When I was a lad, a very wise old man with a lifetime of experience at Wright Aeronautical Engines told me that 90% of engine wear occurs at cold starts. An this is not winter starts, just cold starts.

OK, we cannot avoid cold starts, but we can help:

An electric engine heater is good. My preference is the ones that use the cooling system, but any is better than none.

There are expensive electric engine oil pre lubers. but you can pre-lube the engine by spinning with the starter until you have oil pressure for 5 or 10 seconds or so, then allowing ignition. This can be accomplished by use of an ignition kill switch. There are industrial engines that use a Hobbs switch for this. Some coaches have a Hobbs switch to shut off the electric fuel pump if oil pressure is lost. They are bypassed for starting, but a cockpit push button switch could bypass the bypass. I have done this on my boat.

And you can avoid the practice of pumping the throttle to "prime" the cylinders. This washes any residual lubrication off the cylinder walls. Likewise, the leanest choke setting possible is best for the same reason. With an electric choke (my choice), you can experiment with sitting with the ignition on for a number of seconds to achieve early choke opening to avoid cylinder washing.

All this sounds anal-retentive, but Dave can tell you how much a new engine costs, and I can tell you how much work it is.

Thank Bill h;I now know that i'm doing the right thing,turning on the motor heater in my Barth before trying to start the motor.My other diesels has the automatic heaters,the Barth is a manual switch.Thank a lot for your GOOD input. Jay;

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br2409