help !! its 25* with a windchill of 11*, and ice everywere. it just never gets like this here.anyway, it took a few tries and a lot of black,white and blue smoke to start and is now idling. is this o.k. ???

thanxs

 

I had the same problem...

I plugged in my truck, the night before, its windchill 22 right now, I had no problems, fired up quickly, and let it idle for 5 mins or so, and just drove off.. From what you are experiencing the black smoke is fuel, the white smoke is normal for these things when its cold outside, blue smoke i dont know what that is, I know white can be slipped timing, or somethin like that

Id just plug it in if i was you, and not worry about it, if you know its gonna get that cold.. heck i have my extension cord behind the truck now (in the toolbox actually)

Tx

 

will do tonight 007.....going to get around 20*.......but what about idling the truck ?? its been out there for an hour now

 

p.s. it wasnt blowing blue, just black and grey.....then a little white for a few minutes. layed it to the floor to get it started

 

First, windchill has no effect on trucks or even animals, only humans! When I started mine up yesterday, I gave it about 1/4 throttle and got the rough running and smoke for about twenty seconds. After that it smoothed out and I kept it at about 1000 rpm for a minute and then it ran fine. This is not being plugged in at 22f as I forgot to do it. It won't warm up well by just idling, it needs a load. Possibly your fuel heater, grids, prefilter or the filter need some attention.

 

fuel heater i dont know. all else is fine....maybe time to get it timed and valve lash. bought the truck last year with only 76k on it. first dodge ctd '96 2nd 'yellow '99 and now '97.

 

Well it gets alot colder up here, at 5* out and straight #2 not plugging it in, fires up no problems, but my truck always smokes a bunch when its cold out. A mix of blue/black/white, it goes away once warmed up, if it was me I wouldn't be worried about it, you usually have to give it just a tad bit of throttle to keep it at about 1000rpms, then let it idle on its own.

I started it last year at -24* and NO BLOCK HEATER, it was a hard start, but started, should have seen all the smoke it put out then, filled up the parking lot.
Tim

 

its odd though. it died twice while i had it on the floor and acted as if the batteries were bad ......for now on anything under 40* i'm pluggin it

 

20F would feel tropical for me.
Don't expect to see 20° for the high temp of the day for at least two months.

 

I had a similar problem with a 97. It would start real hard unless it was plugged in. It ended up being the grid heater relays. It would be something to look at. Funny how people down south are scared about cold weather.

 

Infidel...I just heard minutes ago that parts of Montana hit -45 last night. Not as cold here in CO (we hit minus 21), but I would guess you have just about as much sympathy for these "Tropical State Folks" as I do.

Bro just called and told me he has sighted the Elk herd, so I will be bundling up pretty good and heading out in an hour or so...which brings up the comment from RUSS...I have to disagree with your statement that windchill has no effect on animals. Maybe not as MUCH effect, but there is a reason they head into the trees, ravines and eat alot more. Partially, thanks to their hairs being hollow, Elk handle it much better than most critters, but while moving frigid air will not decrease the temp of an inanimate object, it does cool things down faster than stagnent air, just as moving water will as compared to still water. Probably has to do largely with the boundary layer.

Come to think of it, my air-cooled race engines cool just fine at speed, and will suffer severe damage if I run them for long in the pits.....ohh yeah, and then there is that fan on the front of our trucks. In all fairness, I know what you are saying...A stiff cold wind blowing on the truck will cool it down faster, but once the truck reaches ambient temp, it ceases to make any difference, so I guess we could agree on this: once the extreme wind and temps kill me, the temp of my corpse will be the same whether the wind is blowing or not.....but what if the sun is shining on me?

 

Mine fired right up at minus 10 this morning without being plugged in. My wife was starting her car at the same time. Bet she doesn't park on the exhaust side of the truck ever again. LOL Jim

 

Hmm one more point to mention

How is your idle? Is it properly adjusted? you might wanna check batteries and alternator as well as the starter just to be on the safe side.. i did all that today in school, as for as idling the truck, ive let it idle before but this was the first time that i ever plugged it in, i let it idle for five minutes or so, and then i drove off, slow and easy and never had an issue.... But then again, it was only 22 with windchill for me down here, i believe 34 without...

Tx

 

Yeah see my other thread in here about this. When it's cold out, I really have to take it EASY for a little bit when driving til it warms up. Need to get my heat working still too.

 

Just for a comparason, i started up the other day at around 22* with no block heater and my fuel heater is non-exsistant (factory forgot it ). Truck started with little throttle and slight haze idling. Sounds like you may have a problem with air getting into your lines. Maybe..........Just take notice of how long it sits and how well it starts each time. If its harder to start the longer it sits, you may want to start diag. were the air is coming in. Just a thought.