No glow plug?

[fgraham]

I'm looking at a sailboat to buy. The broker says the Yanmar diesel has no glow plug. Ever hear of that? How is it going to start?

[sandy stone]

Yep, to the best of my knowledge Yanmars do not have glow plugs. With the one I had, on cold mornings you had to give it a lot of throttle when cranking but it eventually started.

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by fgraham

I'm looking at a sailboat to buy. The broker says the Yanmar diesel has no glow plug. Ever hear of that? How is it going to start?

A basic understanding on how diesels ignite without a glow plug is an old fashioned fire piston. The guy in the video builds one from acrylic so you can see the principal.

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

[Sailmonkey]

I've got a kubota diesel with glow plugs and never use them. Starts fine.

[Ziggy]

My Yanmar 3ym20 has glow plugs, but so far in 9 years of ownership, I have never had to use them.

[a64pilot]

My Yanmar 4-JHE has no glow plugs. My old farm equipment had no glow plugs.
Glow plugs are usually on engines meant to be operated in cold conditions, colder than most operate a pleasure boat.
Some lower compression Indirect injection Diesels have to have them, the GM 6.5 L Diesel for instance, but usually direct injection motors don't.

[Charlie]

My Yanmar 4JH4E has no glow plug but does have an element that heats the fuel. Not sure how it works and have seldom used it.

[pcmm]

Originally Posted by fgraham

I'm looking at a sailboat to buy. The broker says the Yanmar diesel has no glow plug. Ever hear of that? How is it going to start?

It starts when you turn the key! seriously.

Yanmars don't have glow plugs, they're not necessary. most diesel engines with good high compression don't need thehelp of a glow plug to get going. Glow plugs are more typically used when you need to start in a cold start ( winter) situation.

[capt-couillon]

Diesel engines fire strictly from compression. In cold start situations, several ways of preheating fuel/combustion chambers may be employed. The old Perkins 41-07 and 41-08 actually burnt diesel in the intake manifold to preheat the mixture.

Non-preheat engines are common. If you have problems starting in cold weather, DO NOT USE ETHER STARTING FLUID... Rather a bit of gasoline on a rag around the air intake is much less stressful on the engine. Diesel engines are HIGH compression and the introduction of ether can lead to bent valves and or blown head gaskets.

Just sayin'

[Ziggy]

Originally Posted by pcmm

Yanmars don't have glow plugs.

That is not correct. At least some models do have glow plugs.