doitl8r

Hello all

Well up here just north of Toronto this morning is was -32 C (-25 F) !!!

I had my 2003 CTD plugged in on a timer which comes on about 3 hours before I leave for work.

This morning she started OK...a little rough for the first few seconds but she started on the first crank.

Heat is the problem. !


I had her idle for about 10-15 mins before I left for work....she smoked like crazy and seemed very sluggish for the first few miles ( very stiff ).

But I had no heat until 20 mins. into my drive to work (thank God for the heated seats)- even then the temp gauge showed ZERO movement...it just stayed on the Cold line.

My drive to work is about 1 hour and as I got about 20 mins from work...the temp gauge did move up a little and the CAB was starting to warm up.

My real question is since this my first diesel - Where do I get front grill covers and do they make any difference in this type of cold???


Thanks in advance
Rob.

SuperGewl

Go to your local DC parts counter and get the one from them. They run about $100 and work great. It is under the hood so it caon't be stolen, that is unless they steal the whole truck

Geico266

Do you have any pictures of what the dealer's grill covers look like?

I just put a 20 x 24 in piece of card board in between the radiators. It has helped already, but I just did it yesterday.

I would leave the truck plugged in all night, 3 hours at those temps is not enough, at least set the timer for 6 hours and see how it responds. Its only 750 watts.

doitl8r

yep...I think I'll plug it in all night tonight.....

kry226

I leave the block heater plugged in while the truck is warming up. Seems to help with warm-up and heat. Most importantly to me, I give myself enough time to let the truck go through its grid heater cycle and then high idle for a few minutes before I pull out. When I do get out on the road, it's as quiet as if it were fully warmed up.

redneck1

I've been idling mine for about 6 hours. It's -30C in Ottawa too and my truck was plugged in for about 3 hours prior to starting. I am not shutting it off while I am at work. I've been out to check on it and its idled up at 1100RPM.

spudman

have any of ya'll had to start them unaided yet? I had to start mine this morning to get it out of the way of a tractor because a customer showed up unannounced and proceded to get his truck and trailer stuck in the driveway. Anyways the temp was -26F and the truck barely cranked and took a good 10 sec to fire and the proceded to run on only 4-5 cylinders, i used two grid cycles before starting it. Now i know these are not great conditions but my 99 would start on a single cycle and fire easily under the same conditions and run on all six.Are all of the 600's like mine or does anybody have one that likes the cold just fine?

joel

How in the heck do you know it's only running on 4-5 cylinders? Was diesel spewing out the tailpipe? Or was it just rough?

They run rough in the cold, but if one's firing, then they all should be since, in theory, the compression is the same in all cylinders and therefore the temp of the air once compressed is the same in all 6 and the fuel should ignite the same....

wexman

Mine started at 9* F this morning, not plugged in, after sitting since Saturday. She cranked about 2 seconds, idled immediately up to about 1000 rpm, and for the first minute or two, idle was very rough and "rompy", but then she settled down, and away I went.

Awesome!

coobie

I have the same winter as superGewl,love it.It was -1 below zero this morning in Michigan.Had decent heat after about 8-10 miles and stayed hot also.Temp gauge was just under 200 degrees.coobie

spudman

in theory everything is great but they are diffrent cyilnders and they are not all the same. clear miss was not running on six. fuel now gelled truck will not even start gotta wait to get some heat so I can get it inside barn to work on it supposed to be in the 50's on thursday.

nickleinonen

the joy of owning a diesel right there... wasn't quite that cold when i started up this morning from work [in concord - only -15°f/-26°c]... my truck ended up idling for about 45 min while i boosted other cars and got them going with some joy juice. my truck started ok. smoked real good [not near as much as some of the cold loco engines i had running in the yard] sounded like a quieter 24v vp44 truck [10x louder than my truck normally is ].. got home about 2 hours after starting and it had moved about 1/4" up the scale from the 60°c mark...

it's too cold for my likes... i function best between 10°c-40°c...


and was the clutch & tranny ever stiff...

jkitterman

Some of the trucks will run on 3 cyls to help with warm up. It sounds real weird if you don't know about it. I think the 2003 does it but I am unsure of any others.

nwttruck

It`s - 42 F tonight , It was -40 all day , I started my truck this morning and went to work, let it idle(1400 rpm) all day until i was finish . She`s a little bit hard on fuel when it`s cold like this .

Cold Diesel

Winter fronts help a lot in warm up time and staying warm in winter. I would not be without one.
A diesel fired heater is your friend in those temps if you can't plug in. They are pricy but if you are idleing 6 hours many times during the winter it will pay off in fuel bills and motor wear and tear.