marv h.

I dont like to start any engine when it is 10 below or colder without being plugged in. I plug my pickup in when it gets down around 0*, but this month it gets down to 35 below alot, and it wont even try to start if it isnt plugged in. This morning it was 34 below, I plugged in to a cord last night that I did not know was dead, thinking I would start ok, but when I went out to start her this morning,It turned over slow and didnt fire. I had to pug her in and put the charger on. After about 3 hours and a rise of 30* she fired right up. But I was wondering, if everything was ok such as batteries good, good fuel, not gelling, good starter and all electrical, how cold should I expect to be able to strart up without being plugged in. I may find myself somewhere overnight, colder than heck, and not able to plug in. Does anyone have a ballpark figure.

spooling

I never plug in and sometimes it gets to -30 celcius here. I run synthetic and have no problems

cowboy_trucker

I get -30 celcius too, never plug it in, and I run normal oil (synthetic leaks out all over the place)

bentwings

-15 F yesterday without plugging in. -20 F is the coldest I've had to start without plugging in. No problem. Just turn everything off and cycle the grid heaters twice.

Dartmouth 12V

I have started at -30F once and -20F a few times without being plugged in. In my opinion, if your engine doesn't leak like crazy because of it, you should be running synthetic in temperatures that are that cold. It will do a few things including increasing your chances of starting, put less wear on your starter and batteries, and you will get oil pressure a lot quicker.

If you struggle to start below about -10F, something is wrong. Either you are running really thick oil, have weak batteries, the grids aren't working, or you aren't giving it enough pedal.

limitedslip

The synthetics are the way to go. The trucking companies in northern Canada use 0/40 or 5/40 synthetic. Sometimes we equip our fuel/propane delivery trucks with additional engine heaters for the oil pan. They make a propane engine heater which uses battery juice just to fire up the heater and millivolts to run the controls once the heater is fired up. This could work if you can't plug you truck in.

dieselman2300

It was -30*f with the windchill last night in Chicago. I started the truck this morning at 6:00am without having it plugged in. I cycled the grid heaters twice and it started in 2-3 seconds. This is on my 97 12 valve.
I also run Amsoil synthetic.
If you truck can hold regular dino oil it should hold synthetic oil. Synthetic isnt any thinner that dino oil when warmed up. Its viscocity is better in colder temps thats all. Take a bottle of dino and a bottle of good synthetic and leave it outside in cold weather and see which one pours easier.

As for the diesel heaters that limitedslip talked about, there are a couple of manufactures out there. There is Espar, Webasto, Proheat and a couple of others. espar seems to be the most popular one. I have a Espar D5 sitting in my garage that I will be installing this week.

Dartmouth 12V

Windchill has no effect if the truck is cold soaked. Windchill only affects things that are not the same temp as the air temp. So if your truck has sat outside for 12 hours in 0F weather with the windchill -40F, the engine is at 0F. However, if it has only sat for a little while so that it is still cooling down, having wind will make it cool down faster. Unless you aren't leaving your truck for very long(only a few hours), windchill has absolutely no effect.

95dodgectd

its sounds like starter contacts, but could be the batteries, and it also sounds like you need grid heater relays. my truck doesn't start too easy if i don't plug it in or put it in the garage which i do every night now, to cut my parents electricity bill down a little. good luck.

dieselman2300

Yes I know.
My point was that the truck started no problem. It wasnt plugged in for 16 hours. It was 0* yesterday at 12:00pm, and got colder later that night.

WestTN

The windchill is related to the evaporation of moisture from human skin. It does not affect inanimate objects since they don't sweat.

wurkenman

If your truck leaks with synthetic, it does not mean the problem goes away with dino oil, it only means that the oil is that much thicker so it wont leak. It will still seep out and all the internals in the engine get the "thicker" oil too.

ERK1974

Plug In On A Timer. Mine Comes On At 3 Am. Start My Truck At 6am. No Problems And Better For The Engine.

dieselman2300

My truck sweats.
HORSEPOWER that is!

Man, sorry I posted the windchill.
I was just stating like my previous post, (I am going to be the echo here)
IT WAS COLD LAST NIGHT!

marv h.

Thanks for all of the replies. So the coldest temp reported is -30 by Dartmouth. I dont know exactly how -30 C from the guys up north compares to -35F here. Ether way It sounds like my dodge should have started. My grid heaters did cycle, I am a little leary about running them twice because of how low the volt gauge goes when they are heating. Then after they quit, the gauge only comes up to about where 10 may be. I just put a new battery in where my oldest battery was. It is a walmart max 3 I think.
Hey howabout that. Should both batteries be replaced at the same time? I thought the other one was ok.