Nozzle diameters play a key role in the atomization and evaporation processes of diesel fuel. However, the influence of nozzle diameter on the spray characteristics of heavy-duty diesel engines rarely involves cold-start conditions, especially considering the coupling of the nozzle with the ambient temperature and fuel properties. Therefore, in this work, the macroscopic liquid- and vapor-phase spray behaviors of -50#, -35#, and -10# diesel fuels were measured at temperatures of 550-850 K by Mie-scattering and shadowgraph methods, respectively, in a constant volume combustion chamber. The results show that regardless of fuel properties the liquid spray from a 0.32-mm-diameter nozzle penetrates excessively due to the incapability in achieving a balance between injection and evaporation at low temperatures, which leads to a much longer penetration length compared with that of small nozzles with diameters of 0.12 and 0.22 mm. The up to 70 mm penetration at 750 K will lead to inevitable fuel wall/piston impingement under common cold-start conditions. Furthermore, compared with small nozzles, temperature reduction inhibits the spray evaporation of larger nozzles more significantly, which indicates a greater possibility of fuel/wall impingement in heavy-duty diesel engines. In addition, the penetration and spray area of the three fuels tested decreased in the order of -10#, -35#, and -50# diesel fuels due to their physical differences. Finally, based on the obtained experimental data, a new empirical correlation is established to provide a preliminary estimation of the liquid penetration length of heavy-duty diesel engines in low-temperature environments.