This electronic brochure highlights our capabilities and activities in the area of Diesel Engine Cold-Start Testing. Please sign our guestbook. For additional information, e-mail Mike Ross, Southwest Research Institute.

Diesel Engine Cold-Start Testing

Diesel engines are particularly susceptible to cold-start problems such as slow start times, excessive white smoke exhaust, oil starvation, and poor idle stability. To minimize these problems, engine manufacturers evaluate the cold-start characteristics of each new engine design.

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), with more than 50 years of experience in engine, fuel, and vehicle research, offers complete facilities for testing diesel engines at low temperatures. Institute engineers combine state-of-the-art equipment with extensive drivetrain experience to provide engine manufacturers and component suppliers with comprehensive services, including:

  • Developing diesel engines
  • Determining start-aid device effectiveness
  • Evaluating ability of fuel blends to start engine under cold conditions
  • Assessing fuel and lubricant characteristic requirements
  • Providing real-time engine wear testing

Institute engineers position sensors on a test diesel engine to acquire cold-start data, aiding improvement of the engine's cold-starting characteristics.


Without sacrificing a diesel engine's emissions certification and performance characteristics, SwRI engineers improve the engine's starting abilities by optimizing:

  • Compression and swirl ratios
  • Fuel injector characteristics, including nozzle geometry, opening pressure, and configuration
  • Fuel pump calibration, including fueling quantity and injection timing
  • Governor control features
  • Valve timing events
  • Start-aid devices, including glow plugs, grid heaters, flame starters, and water heaters
  • Pre- and post-heat strategies for start-aid device development
  • After-treatment devices
  • Crankcase lubricants and lubrication systems

SwRI provides an independent and unbiased perspective to clients. The Institute offers the following cold-start engine testing services:

  • Starting characterization versus ambient temperature
  • Starting characterization with and without start-aid
  • Cold-start algorithm development
  • Governor tuning for cold-idle stability
  • Cranking strategy development
  • Engine at altitude simulation
  • Transmission effects on engine evaluation
  • Acceptance testing of cycle-based emissions
  • Definition of starter and battery requirements
  • Time-to-oil at specified engine components

The Institute's diesel engine cold cells maintain fuel, battery, and transmission at test temperature.


SwRI staff members have extensive experience with mechanical and electronic fuel systems. Institute engineers use a variety of analytical and experimental tools to evaluate the startability of diesel engines, including client-proprietary engine control modules.

Institute-developed systems and techniques that aid cold-start testing include:

  • Rapid Prototyping Electronic Control System
  • Simulation programs such as VIPRETM and ALAMO_ENGINE
  • Fuel spray modeling and visualization
SwRI Diesel Engine Cold Cell Capabilities
  • Maintains -32 degrees Celsius operation
  • Accommodates a large inline six-cylinder engine
  • Assesses cold transmission effects
  • Chills test cell rapidly to support up to four start tests per day at -12 degrees Celsius
  • Performs loaded or unloaded tests using a programmable test cycle
  • Provides rapid data acquisition, including temperature, pressure, and flow rates
  • Acquires and quantifies cycle-based combustion and fuel injection characteristics
  • Provides online measurement of hydrocarbon level and opacity
  • Interfaces with original equipment manufacturer electronic engine control systems for algorithm development


This brochure was published in August 1997. For more information about diesel engine cold-start testing, contact Mike Ross, Phone (210) 522-2690, Fax (210) 522-3950, Engine, Emissions and Vehicle Research Division, Southwest Research Institute, P.O. Drawer 28510, San Antonio, Texas 78228-0510.


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