Glow plug for Chang Fa 195

[Hank]

Well it's getting on to fall then winter, which means cold weather.
At my daughters/son-in-laws land in the Berkshires of Mass. it gets pretty cold and we have no grid power, the sun does not always shine so the solar panels are useless and the wind doesn't always blow so my wind mill is also useless in these situations, and we do love to hunt and camp in December.

Not to despair we have a 195 Chang-Fa diesel tied into a 7.5kw generator and an alternator to charge the batteries. Cold weather starting is however an issue.

I've looked for some glow plug solutions and though there were some eluded to non were forthcoming. To that end I have designed my own (perhaps others have already done this and I'm just not aware of it, sorry).

My IDI Chang-Fa has a starting assist plug (useless) in it. What I have done is to machine an adapter to accept a glow plug and use this plug port to equip the engine with a glow plug for cold weather starting ease.

The plug is threaded with a M12/1.75 thread with a beveled seal at the bottom.
The photo's below are the adapters that I have machined to accept either a YA01 or YE01 glow plugs for starting assistance. I have one installed and is running, unfortunately the weather has been warm so I can't really give this approach a true evaluation, perhaps in the next week or two I'll have more information as the weather cools off.

[rcavictim]

Are these to protrude into the pre-chamber of the combustion area where the explosive pressures are really high, or on the ambient pressure side of the air intake valve?

[Hank]

These are in the pr-combustion chamber (or IDI chamber) so the pressures are pretty high. I have had one running for approx. 5 hrs. without a problem, though I must say it was pretty warm (60 F) when I started it up without  a problem. When the engine started it quickly reved up and smoking stopped when I engaged the glow plug.

This is "work in progress" until I determine the optimal parameters.
So far so good!!

[rcavictim]

These are in the pr-combustion chamber (or IDI chamber) so the pressures are pretty high. I have had one running for approx. 5 hrs. without a problem, though I must say it was pretty warm (60 F) when I started it up without  a problem. When the engine started it quickly reved up and smoking stopped when I engaged the glow plug.

This is "work in progress" until I determine the optimal parameters.
So far so good!!

The fact you report that smoking stopped on a cold, freshly started engine when you applied power to the glow plug is to me an indication that the glow plug is in a good spot and will very likely do the desired job of assisting with a cold weather start.  I'm sure you know that these glow plugs are not designed for continuous application of power, so you cannot use one as a 'smoke control'.   

Glad to hear you are making progress.

[vdubnut62]

Well you are lucky in that the 195 has a spot for a glow plug.  With my s1100, I have no provisions for cold weather starting at all.

RCAvic, when are you going to pull the trigger on that 30hp beast? You know you want to .

[rcavictim]

Well you are lucky in that the 195 has a spot for a glow plug.  With my s1100, I have no provisions for cold weather starting at all.

RCAvic, when are you going to pull the trigger on that 30hp beast? You know you want to .

Alas, no money Amigo.  I know the window of opportunity on this 1130 is gonna close soon with Canadian EPA getting ill conceived ideas from the USA counterpart.  Still putting money into wind turbine components and materials.

My apologies for the OT.

[Hank]

You are right, these glow plugs are for intermittent use. About 10 seconds of power is the max they specify. All I need is to get it started, the smoke clears up after about a minute or less of running in freezing weather. Getting it started in freezing weather, without glow plugs, is a real pain. Hope this will solve that problem.

[veggie]

Hi Hank,

Where did you get the glow plugs?
Make, model etc...

Thank for sharing this info.
I would like to install one in the inlet manifold of my R190 Changfa

cheers,
veggie

[ryanw95]

since the glow-plugs don't work in my late 80's deere front end mower, I supply pre-warmed air (via heat gun) into the air intake (rubber hose, approx 5" away from opening of it). Usually works.

I'm hoping this will work when I employ the mower with a custom snow plow blade this winter to move snow off our long driveway.

The R180 on my Roper (see avatar) sees little use in the winter...but I may try the heat gun trick on it too. Would be nice to have a glow-plug to assist with starting it in the cold.

[Hank]

Hi Veggie,
The actual glow plugs that are screwed into my adapter are:
NGK YA01 or NGK YE01.

The NGK YA01 is pricey at about $35 and is a 12V plug,
the NGK YE01 costs about $18 and is an 11 volt  plug. Both were purchased over the internet.
These plugs are quite small with a M8 x 1 thread and I'm not sure they would work effectively in heating the inlet air.

As a side note I've never had to much luck starting my engine by heating the inlet air using a propane torch or anything else in freezing weather. I guess a proper inlet air heater should work though.
I believe there were posts on this subject on this site. Do a search.

All the best,
Hank