I had my truck parked for a week and today I had to start it without it being plugged in. It was -28ish. It was not happy about it and it looked like a white fog rolled in for about 10 minutes but it did start.

I have two new group 65 batteries and 0-40 Petrocan Duron Synthetic. I've tried to start diesels with 15w-40 in winter not plugged in and it just didn't happen. When I try to start this thing, I want the oil to flow immediately.

 

yea last week I when it was cold i think below -30 the block heater cord wasn't plugged in right and I had to get to work. So I tryed to start it, took 3 trys befor if finally fired up. Not pretty at all sounding. I've been running amsoil 5w40 oil. I was using a wolverine oil pan heater, but it doesn't work this year, I think i'll ditch it before it starts a fire, thanks for that info by the way.

 

Where are you guys getting the battery cables, battery ends and cable termination end from? I want to replace mine here soon. Some of the stuff is damaged, and has some corrision issues.

I can't still believe that we can fit group 31's under the hood.

 

i just get my stuff at gregs or acklands. they'll have whatever your after.

 

dont use 10w30


get into a good synthetic 0w40 like esso XD3 in the 0w40. or any brand of 5w40 at least. it makes a huge difference in crank speed in the cold.

forget you ever heard about 10w30 diesel oil.

 

I use PetroCan Duron 0w-40. I had my truck parked this week without being plugged in. I had to move it when it was -29. It was a real ***** but it did start...and blew huge clouds of white smoke for about 10 minutes.

It never would have turned over enough to start with 10w-30 or 15w-40.

 

I tried to start my truck at -35 with 15w40 conventional, block heater working and oil pan heater, also cycled intake heater twice. Not good. The truck did start but no oil pressure for about 10 seconds! Yikes! Switched to synthetic for the winter, and never had a problem.

 

The smarty sure cuts the smokey idle when its cold outside when its on that funky 3cylinder idle. Its is great, and noisy. The high idle just comes in handy. I was going to do a P pump swap on my truck, but been reconsidering that some lately. Beside the grid heaters that take tons of power to heat up, the VP trucks actually start better than the new stuff or the older stuff. Might try some different heater units from different years just to see if there is any improvement.

Fresh, new group 31's sure help.

 

My mom left the door open on her Jeep and ran the battery down a few weeks ago while dad was working up North. Had to get to an appointment so she decided to take the '01 dually. It was about -25C, was sitting in the yard not plugged in and hadn't moved in 3 weeks. She got it going, said she had to cycle the grids a few times and it filled the yard with smoke but it went.

Guess those grp31s I put in paid off.....

 

Clayh, you have to get the smarty downloaded at least once into the truck. The 3 cylinder idle cuts the amount of smoke output. My smokes pretty bad with these injectors. I think they are even worse than my mach 6's were during cold starts.

 

I'm pretty sure I loaded the Smarty on to that truck, when we had that dyno day in Olds 4 years ago.

 

I have a Alaska oil pan heater on both my trucks since new..... And one of the best additions I made to my winter starting on my truck was adding a ctek battery maintainers or charger. With the block heater, oil pan heater, and fully charged batteries and synthetic oil, to start my truck in the cold is a breeze. Starter spins over so fast and normal you would think it is +25 not -25. Probably not quite as good as you guys with the espar, but that battery gimmick sure does work.

 

Found out yesterday, theres a new diesel oil out there. Rated "E" for the newer 2011's. New and expensive. Suppose to help fix the soot build-up issues for the new trucks.

http://lubricants.petro-canada.ca/en...RON-Ejumpstart

 

Duron E has been out for a while. I have been using the 0w-40 Synthetic in my truck since the spring. If you check out the Petrocan link in the previous post, click on Duron E, then Tech Data for 0w-40, you can read the basic specs of the oil.

Of most interest to me was the pour point, -66c/-87f.

 

Yep you did. Thanks again!