I've been trying to get my dads Caterpillar compactor/roller started for a couple days now. Here in michigan its about 15-20 degrees now. It has a 4cyl perkins diesel engine with no block heater or glow plugs. I can get maybe 5 good cranks out of it and then the cranks get slower and slower untill it dies.

So of course I thought of the battery. I took it in the garage and let it warm up then threw a charger on it overnight. The next morning I unhooked the charger and let it sit for the day. That night I checked the voltage with a DMM and it was holding a 13.01 charge. Then I used a cheap battery tester:



And according to this tester it tested at 13 volts and 900-1000 amps (its a 900 CCA battery) so I put the battery back in the compactor, armed myself with a can of starting fluid and after maybe 6 cranks it cranked slower and slower and then died. So after it died I tested the voltage on the battery again and it was 12.45. Why is this battery testing good but not putting out enough juice to start this engine? Should I replace it?

 

I think the battery as gone faulty. what did the garage person tell you to do. and that is better if you go head for a new battery so that it will not trouble you.

 

Well actually I ment the garage at my house...But yea I'm gonna just go ahead and replace the battery with a 1200 CCA battery.

 

^^^??? have you cleaned the posts of the battery? and contacts? when starting cold diesel equipment in Britishcolumbia (trust me there are some old equipment on my jobsite) i pulle a plug out of the intake manifold and installed a butterly valve to spray the ether right in, we give them 1, 3 second spray then a few squirts as it is cranking, watch out u dont spray too much it will dry out the cylinders

 

You may want to look at the battery cables.

[Yah, bet you didn't think I would bring THAT up, did you?)

 

so i replaced the battery and still nothing it just cranks and cranks and cranks...its burning fuel because its spewing smoke from the exhaust. The battery cables are all brand new from this summer. That butterfly idea sound pretty good, I'm gonna check for a plug in the intake.

 

all the equipment on the site i work at needs a shot in the morning (if you saw them you would not belive what you see, i drive a 1961 forklift with a ford gas engine, i dont even know the make) and this way they fire fast, just dont over do the ether it is more direct and can dry out the cyls

 

yea, I M with 2wd, its a diesel, so the block has to be primed before it will start in the cold. And since I dont think you have a block heater in this thing, something has to be shot into the cylinders to heat them up so the fuel can burn. Diesel burns by compressionand not ignition. And in the cold weather is will gel up on you so you gotta get the block hot to liquify it and help your cold morning starts.