02 here this morning at 9am local. Worked fine.

 

[jrh]

It was M02 here this morning at 9am local. Worked fine.

Yeah, I suppose a good engine could handle it. I'm used to flying old beat up trainers

That's sort of on the line of what I'd consider "cold," too.

I had to cancel a flight this morning because it was -12 C and my student and I couldn't get the C-150 going for anything. We tried every trick in the book. It wouldn't even cough, sputter, pop, or anything.

 

[tgrayson]

begin pumping the throttle

You do understand this can be risky?

 

[Goonie]

You do understand this can be risky?

Very risky!!

not good advice

 

[Van_Hoolio]

Very risky!!

not good advice

Just study your engine fire on ground memory items!

 

[USMCmech]

Ummm...you're saying if preheat isn't available, to cancel the flight? What if you need to fly?

If you can't preheat the engine when it is below 20F you shouldn't start it peroid!

 

[jtrain609]

If you can't preheat the engine when it is below 20F you shouldn't start it peroid!

And for those of us that work in the real world...

I prime the crap outta O-360's when it's cold out. One of the Seminole at Skymates was known to take a good ten shots of prime to get it started when it was warm out, so I can't imagine how much it needed when it was cold.

 

[Goonie]

And for those of us that work in the real world...

I prime the crap outta O-360's when it's cold out. One of the Seminole at Skymates was known to take a good ten shots of prime to get it started when it was warm out, so I can't imagine how much it needed when it was cold.

about 20

 

[Blip16]

on our cadet, we need to try to flood it. i give it about 5-6 shots of primer then crank. if it doesn't turn over i give it about 2-3 full pumps with the throttle and try again.

it is very tempramental if it isn't preheated below about 10F and at -10F it is damn near impossible to start. i don't fly when it gets colder than that because when we need to descend our heat goes away :lol: