Just read your post, do you really warm up that quick? I have 2004.5 2500 with the same cover as you. Truck plugged in 4 hours, all flaps closed on cover, 6 inches snow, 19 degrees in 4 wheel drive at 50 mph. All this and it still took me 18 miles to get max temp. The dealer says thats normal. I dont buy it. Duramax and Powerstrokes warm up very quickly. I say the thermostat is hung open a hair. Any comments?

 

Plugged in, High Idle and pac brake... Mines warm by the end of the driveway!

 

Warm is a wide spectrum of temperatures! Mine has somewhat warm air 65-70* after being plugged in all night. That doesn't last long once the other 3 gallons of coolant start circulating around. Really....I have driven mine 50 miles and not reached full operating temp. One thing you can do to help, is to turn the blower down a notch. You are taking away all the heat the engine can build with the heater. That, and forget the winter front. Get a piece of cardboard and put it right in front of the radiator. Don't block the entire radiator, but you'll be o.k. with 60-70%. That way all of the other coolers still get airflow.

 

I think the Powerjokes have a warm-up valve that acts like an exhaust brake to help warm them up. Not sure about Dmax's?

Mine took forever to warm up in the Utah winter temps. I got it nice and hot driving up Big Cottonwood Canyon road from Salt Lake to Brighton ski resort. When we turned around and came back down the canyon the truck actually cooled back down to where the heat was blowing ice cold. It was a very uncomfortable ride down.

 

plugged in all night, radiator blocked 75%, still takes forever to warm up in city driving. warms up quickly at highway speeds.

sounds pretty normal to me. I've taken to driving my little Nissan Pickup for trips around town. when I don't have to pull a load that is.... sure is nice to have the heater work in nothing flat.

 

Oh, not to mention they get horrible fuel mileage when running cold like that!

 

oh so... true! mileage stinks when your CTD never gets to operating temps.

 

the dmax does a lot of different things to help load the engine and warm it up quicker than normal; automatic high idle below 32*, changes things in the transmission, changes the turbo vane position (equivilent to an exhaust brake), etc... Also, the guage on dmax's is scaled wrong so that could also throw people for a loop. The guage goes from 160-260. The guage comes off the 160* stop at an "actual temp" of around 110* or so. Finally, the CTD has a little bigger cooling systme too. [insert overheating comment or post that stupid lly video here]

I dont know about psd's.

ben

 

The LBZ 06 dura I had warmed up fast at idle, really cool. But driving down the road, it had a hard time keeping the heat, and keeping the truck warm on the cold days.

Dodge won't really warm up at idle, not even fast idle, might blow luke warm air. But once it's warmed up driving down the road it'll blow fire for air, even on the cold days.

I really liked the Duramax engine and trans, it's the truck I couldn't stand, last time I buy a crew cab.

 

My Pacbrake reduces the warm up time by about 50%. Even when its fairly cold for Western Washington standards (25-30 degrees) I have warm air in about 2 miles of city driving. Fully warmed (not just water temp,but oil also) in about 10 miles.

 

Today it was -21.9 below zero not counting wind chill from 9 MPH wind, block heater was plugged in for 4 hours, all 4 flaps on Dodge winter front was closed, back out of non air tight garage and drive 4 block around to the front of the house and high idle for about 5 minutes. Then a drive to town at speeds between 50 and 60 MPH on the Fwy and it still took 18 miles before my temp gauge showed it to be at full operating temp. Oh and from my house to the free way its 1.5 miles and 1/2 of distance has a 20 mph speed limit.

So Yes this is normal for your engine to take a long time to heat up. You need to remember that you have a large cooling system of 7.5 gallons and it takes along time to heat up all of that coolant and all of the steel your engine is made out of. BTW with the block plugged in for 4 hours I normally get 50 degree heat from the heater vent with in 2 minutes of start up when the fan speed is left on 1.

 

I probably have one of the shortest commutes to work. I live about 2 miles one way from work. When I get into the truck, I start it up and let it idle from between 2 minutes - 4 minutes, never more than 5 minutes. Usually enough to let the grid heaters finish cycling. Then I will drive for about 3 - 5 more minutes without putting serious load (lugging) or high rpms (> ~1600) on the engine. After about 7-10 minutes past startup, I will allow it to rev a bit higher to ~2000 rpms.

Depending on the temperature, and traffic, I will be at work between 10-15 minutes from leaving my house and the temp may have or may not have moved. If it hasn't moved by the time I am near my office building, I will drive around the block a bit until I at least see the needle move. With the winter front completely closed even in 40-60 degree weather, it still take a honest 13-15 minutes until the needle moves off 140.

Even though the fuel may be washing the cylinder walls a bit more, as long as you are off high loads (keep from using alot of throttle), and high rpms, the engine won't be worse for the wear. I also run my truck up to full (190*) operational temperature every few days to burn off carbon deposits.

-Chris

 

2 miles takes you 10-15 min. Man your commute sucks. I can get 22 miles to work in 20-25 min.

 

Well that is first starting over the engine to shutting it off at work, and I take my time rolling in since I want the engine to heat up somewhat.

-Chris

 

Well you may want to check your t_stats. My tstat failed on me. There is a growing issue that I have been seeing with this. It would not fully close and would open full at 175 degrees. I couldnt get it to move past 175 on the highway at 65 mph for an hour with outside temps at 50 degrees. When I pulled off the interstate at my exit there is a stop light. I waited there for 4 minutes and the temp was almost back down to 150 degrees. Took it to the dealer and they said they have seen a few of these issues lately but not enough to warrant any TSB issued. There were morning where I couldnt get heat at all on the way to work. Boy let me tell you 30 minutes in 10 degree weather really stinks. New tstat and I have a bit of heat coming out of it before I reach the interstate ( 2miles at 40 mph) and up to full operating temps by 7 miles in 32 degrees