Hey all,

Just bought a 96 2500, and seek some advice regarding cold starts.

When I started it from cold this morning, (35F outside) it let out a large cloud of white smoke, and it required some throttle feathering to keep running, for about 20-30 seconds. Might this be something up with the high idle, or a misadjusted idle speed? I dont have a diesel tach, but the dash tach indicated ~500 rpm when cold and in park, no AC on.

On that topic, if it does need the idle speed adjusted, where's the locknut and screw? The haynes manual I have shows a picture, but for the life of me I can't find it on the injector pump. Any hints here?

Thanks!
Shane

 

Her ya go:

http://dodgeram.org/tech/dsl/adjustm...d_Gen-Idle.htm

Might want to set the idle a little highr for winter (I do about 1000), then back it down to 750 for summer.

Check out this website, it has alot of great info on it:

http://dodgeram.org/support_pgs/diesel_ix.htm

Hope this helps, Kevin

 

Condensr:

You can be sure that adjusting the idle speed will make all the difference in the world for cold winter starts!

But why does tha Haynes book sucks SO BAD? I noticed the same thing when I tried to use it for idle speed adjustment the first time.

Also- why does the idle speed keep sliping/dropping and need so much adjustment??

 

It's metal to metal contact, the vibration of a diesel engine hammers the contact points, screw gets peened shorter.

 

Try adjusting the idle,that should really help.If the overflow valve has not been changed,that would be worth a shot,really helped my cold running.

 

I agree. New overflow valve made quite a bit of difference in my cold-wx starting and running.

 

Finally found it and adjusted. I don't have to keep on the throttle anymore to keep it running cold. The URLs above helped.

I'm still interested though in adding an actuator so I can flip a switch in the cab and get ~1000 rpms for the warm up. I know others have used AC actuators from old GM carbs for this, anyone have any advice on where/how to mount up?

Oh, and I found today that my rig does indeed have a block heater! Looks like it has never been plugged in to. Good to know about if the temps really get low around here. (rare!)