I've been told to cycle the truck more than once before starting on below freezing days. Never had a problem up north.

 

I think what you heard was completely normal for a cold start at that temp. Next time it does that just let it run. There is no need to plug it in at 20F.

Andy

 

Read his post again, do you really think it is normal?

 

There were seversl guys that had the same starting problems with their 2006 trucks, they DID solve them but I cannot remember what was done or why they had the problems. Some were water in the fuel, some were bio-diesel related, some were the heater grid itself-had to be replaced. They ALL talked about the '3-cylinder' running effect and they did leave them run and it did come up to the right rpm's after a little time of running. It probably is a fluke, as some never had it do it again, call your dealership and ASK about this, may be some memo to solve it or some recommendation for what to test and maybe replace.

My truck has always fired right up, regardless of the cold, it sits outside not in a garage. I have NOT used the block heater, even when temps have gone down to 0. When the temps are at 0, it goes into a higher idle, right around 1K by itself. I could do the high idle mod and have even higher rpm's for warmup, but the 1K does a real good job all by iteslf.

CD

 

Yes, I do. I got the same feeling when I started mine at 20F for the first time. "OMG what is happening", it doesn't sound like the gasser I traded in. Then I smelled the diesel, let it sit for 10 seconds, and all was fine. I've had mine for what, 3 winters, going into the 4th, and I only plugged it for a week during that first winter. Never since, all the way down to -13F, unplugged and cold soaked.

Andy

 

Ya the 3 cylinder running effect to me was too scary to let run like that so I shut it down and started over. I thought that maybe it was a fluke too because it has never done it before and it has not done it again (though only 2 morning start ups). I don't think that is was a normal event by any means, I just want to know if this has happened to others and what was done to fix the problem. I may just call the dealer to see if they have any info on it. I just remember last winter not plugging the truck in that much and it started just fine even in the teens and single digits. When I do plug in, it is on a timer for 3 hours prior to start.