just ordered it from the dealer.

they never have anything in stock it would seem.
36.00 so not that bad!!
just going to suck replacing it. no garage, it will be 40 on friday so may back and forth flush the heater core also.

sure would be nice to have heat.

all my trucks with the exeption of my toyota have awful heaters.

 

I feel your pain on the "never in stock" situation. My steering box is the second unit on the truck (15000 miles on it) and it leaks like a sieve. The dealer says it will go halves-es on it but the unit is on back order and they don't know when it will be in.
As for the heater issue.....My truck makes decent heat once it warms up. The key is getting it warm. It is not a gas engine so it won't warm up well just idling, especially at your ambient temps. It needs a load to warm up with any speed. Word on the site is you should be nice to your truck till the needle moves, then you can start working it.
Understanding that you have already ordered the part, you may want to check with a Cummins shop on any future engine parts needs. It has been written on this site that the cable for the block heater is $30.00 at the dealer vs $13 at Cummins.
Something else to consider.....The definition of severe driving in your manual lists not allowing the engine to reach full operating temp on a regular basis as an indicator of severe driving. Makes a significant difference in oil change interval.
If you read enough on this and other sites you come away with the feeling that anyone that owns a Cummins loves it! Some just aren't too fond of the Dodge that came with it!
Good luck and enjoy the truck! Depending on your final gear, you might be able to see 24mpg empty.

 

around town and to and from work, I live about 4 miles out side of the city limits. I get 16 to 17 mpg.

out on the road I get up to 20 mpg, no matter the load in the truck.
towing it drops back down to the 16/17.

when ever I go home to the east side of the state I pick up a cord of oak fire wood. the only time you notice it is stopping.

comparied to the pumps the vp44 the thermostat is not even a real expence!!! having a heater would be golden!!

love the truck so far. it will pull anything that traction permits.

we bought it so we can tow a larger camper. I love how much it can haul.

had 45 sheets of dry wall in the back, people stopped me at the gas station and asked about the pay load. because it was hardly sagging at all.

that juice with attitude monitor made a huge difference also.

I don't care for how cheap all the plastic stuff on the inside is built.
cup holder has broken hindge, what ever that thing is on the roof, sun glass holder? is broken.

 

I live in SD as well and this last week has gotten pretty cold at night. I would put a T-stat in especially if you havent before. I put a new one in mine last year and it made a heck of a difference, but you still need to block the radiator off if you want a good heater. Ive had the best luck with the cummins T-stats, you can get them from a cummins shop or most Case IH dealers, if you give them the CPL number off your engine. They will probably have to order it because they are only for the dodge pickup engines but its cheaper than going to a dodge dealer and usually are only a day out.

 

anyone have a picture of the radiator block off?

I was just going to shove a peice of card board down behind the intercooler and behind the trans cooler.
or just stay as over on the pass side of the radiator.

I figured I would block off half of it.

 

I run a 180* t-stat in the summer, but in the winter I run a 205* t-stat.

Not for everybody but I lowered the compression in my rebuilt engine and it will smoke like a 2.6 puller in the colder temps. With the 205 it clears it all up, once the engine warms up.

Takes like 4 miles to warm up, too, depending on temps. I have 9 miles to work and it gets plenty warm.

 

Really, the only right way is to cover the grill. If you block off the radiator like that then you'll probably overheat and the engine fan will stay on because of the clutch fan. Plus it places unnecessary stress on the radiator itself trying to hold back the wind pressure. There is grill covers available but if you're simply going to test out covering the grill then a role of duct tape and a little creativity will do wonders.

 

It was warm enough today to work on the truck.

thermostat was an easy change after I found a socket small enough.

The old one was not stock, maybe a stant. The new one was much more robust.
The old one had wear marks on the moving part of it. It did not look like it sealed the secondary opening, the one down inside the block.
also it popped right out like it was loose in there.

the new one had a bigger o ring surface, the o ring or rubber shoulder extended down a lot further and took a little force to get it to seat in there.
the lower part, in side the block had a much better sealing surface.

then I moved on to the heater core.

pulled the hoses loose from the motor and used a garden hose with a valve and a barbed fitting that slid into the hose.

from the side that comes out of the block I got some dirty looking anti freeze then clear. turned the valve off and on letting pressure build up in the garden hose. still clear at this time.

then I went to the side that came off a riser pipe. now I had the other side clear, remember?
As much or more, and also dirty antifreeze came out. flushed it several times until it was running clear.

went back and forth between them a few times just to make sure I had gotten all the crap out that I could get.


to warm out today for the warm up test.

but I did notice that once it warmed up. I could turn the heater fan on high and it was blowing (holllly EDIT) hot air. before when I turned the fan speed up the temp of the air cooled right down to luke warm.

so all in all I had a cheap or shot thermostat and a plugged heater core.

Real test will be the next time it is near 0 out.

thanks for all your suggestions and support.
I like this site.
I am sure that I will have more questions and hope that I may be able to answer a few.

 

it takes a long time to warm them up I have ae brake and turn it on in the am and in 10 min its at operating temp. maybe a winter front would help.

 

what is an ae brake?

10 min that would be nice.

at what temp?

I know that I fixed part of it with the heater core flush.
that was almost scary!! I kept watching the temp gauge in case I had gotten a bad thermostat.

It can run 40 out one day here and -20 the next day.

 

Glad you got it worked out. I too wouldn't mind flushing my coolant system but unfortunately where I live has a lot of minerals in the water and I ruined a radiator by flushing with garden hose water and using that water in the 50/50 mix. REALLY dont care to make that mistake again with this truck.

 

I'm sure he's referring to an exhaust brake. You can turn them on during idle and the EGT's will hover at around 400*. Doesn't take long to heat up the engine like that. I just dont care to do that with mine since during idle the engine cant expel all the carbon so it ends up in the intake manifold as a wet goop that coats the MAP and IAT. Then those sensors become possible culprits for issues. If you have a 3rd gen then some exhaust brakes have a feature that will set the exhaust brake at certain mid levels until a certain engine temp and then turn off completely. Very cool.

 

I cover my rad almost completely over with card board, have since 2007, there have been many times I've been sleeping in the back seat and my truck was idling at 1200rpm for 5-7hrs at a time, fan has never cut in or when driving around town delivering freight every day all day . rad has never failed due to wind at hi-way speeds.
then again it gets pretty cold here in Alberta

Just my oberservations with my truck

 

It takes a long time to warm up the engine compared to other vehicles. I only use Cummins tstats now as 3 aftermarkets have allowed the temp to cycle all over the place. I snag the gaskets whenever I try an aftermarket tstat that doesn't work & use the gaskets on an old Cummins that has lost the gasket.

 

Where did you get a 205 stat?