In the early part of 06 in Denver we had two good cold spells with temps from -15 to -20F in the metro area....my truck started and ran fine in those temps, after cycling the grid heaters twice. And no the trucjk was not plugged in....My truck did spew nice clouds of unburned fuel, but after 3-5mins at high idle it was ready to go. And the factory gauges did show oil pressure immediatley after start up....then the readings were high for a few minutes...but well within normal op limits

 

Where i live the past month has been preety dang cold and rough when i start it up so my mom leaves her chevy tahoe in our garage, so the last month i have been pulling it in the garage and pulling the chevy out and when i leave for school pulling her's back in. kinda feel bad but man is it nice in the mornings

 

Just an FYI. Our Factory oil pressure gauges are dummy gauges. They don't really tell you your oil pressure. They give a reading that DC wants you to see, not the truth.

I am not being argumentative with you though. The truck was probably fine and they are supposed to be able to start down to -20 without being plugged in. But im sure it did cause more wear on your engine starting that day than on a warm or warmer day.

 

Its kinda expadential the colder it is the more wear done to the engine. 20-30 below is not tha bad for oil it will still pour, but I would not start my truck at temps below -40 without my heat pads having been pluged in a min. of 7 hours.

 

Paul... What's you electric bill in the winter... Bet you use more juice for your truck than I do for my whole house! LOL

 

My bill this last month was $ 92.45. Yours was what???

 

Were I live we got way down to lows in the mid 20's for a few days then right back to lows in the 30's... Last night was a chilly 40°. I did plug in several times but could not imagine a day starting at -40°

 

Uh, yeah, like the block heater cord they don't even provide anymore?

 

I don't know...this sounds a bit tough to swallow. I understand that they probably aren't as accurate as some of the aftermarket gauges out there, but giving you a "reading that DC wants us to see" might be a bit off. What if I put three quarts of oil in my truck and was driving it around like that...or 4 quarts somehow LEAKED out...I would still see the same "dummy pressure" and continue to drive it around like that until it blows up then lose my warranty because of utter neglect to the motor? That would be considered manufacture neglegence and entrapping a customer into losing his warranty...correct?

Derek

 

The way I read it, this was in response to customers constantly going to the dealer with complaints about oil pressure (that was still well within spec).

If I recall correctly, anything over 7 psi reads "good", from there it just fluctuates based on RPM to make you feel warm and fuzzy.

 

I think with good clean oil, and weather that is not ridiculously cold, we don't need to worry about it. I've heard it said many times that 90% of engine wear occurs at startup, and it does seem brutal, especially for a diesel. There are more factors than temp though. Acidic condensation on the cylinder walls and valve faces for instance. It has to be better to put the beast to work fairly soon after startup to get the moisture out and stop carbon buildup on the backside of the exhaust valves. My buddy used to work in Alaska where many pickups with the old 5.7s and 6.2 were left idleing for days at a time and they built up a huge ball of carbon on the back of the exhaust valves. Idleing for a long period just barely warms the engine. I start mine, idle it for a few seconds, and move away gently. Get it up to temp soon without overdoing it. In the end though, these Cummins are so good that they will outlast most trucks. They don't need to be babied. In fact babying them might be MORE harmful than just using them. And as far as the grid heater is concerned, I never use mine unless it won't start. The only time I've ever had to was in my 1st gen at 6,000 ft elevation at 9 degrees. My thinking is I'd rather have it roll over a few compression strokes without firing than instantly take off.

Wetspirit

 

AkTallPaul,

Thanks for the cold start info as I have seen it down to -40 below here in the winter time in North IA. I still have many tell me that I don't need to use 5w40 oil in the winter as our average lows are in the -20 to -25 below zero and 15w40 is good to -40 below.

 

Derek,

TEXASCTD is right. The gauges are dummies. A snap switch in the engine and the reading controlled by the computer to show us what we'd like to see. Very lame.

Wetspirit

 

AkTallPaul,
If I were starting my truck in those temps I'd want what you have. I have a small oil pan heater (125 watts) on both my trucks. No doubt it will help reduce wear. I think most people don't realize how cold -30° to -40°F/-40°C
really is, I know I don't. I've only seen it -25°F and I did not even want to start anything with oil/grease in it. Also, as you said synthetics are better but still grease like.

 

Interesting thought. But doesn't more wear occur when teh engine is cranking slowly than when it is at idle speed - something about too slow to let oil film build under bearing journal. I think that a starter can only crank it up to 150 rpm or so, but I may be wrong.