I had my truck plugged in this morning for two hours, and it still had me wondering as it cranked about 3-4 times before it started. It was pretty cold here last night 8 degrees. Are you supposed to leave them plugged in all night or what?

 

The short answer is yes. When parked at home and it's cold out (here from Halloween till May 15 or so. The owners manual suggests you plug in when the temps are 40 and below.) I always plugged it in. Oh, I didn't need to but it's easier on the truck and it's nice to have warm air blowing right off the bat, especially when it is cold. The heater unit itself draws 750 watts so overall, it's not cheap to keep em plugged in. But I'm guessing the wear and tear it saves on cold starts to the engine more than makes up for any electricity costs. Also, your battery will last longer, at least that was so in my experience. If you're concerned about the amount of power from being plugged in all the time you could also use a timer to stagger on hours or even to shorten up the on cycle. Just make sure the timer and extension cord can handle the load.
Finally, there's a small heating element that is in under the fuel tank that runs while the truck is plugged in (at least this is so on my 93 so I'm guessing most likely all these trucks have the same features) and what this does is to protect the fuel in the tank from freezing. So if it really is that cold where you are, there's more than just the warm air of a reason to keep em plugged in. Good luck! Chuck

 

2 hours should have you pretty well covered, 3 would be better, that's what I set my timer for. After about 2.5 hours, the front 3 valve covers are pretty warm to the touch. You may have some air in there, though, cause it should still fire on the first crank to crank-and-a-half.

 

Never heard of a heating element on fuel tank-------enlighten me-----is it aftermarket?

 

No, I read about that in my owners manual....I believe it's standard equipment on the Cummins option. I'll look for that again....but I've read that in more than one place too.

Woops!! My mistake. From page 29 of my 1993 owners manual:

**** A 12 volt heater built into the fuel filter housing will aid in preventing fuel gelling. It is controlled by a built in switch.

From the horses mouth....

 

In real cold conditions you need at least 4 hours of run time to get it warm. I run mine about 5 hours a night and it seems to work well even when we have a cold (teens) morning.

The fuel heater doesn't do anything until the key is on.

 

I have my timer set for about 3hrs, when i unplug it in the AM the upper rad hose is good and warm. FWIW, my buddy 3 houses down has an 03 Ferd PSD that is plugged in all the time...yikes, I`d hate to see his bill (electricity is super $$$ in my area).

 

I am gonna stick this in here as it fits the discussion.

Wire up a light to the same circuit that the plug is on.

This can be no more than a night-light, or a big 300 Watter, if you so desire, just so long as it can be determined that the light is on.

If the heater-plug were to trip a breaker, then it is easy to tell.

 

Hey peytonmaterne,
I live in south eastern part of Ohio, I had 5*F this morning, and my truck fired on the second crank. Without being plugged in.
My dads chevy 6.5 diesel takes 4 hours in 20* or less of being plugged in before it will even try to start. Your not that bad if you start on the 3 turnover!!
Wheelo

 

I have mine on a timer, and two hours starts mine first crank at any temperature, and it get's darn cold up here!

 

My truck is usaully plugged in whenever it is sitting out front and below 40*. Saturday my dad didnot plug it in when her got home form work in the morning,i found out around 6:30pm and plugged it in. All day long the temps were around -10 with a wind chill of -30*. When i went to start the truck around 9:00pm jumped in and the Wait to start light stayed on for about 35-40 secs when it went off i hit the key and it cranked a good 2.5-3 times and finally fired,but smoked like a fogger. I would say plug it in whenever you can,even with the skidloader plugged in 24/7 we have yet to see a difference in the electric bill. One of the good things about when my dad takes the truck to work is they let him pull up to the shop doors and plug it in.

Jeff

 

Our barns are on a meter of their own.

All summer, the bill is minimum.

When we plug in two 4320 John Deere tractors in the winter, the bill skyrockets.

 

I got her on a timer for 3 hours in the morning, right up until the time I leave. Starts up first crank everytime and up here it gets in the single digits quite regularly...

 

I think something is fishy with your truck. I don't even wait for the "wait to start" warning, I just hit it and she fires like normal. It does smoke a bit more, but not much. If I forget to plug it in it smokes some, but not for long. So far I haven't hit a temp that it wouldn't start with the built in heaters....

 

I have mine on a timer, about an hour, and it starts within the first crank. The wait light stays on only about as long as it takes to connect my seat belt. But I sure don't get any heat from the heater until I drive 4 miles or so. The temp in the mornings are the teens or lower.