I had this problem with a 12.7 L Detroit Diesel series 60 (1998 engine). It would not start well or would not start at all in cold weather ever since I bought it. The truck and engine was at nearly 700 000 miles when I bought it and it had serious cold starting problems from back then. It would start just fine when the engine was warm, even in cold weather. I was able to put another 750 000 miles on it before it had to be rebuilt, because of a head gasket leak that got serious. It would then need one extra gallon of coolant liquid (antifreeze, water) every 500 miles or so. The starting got even worse. Then it went to sit in the parking lot of a small shop until I made enough money and had enough credit on credit cards to be able to pay for the parts and labor. It took me a long time to that. It also needed many more parts than what I was hoping at first. Almost everything was replaced with new or rebuilt parts: cylinder head, piston heads, piston cylinders, piston rods, injectors, camshaft, injector rod assembly, turbo unit. Before I took it to this shop, I had the radiator and charge air cooler replaced with new (aftermarket) parts. A/C compressor is new also. I just replaced the A/C condenser and some A/C hoses. The shop said the crankshaft and jake brake assembly were fine and could be reused and those are the only inner parts (that I know of) that were reused. After it was rebuilt, truck has been mostly sitting. The cold starting is much better now. I have yet to start it in very cold weather, much under freezing point. It had to do with the fact that the ignition of fuel does not take place in cold weather. The engine needs more compression to ignite the cold fuel. The rebuild (mostly) solved my problem; it has to do with something inside of the engine that did not allow enough compression to take place to ignite the cold fuel. It did not have obvious signs of fuel in the coolant or coolant in the oil, but no oil or coolant testing was done. Towards the end, I did have carbon (exhaust fumes) in the fuel filter. The exhaust would get into the air compressor, fuel pump and into the fuel filter. But I think it was happening before too, because especially in the winter the engine would lose all of its power, but power would come back after fuel filter was replaced. It would have the same issues even with new batteries, starter and injectors. I even replaced the two fuel senors (SRS and TRS ?). The only way I was able to start in cold weather was with diesel starting fluid cans. I would have to open the hood and spray quite a bit of it in the air filter. Later I installed a system that allowed me to inject some starting fluid from inside the cabin, from a switch, while cranking. That did the trick for a while, then when the compression and gasket leak got worse, I had to go back outside again and spray the starting fluid in the air filter. It did have some issues with air in the fuel due some leaks due to the fuel filter assembly, hoses and fittings. Fixing those issues (that could be detected) produce little to no effect in cold weather starting. Even after this engine rebuild, I was told that it still sucks air in the fuel lines and this issue needs to be addressed, but the engine starting in cold weather is still much better. Before the rebuild, I bought a diesel fired coolant heater. I was hoping to install it and be able to heat up the engine block before trying to start it. I was not able to install it yet and am still thinking where to actually place the unit, how to do the plumbing and so on. One of those may allow to use that truck longer without having to open up the engine and rebuild it.
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I had this problem with a 12.7 L Detroit Diesel series 60 (1998 engine). It would not start well or would not start at all in cold weather ever since I bought it. The truck and engine was at nearly 700 000 miles when I bought it and it had serious cold starting problems from back then. It would start just fine when the engine was warm, even in cold weather. I was able to put another 750 000 miles on it before it had to be rebuilt, because of a head gasket leak that got serious. It would then need one extra gallon of coolant liquid (antifreeze, water) every 500 miles or so. The starting got even worse. Then it went to sit in the parking lot of a small shop until I made enough money and had enough credit on credit cards to be able to pay for the parts and labor. It took me a long time to that. It also needed many more parts than what I was hoping at first. Almost everything was replaced with new or rebuilt parts: cylinder head, piston heads, piston cylinders, piston rods, injectors, camshaft, injector rod assembly, turbo unit. Before I took it to this shop, I had the radiator and charge air cooler replaced with new (aftermarket) parts. A/C compressor is new also. I just replaced the A/C condenser and some A/C hoses. The shop said the crankshaft and jake brake assembly were fine and could be reused and those are the only inner parts (that I know of) that were reused. After it was rebuilt, truck has been mostly sitting. The cold starting is much better now. I have yet to start it in very cold weather, much under freezing point. It had to do with the fact that the ignition of fuel does not take place in cold weather. The engine needs more compression to ignite the cold fuel. The rebuild (mostly) solved my problem; it has to do with something inside of the engine that did not allow enough compression to take place to ignite the cold fuel. It did not have obvious signs of fuel in the coolant or coolant in the oil, but no oil or coolant testing was done. Towards the end, I did have carbon (exhaust fumes) in the fuel filter. The exhaust would get into the air compressor, fuel pump and into the fuel filter. But I think it was happening before too, because especially in the winter the engine would lose all of its power, but power would come back after fuel filter was replaced. It would have the same issues even with new batteries, starter and injectors. I even replaced the two fuel senors (SRS and TRS ?). The only way I was able to start in cold weather was with diesel starting fluid cans. I would have to open the hood and spray quite a bit of it in the air filter. Later I installed a system that allowed me to inject some starting fluid from inside the cabin, from a switch, while cranking. That did the trick for a while, then when the compression and gasket leak got worse, I had to go back outside again and spray the starting fluid in the air filter. It did have some issues with air in the fuel due some leaks due to the fuel filter assembly, hoses and fittings. Fixing those issues (that could be detected) produce little to no effect in cold weather starting. Even after this engine rebuild, I was told that it still sucks air in the fuel lines and this issue needs to be addressed, but the engine starting in cold weather is still much better. Before the rebuild, I bought a diesel fired coolant heater. I was hoping to install it and be able to heat up the engine block before trying to start it. I was not able to install it yet and am still thinking where to actually place the unit, how to do the plumbing and so on. One of those may allow to use that truck longer without having to open up the engine and rebuild it.
Can my dad have that motor