Manifold Heater Kama 554

[3RRL]

Does anybody's manifold heater work on their Kama 554? Do the Jinma's have it?
I don't think mine works. Do you put the key switch in a certain position to activate it or what?

It' supposed to preheat the manifold somehow for easier starting. I know their was some discussion about it a while back, but I couldn't find the thread. There were some explanations of how it is supposed to work.

You'll see it there just left of the air intake elbow.
It's screwed into the manifold.

[biggkidd]

Rob,

I too read about it a while back. Not sure where. But I do remember the article pretty well. What it said was that it injected small amounts of fuel to the air intake. Then heats said fuel till it creates a smoke thats easy to ignite at combustion to aid in cold starting. I am 99.9% sure thats what it boiled down to. Hope that helps.

KIDD

[3RRL]

Thanks Larry,
But how does it do that ... I mean do you need to put it in "pre-heat" mode or something for that to happen?
How do you get it to do that?
It doesn't do that automatically when you turn the key on, right?
Rob-

[bradblazer]

captinjack posted this somewhere. I cleaned up the tangents. I think all of the text I left is by current members here. If anyone takes exception to my pasting this let me know.
Brad

captinjack:
"I just discovered that the pre heater on the intake manifold is actually wired to the ignition switch. It is actuated by switching the key to the left CCW and holding it there.

The pre-heater is connected to the closest injector fuel line. My manual doesn't make any mention of this feature so I'm completely in the dark regarding it's use for cold weather starts.

Does anyone know how long the key has to be held in the CCW position? Any help in this regard might allow a quicker start when the weather gets really cold. I only have experience with starting it one time and it wasn't pretty. I wore the battery down and eventually got it started by preheating the intake manifold with a propane torch.


3rrl
Guest
Re: Kama 554 Intake Pre-heater?
« Reply #2 on Dec 12, 2006, 4:07pm »

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Hi Jack and welcome to the club.
I got your email regarding this subject and thank you for posting the question. I was looking for answers myself. My manual does not mention anything about the manifold pre-heater and I was not even aware of that capability until you told me. I did try it this weekend but did not hold the key in the CCW position very long, since I did not know what I was doing.

Perhaps one of our dealer members could enlighten us about this feature on the Kama 554? That would be good.

As far as your "other" hard start, did you hook up the decompression cable so you can use that feature?
I hooked mine up and pull it out while turning the engine over until I see oil pressure on the gage, then let go of the handle. It should start right up. Although I don't really need it because it never gets that cold here, I started using it for the first start of the morning after the Kama's been sitting for 2 weeks. I get the "pre-lube" benefit out of it that way.

Another thing I have done to keep my battery charged is use a cheapie Harbor Freight solar charger. I added a 12v lighter plug to the tractor and hooked it up directly to the battery and plug that in. It only charges like a couple mili amp (not sure) so it does not over charge the battery. Mine is always full that way and she starts cranking right away.

Anyway, if the experts could help on this one, we would be much obliged.
The Kama 554 does not have glow plugs as far as I know.
Thanks,
Rob-
flick
Guest
Re: Kama 554 Intake Pre-heater?
« Reply #4 on Dec 12, 2006, 5:10pm »

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Hi Jack, Welcome to the Club

My DF-354 manual reccomends preheating for 15-30 seconds in temps above 32F, and for 30-40 seconds in temps below 32F...

My tractor has a pre heater in the air inlet manifold which is connected to the ignition for pre-heating, it also has glow plugs in each cylinder which aren't connected or used....

It also has what I think is another un-used heater in the inlet manifold which is connected by a pipe to the "injector fuel return pipe" on #1 injector. (it sounds like this is what your talking about)

Here's a pic of my heaters: (ignore my hand, the pic was taken when I was doing valve adjustments)



Matthew

Edit: My old Fergy has a similar heater in the inlet manifold which has a fuel line connected to it, but I'm not sure how it works, but it does seem to help starting in cold weather...

flick
Guest
Re: Kama 554 Intake Pre-heater?
« Reply #6 on Dec 12, 2006, 5:49pm »

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Hmmm... I dont know if it's similar to the Chinese one, but I just check the manual for my old Fergy 35, they call it a "thermostart"...

Here's a couple of pages from the FE-35 manual that details the Thermostart....




As I mentioned above, I don't know if this is the same as the chinese one, but it may give some insight into it...

Matthew.
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bdblazer
Family Member

Re: Kama 554 Intake Pre-heater?
« Reply #7 on Dec 12, 2006, 9:24pm »

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Interesting observation on the pre-heater! I noticed that my ignition switch has a left position that is spring loaded like the start position. Mine is not wired to anything. I did take this picture of what could be a pre-heater on the intake manifold - again it is not wired to anything:

In my "KM450 Series Tractor Operation Manual" on page 44 there is a wiring diagram (Appendix III) that lists "preheater" as item 14 and item 12 is described as the "preheating/starting switch."

Brad
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I found an article on intake heaters. It sounds like they are operated for a similar amount of time as glow plugs - up to 30 seconds. The practice of watching the current draw and looking for a reduction in draw as the element gets hot might work for this as well.
Jack - since yours is already wired can you provide any info in terms of what gauge of wire is employed and how it is fused?


Brad


gugliols
Guest
Re: Kama 554 Intake Pre-heater?
« Reply #9 on Dec 12, 2006, 10:36pm »

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Captinjack,

Welcome to the Club!

Flick (Matthew) posted some very good information on how the pre heater functions. I would imagine the one installed in your Kama is very similar. After reading the information Flick posted my understanding is that diesel fuel is heated to the vaporization point then ignited. The resulting flame heats the air going into the engine intake manifold. Thus making it much easier to start on cold days.

Just an FYI & perhaps a refresher to what you may already know, is that a Diesel engines combustion occurs by the heat created when air is compressed to very high levels. Most of our tractors are in the 20:1 compression ratio range. The compressed air is so hot when the fuel is injected that it ignites. When the air going into the engine is very cold, compression alone does not raise the temperature up to a high enough level to ignite the fuel. This is especially true when cranking on cold days and the engine is not cranking at a fast enough rate to get the heat needed to ignite the fuel. Hence the use of pre-heat for the intake air, or use glow plugs to get the process started. Once the engine starts the speed is high enough to compress the air in the cylinders fast enough to create the heat needed, thus sustaining combustion.

Again - welcome to the club and we look forward to hearing more about you and what you do with your tractor.


Larry
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3rrl
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Re: Kama 554 Intake Pre-heater?
« Reply #10 on Dec 12, 2006, 11:02pm »

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Brad,
I re-read my manual this evening and saw that reference you made.
In my "KM450 Series Tractor Operation Manual" on page 44 there is a wiring diagram (Appendix III) that lists "preheater" as item 14 and item 12 is described as the "preheating/starting switch."

In that same manual, it also refers to the ignition switch on page 8 as the preheating/starting switch and then again on pages 10 and 11 where you got the "preheating 30 to 40 (seconds?)" for cold temperature and difficult starting.

In the "Diesel Engine Operation and Maintenance Manual" it refers to starting procedure also, but there is no mention of using this pre heater. See page 18 under section 2. "Engine starting" In any case, even though I am fortunate not to NEED this feature (like the decompression) I would still like to know more about it.

I'll have to look at my manifold to see if that preheater is on there like yours? I looked through my "valve lash adjustment" pictures but none of them had a clear picture of the manifold, but it's got to be there. Like I said, my switch turns CCW and the amp meter showed a draw when I did that.... or I think it did. (Maybe the draw was from something else powering the switch?)

Rob-
« Last Edit: Dec 12, 2006, 11:04pm by 3rrl » Link to Post - Back to Top Logged


captinjack
« Reply #11 on Dec 13, 2006, 3:26pm »

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Thanks for the info on the pre-heater. I have a very good picture of the element that is screwed into the intake manifold and plumbed to the #2 injector.

Perhaps I'll remove the device, place it in a small metal can and see what happens. Better make sure I have an extinguisher handy tho.

My tractor resides 265 miles away from home and during the winter months, I don't get to go there as often. I am planning a Christmas to New Year trip for the last of the deer hunting and I'll do it then and report back.

I'm also going to install a digital voltmeter (2") so I can monitor battery condition at all times. It has a 0.1 volt digit that will tell me the condition of the battery under no load before the first start. 12.6 V is 100% charged and 12.1 is about fully discharged with a straight curve in between. This voltage should increase to 14.25 volts or so when running and properly charging.

It will be interesting what effect the pre-heater operating for 30 seconds or so will have on the available battery start voltage.

Will let y'all know after the first of the year when I return from the wilds of wonderful West (by God) Virginia.
captinjack
« Reply #12 on Dec 13, 2006, 3:30pm »

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I will also get the wire size and make an attempt to find out how it is wired and fused.

My decompression gesorkus is not hooked up, however, I will also do that during my next visit to the tractor. Operating the lever by hand takes considerable force. Does a simple "choke" cable have enough "pull" to operate it? I was thinking of using a lever cable operator that would make operation easier.
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Happy Trails to you
Captinjack
Kama 554, Howard 48" Rototiller, 8 ft. Bush Hog RB, 6 ft disc, 8 ft lime spreader, Prairie Dog BH, Accutech 5 FEL

3rrl
Guest
Re: Kama 554 Intake Pre-heater?
« Reply #13 on Dec 13, 2006, 7:56pm »

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Cap,
I hooked mine up, sprayed some liquid wrench on the lever and it works great. The pull knob pulls easily....it's on the lower left of your dash, same level as the kill knob. For your super cold starts, I would definitely encourage you to hook it up. It helps by taking the load off the starter motor from trying to spin your engine against the compression. It also helps getting some oil circulating between the bearings and journals before they get under load from compression.

Here's a couple pictures of the lever and cable while I was doing the valve lash adjustment.
Good luck at deer camp. Wish I was there with you!
Rob-





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captinjack
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Kama 554 Happy




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Posts: 82
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Re: Kama 554 Intake Pre-heater?
« Reply #14 on Dec 14, 2006, 1:15pm »

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My decompression lever is very hard to operate. I'm glad to see that yours is easy. When I do my valve adjustment this spring, I will troubleshoot why it's so hard. I was going to buy a lever with 300 # of cam-over force, but now will wait to see what the trouble is.

E-mailed with Chip at ARTRAC and he advised me that the proper drill is to hold the key in the CCW position for 10-15 seconds to energize the heating element. This heat opens the valve to allow fuel droplets into the intake manifold when the engine is normally cranked over. The hot element, in combination with the small amount of fuel results in a smokey fuel rich air combination that is supposed to be easier to ignite.

Fuel could be manually introduced to the pre-heater valve by operating the manual fuel pumper if desired without cranking the engine. What effect this would have, I don't know.

I will be visiting the red Beast between the holidays and if cold enough, will give this a try and report back.



captinjack


This should be a picture of the intake manifold preheater
captinjack
« Reply #22 on Jan 3, 2007, 4:08pm »

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Shezam! It worked, but the picture is so large. Will try reducing it further.
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Happy Trails to you
Captinjack
Kama 554, Howard 48" Rototiller, 8 ft. Bush Hog RB, 6 ft disc, 8 ft lime spreader, Prairie Dog BH, Accutech 5 FEL

captinjack
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Kama 554 Happy




Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 82
Location: WV hunting cabin - central PA
Re: Kama 554 Intake Pre-heater?
« Reply #23 on Jan 3, 2007, 4:17pm »

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I hope this picture is smaller.



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Happy Trails to you
Captinjack
Kama 554, Howard 48" Rototiller, 8 ft. Bush Hog RB, 6 ft disc, 8 ft lime spreader, Prairie Dog BH, Accutech 5 FEL

3rrl
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Re: Kama 554 Intake Pre-heater?
« Reply #24 on Jan 3, 2007, 4:21pm »

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I went to the property for about 5 days and it was below freezing. I checked to see if I did have the manifold pre heater and took some pictures of it.




This is a close up.


As you can see, mine does have a wire going to it so I tried it out. I held the switch counter clockwise for 20 seconds. Just for the heck of it, I got off and put my hand on the manifold to see if it was really getting warmer or not. Well, I really couldn't tell because it still felt cold, but not as cold (maybe???) as the other freezing steel on the tractor. Anyway, it started up right away (using the decompression first), but it always does, so I really could not tell the difference if using it worked or not.

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captinjack
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Re: Kama 554 Intake Pre-heater?
« Reply #25 on Jan 4, 2007, 10:35am »

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It's my understanding that energizing the preheater only allows the valve to open. No fuel is introduced until the engine is then cranked or the fuel manual pump is activated.

I wouldn't expect any heat to be felt prior to cranking the motor and perhaps actually never as the preheater simply allows a few drops of fuel to come in contact with the hot heating element and partially combust in a smokey flame.

I may be wrong and time will tell if it gets really cold the next time I vist "the beast". I'll let you know afterwards.

I had some luck deer hunting. We shot a total of 15 and I got 4; one with a bow and 3 others with the rifle. A great time was had by all.

Good pictures. Mine was taken a long time ago so I didn't zero in on the preheater that I didn't even know existed. I took all kinds of pictures for the record as like you, I'm not close to the tractor and when I have questions for myself the pictures help refresh my memory.

The purple wire coming from the preheater looks to be at least a 12 AWG if not a 10 for those owners that have the preheater that is not wired into the ignition switch.

Happy New Year!
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Happy Trails to you
Captinjack
Kama 554, Howard 48" Rototiller, 8 ft. Bush Hog RB, 6 ft disc, 8 ft lime spreader, Prairie Dog BH, Accutech 5 FEL

psj12
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Kama 554 W LW7, Koyker 195, Kioti 6' Hog




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Re: Kama 554 Intake Pre-heater?
« Reply #26 on Jan 4, 2007, 12:58pm »

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The old army 5 and 10 ton trucks with Cummins engines had a similar preheater on them. They glowed red hot and then a dash mounted hand pump was used to spray a small amount of fuel on them. They did not flame only turned the fuel into rather dense, white, preheated, fuel smoke that was then sucked into the cylinder and combusted by pressure.
Detroit diesels in the army service actually had an flame oil burner that attached to the front of the air box in the block and did create a fire in the block.
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captinjack
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Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 82
Location: WV hunting cabin - central PA
Re: Kama 554 Intake Pre-heater?
« Reply #27 on Jan 22, 2007, 6:01pm »

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Got to the cabin this weekend and started the Kama 554 with no problems at 20 degrees F using a count of twenty on the preheater (ignition switch turned CCW).

We had 3" of snow, but it wasn't enough to fool with.

[3RRL]

Brad,
Multi thanks for getting that information. It was unavailable to me and I wanted to have it for the records. It's a feature I still don't use, but would like to see if it actually works. I remember trying it now, but I don't think I gave it a good test? Feeling the manifold for warmth didn't work for me either.
Anybody with the 554 confirm theirs works yet?
How would you go about doing that?
Rob-

[grohgreg]

3rrl said:

First thing you do is confirm that there's 12v to it. I've never seen your keyswitch. Does it have a H(eat) position? On my Yanmar, the ThermoStart was a separate pushbutton. Anyway, figure out where the 12v comes from, and make sure it gets there.

If there's 12v to the heating element, then remove the element to make sure it's actually heating when 12v are applied.

If you've got juice and heat, then check for fuel. I'm pretty sure yours will be plumbed into the return line, and be gravity fed. After shutting the tractor down, gravity should let some of the fuel in the return line drain back down into the preheater line.

//greg//

[3RRL]

This is pretty interesting.
The first time I tried using the manifold heater was after captainjack posted all that information on the old board. I had forgotten all about it, but I remember when I tried it back then, I only held the key in the counter clockwise position for maybe 5 seconds or so, even though he advised holding it there for about 20 seconds or more. Well, I was kinda afraid to hold it for that long back then. If you remember, I was suffering some electrical problems and was paranoid to overload the circuits. Anyway, with only 5 seconds in the CCW position, I wasn't sure of the results ... not even sure that it worked.

During my last week's visit to Huge Kama, I actually remembered to try the manifold heater again. This time I have a good 950cca battery and two solar panels keeping it charged and Larry (last year) had bullet proofed my electrical system for me. So I wasn't afraid of holding it for at least 30 seconds to see if the manifold heater really worked or not.

Guess what, it does what it's supposed to. That is... the heating element gets hot enough and ignites a small amount of fuel which is dripped out into the manifold. That "fire" then heats the manifold.
How do I know?
Well, after holding the key in the CCW position for only 20 seconds I heard a noticeable "poof" coming from the engine compartment. I actually heard the fuel ignite. It was like a mini-explosion sound inside a tube. Then I cranked it over and when it started, there was a pretty big cloud of black smoke that came out the exhaust stack ... way more than normal.
So with the unmistakable audible ignition of the fumes, and then the excessive black smoke, I'm pretty sure it did what it was supposed to. I'm sure of it now.

Question is, will I use it or not? Just because the fumes caught inside the manifold, I didn't notice any significant ease in starting. My Kama 554 starts really easy as it is...even in cold weather. It usually fires on the 2nd or 3rd crank even after sitting for 2 or 3 weeks or longer. The other thing was the large amount of black smoke that spewed from the exhaust stack when it caught. I wasn't too thrilled about that either.
So what are your thoughts then?
Rob-