When I lived in south central Colorado I'd do the following, depending on outside temps.

If it was only down to about 20* F I'd simply start up, let the oil pressure come up and listen for the engine to get quiet from the oil circulation. At that point I'd run the idle up to about 11-1200 for about 20-30 seconds then take off, keeping the revs no higher than 2000 until the engine temp reached the 140 mark. Then, like Forest said, I'd gradually increase the amount of throttle above 2000 as the engine warmed up.

If the outside temp was lower, say 10* F and lower, I'd plug in the block heater for a couple of hours, then follow the above steps.

When the temps really got cold, like -10 to -30*F and stayed that way pretty much throughout the day and night, I'd plug in the block heater just before going to bed, then followed the first steps above.

By the time I'd reach the highway, about a mile or so from the house, it was already starting to feel like it was "waking up" and running more smoothly. I've never used a winter front for the grill and the interior heater always seems to keep it nice and toasty inside, regardless of outside temps.

Steve

 

The way to fix that is to dump in a bottle of Lube-Gard PS treatment availible at most any auto parts store.
No more whine no matter how cold it gets.

 

When I get home at night around 10-11:30ish I plug the truck in (not on a timer) on my way in, anything under 40* at night. Just piece of mind I guess. Wake up around 6am go out start it up, go in side for 5 min finish getting ready and then leave. I know it doesnt need to be plugged in as long and as high of temp as i do but i hate the way diesels feel,act,sound when they are cold.

I keep a piece of card board in the bed to slide in there anytime the temps get under 5*F and im going to be out on the hwy....these 12v's dont like to keep a constant temp to well.

 

East side of montana or for that matter all the way up to Alaska. My 12v i would hop in most of the time there is no where to plug in, pump the throttle twice hold it a 1/4 down turn the key and vroom then hold RPMs to 1000 for about 1 min. at 1 min i would get out go back in some place warm after 10 minutes she usually was warm enough to tolerate in the cab.

Lowest i cold started it without pluging in was 37 below at 40 below she seems to argue with me. Seldomnly plugged in til 20 degrees or lower. and oil pan heater helps too also if your going to plug it in i have been told that the elements will burn out after years of being used for 8-12 hr stretches.... dont know how true that is, i used to have one of those plug in timers on my cord, about 3-4am she would kick on and by 6 am when i walked out to start her she was ready to rock.

 

pumping throttle won't do anything before you start it...

 

Interesting Frieghtliner and Ford listed it as a cold weather starting proceedure and so did my old cummins operation manual for all of our P pump equipt cummins powered trucks, thats the only reason i started doing the two pumps.... never thought about it past that just became habit

 

Wasn't there something about bending pushrods on your engine if you let it idle for too long? Or was that just a problem on highly modified engines or something?

 

I live in Northern CO where the temp at night is easily close to 0 alot. I ALWAYS keep my baby plugged in over night and while at work. Sucks starting her after class tho. I always let it run for atleast 2-3 minutes after starting it in the morning. I also hit the gas for about 30 seconds and keep it at about 1100rpms then go inside. Get my **** and go and i take it very easy till i get up to 140

 

I don't think it's a function of radiator volume/capacity that determines how long it takes for your diesel engine to warm up. It is because diesels are massive when compared to a similar displacement gas engine, more metal because the compression runs a lot higher. The huge iron mass is a heat sink until it reaches thermal equilibrium then the coolant warms up and the radiator removes sensible heat.

 

It's a 24 valve problem

 

and combustion temps and EGT's are considerably lower on a diesel... where you may see 200-250* at idle on a Cummins, on a gasser, it's more than double that...

Forrest

 

If its cold enough for the heater grid, 1-2 minutes if you have to plug it in then 3-4 minutes. Then run it a bit easier until it warms a bit, then give it hell.

 

2001's came with an high idle feature? How do you get it activated? Dealer only?

 

Check your power steering fluid level. I know this sounds simple, but mine growelled for a year before I checked mine to find it low. It has not growled since.

 

Honestly my greater concern here is how long do you run it until you shut it down? Being a student I do not drive too much right now. Many trips are short and while I try to combine them all, still sometimes I must go out of the way to fully warm up. I try not to shut it off until the gauge reaches 140F at the minimum. I would say running at least 15 minuites in traffic is really nessicary to "fully" warm the truck all up. Lot of people here with both gas and diesel engines run them three blocks on a 15F degree day and shut them off. Not for me!