When starting in cold weather. I turn the key to on. When the indicator on the dash goes out I crank the truck. While letting it warm up. The rpms drop, lights dim & the voltage gauge drops like a rock . Then, voltage starts to climb & lights are ok .. It will do this a few times (until warm?)
When It does this there are no indicator showing on the dash..
Is the intake heater still cycling on & off while the engine is running causing this & not showing the icon on the dash ??

Thanks

 

yes

 

Yes it is, no worries

b

 

yeah, like they said...this is normal. its odd if you drive away at night w/ your lights on and you hit about 20 mph, you almost think your high beams came on...when the grid heater turns off.

 

does this put stress on the batteries?

 

I've noticed this too with the head lights and dash lights... thanks for explaining.

Would the gird heater still come on if you don't wait to start the truck and just start cranking away? I ask because it doesn't get much below 50 here, so they really shouldn't be needed.

 

In the manual it says the heater will come on when intake air is 66 deg. or below

 

Your right its not really needed at that temp but they will come on anyway even if you start cranking right away. Just make sure your trips aren't to short or your batteries may not recover from the high amperage draw of the grid heaters. There are ways to disable them if thats what you want, just do a search the topic has come up quite a few times.

 

oh yeah, the grid heater does draw a lot of amps...i believe about 270 is what i've been told.