Transcripción del resumen del autor. To overcome the difficulty in the cold start of the spark-ignition (SI) methanol-fueled engine with inlet port fuel injection (PFI) at low ambient temperatures, the effects of several auxiliary preheating measures, including the intake air preheating, the methanol fuel preheating, the resistance wire, which heats the inlet manifold, and the glow plug, which heats the methanol-air mixture, on the firing behavior of the methanol-fueled engine were studied experimentally by means of a single-cycle methanol injection strategy. The results showed that, with the ambient temperatures below 16 °C, the methanol-fueled engine cannot be started reliably without an auxiliary start aid even at a large amount of methanol injected per cycle. Both the intake air preheating and the methanol fuel preheating cannot ensure the reliable firing of the methanol-fueled engine during the cold start, but the resistance wire and the glow plug will do. Under the glow-plug preheating, the amount of methanol injected per cycle for reliable cold start is by 30% less than that of the resistance wire and the maximum combustion pressure in the cylinder is 180% higher. The preheating by the glow plug is better than that by the resistance wire.

6