ITEM NO.

T67-0050-E (1/4)
MITSUBISHI DIESEL ENGINE
TECHNICAL INFORMATION DATE December, 1998

Starting aids

1. General
The ease with which a cold diesel engine can be started up is dependent largely but not solely on the
temperature of ambient air. This is more so with diesel engines, whose fuel is ignited and burned by the
high air temperature produced by compression.
In a cold diesel engine, its cold cylinder walls rapidly take heat from the compressed air during the initial
engine cranking period. Moreover, its lube oil is far more viscous, making the crankshaft harder to turn.
Intake air, if low in temperature, may not easily reach that high temperature level on each compression
stroke which is for sure and positive ignition to overcome the increased resistance of the engine’s
running parts. In cold weather, the battery is slightly down in its capacity. All these lead to “hard
cranking,” causing the starting motor to draw more energy from the already weakened battery.
Starting aids refer to methods and devices calculated to ease those factors of “hard cranking” under the
specified low-temperature conditions to be normally encountered by the engine.
One such device is the jacket water heater. By heating the jacket water, it warms up the areas around
combustion chambers so that, upon firing up, the engine can be quickly made ready to take up load.

2. Low-temperature specification of fuel, lubricating oil and coolant

For the purpose of specifying the types of fuel, oil and coolant for diesel engines to be used under
low-temperature conditions, the range of ambient air temperature, from -10°C up to 5°C is divided into
three sub-ranges; these liquids and the battery as items of low-temperature specification are prescribed
for each sub-range, as follows:

Ambient temperature (°C)

Item Remarks
-10° to -5° -5° to 0° 0° to 5°
ASTM D 975 No. 2-D Cetane number of
Diesel fuel oil BS 2869 Class A
MHI IFM No. T54-0020-E 45 or over
SAE * (J300) 20 SAE * (J300) 30 * Society of
Lubricating oil or 20W Automotive
Or, alternatively, multi-grade 10W/30 Engineers, Inc.
* National
Lubricating grease NLGI * No. 0 or No. 1 NLGI * No. 2 Lubricating
Grease Institute
Antifreeze 30 to 40% 25% Applicable where
(Concentration, % by jacket water
volume) (Class 2 LLC, JIS K 2234) heater is not used.
Battery Cold-temp. type Standard type

First Edition: Dec.1998 Engine Engineering Department

Second Edition: Oct. 2002 Large Engine Design Section
Revision

Approved by Checked by Drawn by

MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.

GENERAL MACHINERY & SPECIAL VEHICLE HEADQUATERS

3. Starting-aid devices and methods available
Standard devices and methods of starting aid are as follows:
Device or method Purpose
To reduce the resistance, which is
high because of cold lubricating oil,
Oil pan heater
of the running parts to start-up
cranking action.
To keep cylinder liners warm in a
cold engine, so that the engine can be
started more easily and quickly made
Jacket water heater
ready to take up load.
It prevents damage to engine due to
coolant freezing.
Lube oil priming To protect the bearings against loss
of lubrication at the time of sudden
1) Periodical priming
engine starting or loading.
2) Start-up priming
To prevent the bearings from losing
Start-up idling
lubricating films of oil at cold engine
(low idling)
starting.
To raise the temperature of intake air
in order to facilitate fuel ignition.
Air heater
MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
GENERAL MACHINERY & SPECIAL VEHICLE HEADQUATERS
ITEM NO. T67-0050 (2/4)
Description
The heater is to be put in the oil pan. Its
heating action follows the jacket water
heater in control.
This heater is inserted into a lower section
of the coolant path to promote convection
flow. Its heating action is controlled.
1) This method uses a motor-driven oil
pump and a timer.
(Example) Priming is to be performed for
5 minutes at intervals of 6
hours while the engine is
being shut down.
2) This method uses a motor-driven oil
pump or an air booster (in case of an
air-start engine).
(Example) Priming is to be performed for
a given period of time prior to
start-up cranking of a cold
engine.
Idling run (at 1/2 the rated speed) is to
immediately follow firing up of a cold
engine.
This device is fitted to the inlet manifold.
It is turned on for about 20 to 60 seconds
prior to start-up cranking. Available for
engines equipped with a manually starter.
 ITEM NO. T67-0050 (3/4)

4. Starting aids for engines arranged to start up automatically

Starting aids are selectively used on automatically starting engines according to the starting time
specification (10 seconds or 40 seconds), as shown in this chart:

Standard starting aid chart

Staring time 10 seconds 40 seconds
requirement
Ambient
temp., °C -10° to -5° -5° to +5° Above +5° -10° to -5° -5° to +5° Above +5°
Starting aid

Oil pan heater ⃝ — ⃝ ⃝ —

Jacket water heater ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ —

Not apply
Lube oil priming *1 ⃝
(intermittent) ⃝ — — —

Start-up idling device — — ⃝ ⃝ *1 ⃝

*1: For “V” and other non-in-line engines

NOTES:
1) Unless otherwise specified, all engines are subject to maintenance run for 5 to 10 minutes weekly.
2) “Lube oil priming” and “start-up idling” need not be performed on L-6 engines (smaller than S6R) on
which maintenance run would be surely performed.
3) The starting aids shown above are for the standard devices for electric start engines and are subject to
change according to actual engine application.
4) The cetane number of fuel oil to be used should be higher than 45. If fuel oil having a cetane number less
than 45 (for instance: 40 up to 45) would be used unwillingly, the following treatments should be applied
and the contact to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. should be required for instruction.
a) Install a jacket water heater.
b) Ambient temperature should be:
Above -5°C for 40-second starting time application
Above +5°C for 10-second starting time application
5) Install a jacket water heater in case of an air-start engine.
6) On the S12R-2 and S16R-2 engines, the starting time requirement for 10 seconds is not available. Instead
of this, the starting time requirement for 20 seconds is available for these engines. The jacket water
heater should be installed to 20-second and 40-second starting times.

MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.

GENERAL MACHINERY & SPECIAL VEHICLE HEADQUATERS
 ITEM NO. T67-0050 (4/4)

5. Capacity and operating cycle data on starting aids for S6B thru. S16R
(The information for SU series engines are described on “SU circuit diagram”)

Starting aid Standard capacity Typical cycle pattern

Oil pan heater 200-watt heater, one (for S6B thru
S6R engines)
500-watt heater, two (for S12A2 thru
S16R engines)

Jacket water heater 1-kW heater, one (for S6B and S6B3)
2-kW heater, one (for S6A3 thru
S6R)
2-kW heater, two (for S12A2 thru
S16R)

Lube oil priming pump Pump drive motor:

(periodical)
0.4 kW (for S6B, S6B3 and S6A3)
0.75 kW (for S6R and S12A2)
1.5 kW (for S12H, S12R and S16R)

Start-up idling device Solenoid rating:

24V – 15A
100V – 4.5A

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