Winter & HMMWVs

[WalterMitty]

This upcoming winter will be my first as a M998 owner. Currently, the beast is parked in my driveway when not in use. While I am exploring getting an indoor spot, I was curious what other owners do if they store their HMMWV outside in the winter. This is also my first diesel, so I'm not familiar with all that I might need to do to keep the thing starting throughout the winter. I do plan to keep driving it, year 'round, as I do now..which isn't every day, but at least weekly.Thanks.

 

[GMVguy]

This upcoming winter will be my first as a M998 owner. Currently, the beast is parked in my driveway when not in use. While I am exploring getting an indoor spot, I was curious what other owners do if they store their HMMWV outside in the winter. This is also my first diesel, so I'm not familiar with all that I might need to do to keep the thing starting throughout the winter. I do plan to keep driving it, year 'round, as I do now..which isn't every day, but at least weekly.Thanks.

If you haven't done it yet, I'd put a fresh set of glow plugs in. That'll do wonders for starting the engine on a cold winter morning.

 

[Retiredwarhorses]

Put in a block heater....

 

[WalterMitty]

What about engine block heaters? Do you (or others reading this) plug their HMMWVs in overnight, or during really cold temps?

 

[porkysplace]

Fuel conditioner with a anti-gel with every fill-up , winter grade fuel is suppose to have it in it from the station but count on it. I run Power Service in all my diesel equipment.
http://powerservice.com/psp_product/diesel-fuel-supplement-cetane-boost/

 

[Action]

I never had an issue starting my 6.2 Humvee in the winters in Ohio.
Keep gloves and a hat handy when driving in the winter.
If you get several inches of snow, it may not start until you clean the snow off of the hood at the air intake (mushroom cap).

 

[Cape Coastie]

While I don't have a HMMWV, yet!, my 5 ton with the 14 liter NHC250 has a block heater and I use a heavy duty timer to have the heater come on about 2-3 hours before intended use and she comes to life like it is 70 degrees. Great investment. Makes it much easier on the engine all around.

 

[WAGNUM]

Removable floor drain plugs is a good idea. My M998 always started really hard in the am after a cold night, crank and crank then a lot of white smoke. The block heater solved the issue but didn't really address the problem. I finally got around to swapping out my glow plugs and now it starts first turn. It's crazy how easy it starts now, even in the cold.

These are my old glow plugs:


Fyi, 4 were swollen and wouldn't come out. I used needle nose vice-grips and a flat head screw driver to slowly pry them out. It was slow going but got them all replaced in 1.5 hours.

 

[gcbennet]

I drive mine all year round here in SE Ontario and aside from some basic preparations for winter driving it's more or less business as usual. I've installed peel-and-stick foam weather seal on the forward door wells to keep the draft out while driving, and I lower the tire pressure. These vehicles truly suck on snow/ice covered roads. Prepare to go for the occasional ride on auto pilot and pray you don't hit anything expensive. lol I use a long handled or telescopic broom to bush the snow off because you need the extra reach for the top. I don't have a block heater installed, but I am exploring the idea of using either the oil pan or coolant type. I don't know enough about either so won't pull the trigger without doing my due diligence first. The truck's heater is unfortunately nothing to write home about and produces only warm air- not hot by any means, so I curtain the front seats from the rear to try and keep all the heat I can up front.

 

[dk8019]

Buy my cargo/troop area arctic kit

 

[MarkM]

I would hope you are aware of this but once the glow plug light goes off hit the gas pedal once and start the truck. This puts the engine on high idle and you should be good to go. One old trick I used to do was cycle the glow plugs then do it again before starting in the deep cold without a heater. It helps get the motor started but obviouslya block heater is the way to go. They have really cool magnetic heaters that just lock onto the oil pan and then you just plug it in. Can't be any easier than that.

Mark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF7sHby4VJE

 

[Retiredwarhorses]

I would hope you are aware of this but once the glow plug light goes off hit the gas pedal once and start the truck. This puts the engine on high idle and you should be good to go. One old trick I used to do was cycle the glow plugs then do it again before starting in the deep cold without a heater. It helps get the motor started but obviouslya block heater is the way to go. They have really cool magnetic heaters that just lock onto the oil pan and then you just plug it in. Can't be any easier than that.

Mark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF7sHby4VJE

the HMMWV does not have a manual set cold advance, just turn the key and if the temp is below say 120deg, it's automatic. The CUCV uses that type though, as well as civy setups, just not the HMMWV.

 

[MarkM]

With mine on the cooler mornings now if I just go to start it after the wait light goes out it will start stumble and die but if I hit the pedal first it starts right up and stays on high idle. May by my linkage is a little stiff and the solenoid can't move it on its own.

Mark

 

[Retiredwarhorses]

With mine on the cooler mornings now if I just go to start it after the wait light goes out it will start stumble and die but if I hit the pedal first it starts right up and stays on high idle. May by my linkage is a little stiff and the solenoid can't move it on its own.

Mark

your pic is not of a HMMWV, it's a civy truck of some sort...as I said, civy trucks a different cold advance then the HMMWV.

 

[MarkM]

No no the pic is just off the web for the heater. I have a 91 M998 in the four man setup. Below is a pic of mine.

Mark

 

[Action]

With mine on the cooler mornings now if I just go to start it after the wait light goes out it will start stumble and die but if I hit the pedal first it starts right up and stays on high idle. May by my linkage is a little stiff and the solenoid can't move it on its own.

Mark

I am no expert, but I thought we only have to hit the pedal on carbureted engines. these have fuel injection. If you have to give it fuel on startup, maybe something is wrong with your Humvee.

 

[MarkM]

Only time I do it is when the outside air is below 45 other than that she always starts right up. Either the linkage is a tad stiff or the high idle solenoid is not pushing like it should.

Mark

 

[mreuss222]

any tips on keeping the eng in operating temps? mine stays 180ish..

 

[dhaumann69166]

any tips on keeping the eng in operating temps? mine stays 180ish..

Is your fan on all the time? My temp sensor for my fan is bad so my fan runs all the time. With fan running all the time it stays right around the 180° area. When the fan is working right and cycling on and off it stays around 220°. When the temp outside is below 25° or so the fan doesn’t usually kick on when it’s working right and maintains around 210°~220° range. Even when the fan is “disengaged” it still is spinning what looks like full speed. When it engages you will see it move about 1/8 or 1/4 inch back towards the motor. There is a huge difference in sound from the engine running down the road with fan engaged vs disengaged.

 

[dhaumann69166]

My Humvee sits outside year round and has never given me issues as long as I have good glow plugs. If temps are below 20° most times I will plug in the heater. Mine is an in-line heater on a main radiator hose. Doesn’t work very good! I recommend getting on that goes in a frost plug hole or attaches direct to the block somewhere. Definitely make sure you are running some form of anti gel BEFORE cold weather hits. Last winter my Humvee was the my daily driver during a week long stretch of -30° weather and didn’t have any problems. I swapped oil to 10w30 instead of 15w40 while it was that cold but once it got back around 0° I went back to 15w40. Luckily the Humvee dumps enough heat underneath to keep your tank and fuel lines fairly warm while moving.
Humvees are a lot of fun in snow if you like sliding around. With dirt under the snow you have better luck. Pavement under the snow and you are in a giant sled. No anti lock brakes on these machines!
When you have traction they will crawl through drifts over hood deep.