How well does your Cub start in the cold?

[Sprint60]

I must be doing something wrong. Pretty much none of my kit will start right off in really cold weather.

The old Farmall absolutely refuses when temps get near 0. I remember once chaining it to the truck and having my wife drag me around on it trying to get it to light. Didn’t, wouldn’t, next nice sunny day it started without hesitation.

The Yanmar will start but you have to crank it a bit and restart it twice or three times and put up with the complaining ‘till it warms up.

The 147 will light off if you are patient and crank it a while. After cranking for a minute or two It will start puffing white smoke and then catch, and then lots of black smoke and noisy coughing followed by an intense moment of quiet. Crank it again and it will start and run for about 30 seconds. Once more with feeling and you’re good.This is between 0 and 20F. Haven’t tried in below zero temps.

We have an old YTD snow thrower that we inherited from my FIL; my wife bought it from his neighbor when they moved and the FIL stopped using it because the fellow across the street has a fancy blower and does most of the block (simply because he can). So we have it. It lives in a heated garage. It seems to know if there’s work to be done - on any given day I can go down there, flip it on, hit the primer bulb, put it in choke and with just one or two yanks it’s going. If there’s half a foot of snow on the ground, though, you can yank on that thing ‘till you’re blue and are sure a heart-attack is just one pull away. It’s probably quicker to just get a shovel and git-er-done. I use it mostly on the walks ‘cause it’s small and maneuverable.

[Nightow1]

Ok the quick answer, either it's not tuned, not taken care of, bad fuel IE I never use gas with Ethanol in it, use the right oil for the weather, good clean plugs, strong spark, ECT.
There are so many things that can prevent an engine to not start even simply that the person dosent know how to do it.(sorry) . I'm just saying that if you have taken care of your equipment and maintained it , kept it up and kept it clean, you shouldn't have any issues. The only thing I do in the winter is a battery tender, oil, and a little gas additive (HEAT). Nothing else and I only use a little gas junk just because it's not unheard of to get a little moisture in the tank.
I Can't Stress Enough,,,, Take care of your machine,,,,, Rescue11 jokes with me all the time About why I'm messing with my Cub. I constantly check over my equipment (PMCS) military thing I guess was always taught you don't want your equipment to fail at an important or inopportune time. AND MINE NEVER DOSES....

[Sprint60]

Originally Posted by Nightow1

Ok the quick answer, either it's not tuned, not taken care of, bad fuel IE I never use gas with Ethanol in it, use the right oil for the weather, good clean plugs, strong spark, ECT.
There are so many things that can prevent an engine to not start even simply that the person dosent know how to do it.(sorry) . I'm just saying that if you have taken care of your equipment and maintained it , kept it up and kept it clean, you shouldn't have any issues. The only thing I do in the winter is a battery tender, oil, and a little gas additive (HEAT). Nothing else and I only use a little gas junk just because it's not unheard of to get a little moisture in the tank.
I Can't Stress Enough,,,, Take care of your machine,,,,, Rescue11 jokes with me all the time About why I'm messing with my Cub. I constantly check over my equipment (PMCS) military thing I guess was always taught you don't want your equipment to fail at an important or inopportune time. AND MINE NEVER DOSES....

I can assure you that none of my machines is lacking in care or attention. They all get used with a fair amount of regularity (except the MTD) and the fuel is fresh and no alcohol. Never use fuel treatments or MMO or anything. There is no electricity available on "tractor row" so I lug a gen-set and charger up there and charge everything monthly during the winter. Batteries usually last for many years.

[Nightow1]

I'm just saying that there has to be a reason for the hard start issues. The point here is ISSUE it's something you haven't found yet. Engines just don't hard start if they are in proper working order. Simply put, if a engine was in proper working order than well logic dictates it would start in almost any condition I.E. -20°. I wasn't trying to be rude or anything just stating a fact. JMHO!!!

[twoton]

Originally Posted by Sprint60

..... After cranking for a minute or two....

Dude,.. you had me going there for a minute, :manlaughing: :bigrin2:

But seriously, I was wondering how the summer gas vs winter gas plays into this?

I've heard someone say more than once " I used it all summer and parked it in October and now it won't start, .... any ideas?

[Sprint60]

Originally Posted by twoton

Dude,.. you had me going there for a minute, :manlaughing: :bigrin2:

But seriously, I was wondering how the summer gas vs winter gas plays into this?

I've heard someone say more than once " I used it all summer and parked it in October and now it won't start, .... any ideas?

Thanks; for a while there I had the feeling that my attempts at humor were a lost cause. :-)

It may be the different seasonal formulas. That hand-me-down snow thrower is the weirdest thing. It really will start easily any time until there's snow to throw then forget it. A new plug usually cures it but it's a nuisance to mess with it when there's work to do. And it isn't just me, my wife and kids complain about it too.

[Jeff in Pa]

Originally Posted by Nightow1

I don't understand this post, I have never had a cub that didn't start in a Nebraska winter -20+. I bought a 122 it had sat in a back yard for 3 years not touched, I had it running the day I bought it. 2 months later WINTER all I had done was ancarb kit, clean and tune up, oil. That's it.
It never missed a beat, always started on first try. Something just ain't right if your cub don't start...sorry....

122 is manual trans. The 122 I had started much easier than the 125 due to having to spin the hydro too to start the engine.

[Nightow1]

My 147, 782, 1864, all start the same way, every time.

[cubby102]

Was quite impressed by my 149 about a week ago. Was hovering near zero out. No maintainer. It had been sitting outside for a couple weeks. Popped right off and ran on the third rotation... ONLY hydro machine I've ever had thay would fire up thay cold without a booster or a heater on the rear axle

[ejl6658]

I have three 3000 series hydros and all three started right up in the recent single digit cold snap. No battery tenders and storage in an unheated garage. I would agree that hard starting indicates an issue somewhere.