This morning I went outisde at about 6 am to start the truck to head out to the tree stands with a buddy. Trucks overhead temp gauge told me it was -4F out. Local News channel had it at -6. Either way fairly chilly. I had the truck plugged in that night, it was plugged in for about 5 hours. We I went to start the truck the grid heater cycled like normal, the water temp on the commander read about 76 degrees. I cranked the truck over and it started just fine. It did not kick itself into the high idle so I set that using the cruise control buttons and walked back inside the house. About 45 seconds later the truck just dies. So I walk back outside and look over all the guages, which had normal readings all around. I start the truck again and it starts right up, this time about 30 seconds later it dies. Start the truck a third time, runs for about 10 seconds and dies.

After this I realize I did not use my nice extension cord to plug it in last night, I used an older one that is not very heavy duty. So I plug it into the nicer cord, wait about 20 min come back outisde and start it up, it idles fine and did not die anymore after that.

I am running standard rotella 15w40 oil which has changed 2k ago, the truck had a little less than half a tank of diesel in it with no additive. Battery guage on the truck was not low.

I am guessing I just had a little bit of fuel gelling possibly? Any suggestions or comments for me guys?

Thanks
Alex

 

My guess is gelling if your not using fuel additives like PowerService.

 

You should be using 5w40 if you are expecting below zero F temps. That helps a bit. It does sound like gelling since you had the block heater plugged in and were seeing warm coolant temps. You're automatic high idle would have kicked in after 2 minutes. Since it was so cold and you had it plugged in, I would have just let the truck take care of itself. It also gives the fuel heater a little more time to heat fuel.

 

jkitterman, so do you mean I should not manually turn on the high idle with the cruise control buttons and instead let the truck do it itself?

It seemed a little weird to me that the truck started up so easy though. I guess I thought that if there was a little gelling in the fuel it would have cranked a little harder. Who knows. This is the first time I have had anything like this happen in the cold. I have been very impressed with how this truck starts compared to one of my friends 99 cummins.

Thanks

 

First real cold night here in CO. plugged in over night. . . .-18 when I went out this am, started right up. No missing no grey just cold out.

I bet you northern guys must get a chuckle when you here are it's so clod out stories.

 

You can do either for the idle. I don't have manual high idle on my so I just let the truck decide when to do it. Since you seem to be able to get it running, eventually, I would just fill up with fuel and an additive for good measure. Did you change your fuel filter right before winter?

 

Yup! I started mine in -47°C last winter (-53°F). Took over 100 miles at highway speed for the temp gauge to move at all, and another 100 miles to get enough heat to take mitts off.

 

Maybe a little water in the fuel.Ice in lines.

 

I don't think if you were gelling you'd get it running sustained for long. On my old Ford, when it gelled, it was done... And temps were way colder, like -25 (and due to a deployment I hadn't swapped to winter weight, idiot I know!!). Synthetic oil will help with the cold starts, prefer the 5W40 weight. Possibly a little water, did your truck throw any codes when it stalled out?

 

I would put in some kind of Anti Gel . I use Optilube Winter Blend . There are several kinds on the market . I know the diesel in supposed to be winter blend and not need it . But it is better to be safe than sorry . Also Optilube helps with lubrication , Thanks Curt G.

 

I would add some fuel treatment to dissipate moisture and drain the fuel bowl.I've not had a diesel do what you describe but over the years I had a number of autos that would start/run/die etc. with clear fuel filters and they had ice in the bottom of them.Just a cheap guess.If heater was plugged in the weight of the oil had nothing to do with it.

 

Fuel filter only has about 2k on it. I replaced it along with the oil at the last change. I actually had to go outside with a hair dryer on high to get the fuel cap to unfreeze. I was puttin about all I had behind that thing trying to get it off and was starting to get worried it was going to break off.

Once I got it off you could actually see ice crystals in the filler neck. I filled her up and added some additive to it.

No codes either. I had the PoD hooked up cause I like to change the settings once we pull off the paved roads to head to the tree stands.

This morning it started just fine without being plugged in and it was about +5 F this morning. Not real cold but the truck didnt miss a beat starting. I think it was just the fuel that was the problem. Just wanted to make sure though

 

I don't think the water in fuel warning light works worth a toot in these trucks.I drain mine some EVERY fillup if possable.

 

At the very large risk of sounding stupid--- do we have a fuel heater?

 

Yes these trucks have a fuel heater