I have 2001 HO with 92000 miles on it and the past couple of mornings it has been 0 degrees and -12 degrees. My truck sits outside and I had my truck plugged in and the engine would start just fine. I let the oil come up and let it idle for a minute or two, but when I backed out of my drive way both days and put it in first gear I had no accelearation! It would just stumble and not want to go. So I had the truck in first gear and limped it to the curb where I sat there and tried to get the rpms to come up. The truck would rumble and shake, but eventually the rpms came up after 5 minutes or so. After I was able to get the rpms up I would drive it around the neighborhood a couple of times before venturing out and I did not have any problems. This basically happenend to me both days. For my 30 minute commute both days I did not have one problem after the truck warmed up. Today it was around 20 degrees this morning and I had it plugged in and it started fine and when I put it in gear it drove just fine. No issues at all. I always put the white bottle of power service in each tank. My tank is full and when it is warm outside I don't have any issues. It only appears to happen when it sits over night and the temps drop below 10 degrees.

Any thoughts on what could be going on? Also, the only code I have right now is P500.

Thanks

 

I forgot to mention that I run 15W 40 Rotella motor oil. Not sure if this is part of the problem or not?

 

It sounds like your fuel is starting to gel. If I were you I'd put in some good antigel and change the oil to a 5w40 synthetic. The synthetic will let the motor turn over and start easier.

 

Dump some Power Service 911 in tank or a couple of gallons of kerosene before it's too late

 

Thank you for the responses. I do use 16 oz of White Bottle Power Service at each fill up. Do you think my fuel is still gelling? I was hoping that this would prevent my fuel from gelling but I guess you never know. As I mentioned earlier this has only happened when my truck sits over night at the temps drop below 10 degrees. And once my truck is warmed up I have no problems. I do not have any issues in the summer.

Thanks,

 

i have a question for all dodge owners. I'm not a dodge owner but i do have a cummins that i put into a P-30 box truck. My question to you guys is do you have a plastic or a metal gas tank in your trucks? I have a 50 gallon tank in my truck and i was wondering after seeing alot of guys having problems in the cold can you add a heater like i did to mine on the tank? I have a metal gas tank and i use a magnetic heater and seems to work well. I also run a Davco fuel filter in it as well and it has a 100 watt heating element in it so when i plug my truck in at night it heats up the entire fuel filter as well. Just mt 2cents

 

At -10 you should let it run for more than a couple of minutes. I would suggest 15 minutes. I would also check the grid heaters and make sure they are both working.

 

I'll disagree with you on that. These trucks don't warm up well just idling. My EGT's on a cold day are barely above 200 just idling. Once you have oil pressure, its ready to roll. Only time my truck idles on a cold start is when I'm scraping the windows or brushing the snow off.

 

wow ya im with robert. i would def let it warm up a good 10 to 15 min and let your engine temp come up. esp if you have a chip your askin to blow your head gasket if u just start up and take off. i was havin issues wen i wasnt plugged and thot maybe it was fuel but checked it out more and my alternator was bad..

 

Again thank you for the replies, but as mentioned I thought ideling a diesel was not the best because a diesel would not warm up just ideling. Also in this situation when it was -10 degrees and 0 degrees overnight when I started my truck and gave it throttle to increase the rpms the engine did not want to rev up. But sitting there for 5 minutes and giving it some throttle it would eventually increase rpms and then I would take off and start driving. Today it was about 20 degrees overnight I started the truck up and brought the oil pressure up and I took off for work and did not have any issues.

 

Again, it will NOT make heat - unless you have a way of raising the idle or have an exhaust brake - the longer you idle it, the lower the exhaust temps drop - which can cause problems.

 

I agree you should have a high idle for warmup, now that you mention that it would not rev up in neutral, it sounds like fuel is getting gelled.

 

Unless you're buying summer diesel or crappy diesel mixed with water there is no way your fuel is gelling. -10 isn't even that cold. In my area it's been -25 on average for 2 weeks now and nobody is having gelling issues. I also run white power service and have had no problems. Maybe your problem has something to do with your code "No Vehicle Speed Sensor Signal"

 

I am sure he is talking -10 F which is the same as -23 C. And yes a buddy of mine bought some fuel in Winnipeg last week and made it 20 miles and jelled solid. Had to tow in and drain tank and put in fresh stuff. Fuel station would not help him either.

 

Yes, -10 F and 0 F which is pretty cold. I am just trying to get some ideas of what might be going on because my truck has only acted up when it was this cold outside and once the engine warmed up it ran great. I really didn't think it was cold enough to gel my fuel, but I could be wrong.