Got a question for all you cold weather guys. My Cali truck that rarley sees below 40* was hurtin this morn. Im in the Carson City NV area and it got in the LOW 20's last night. This morn the truck was hurtin, rough start, idled like crap for a long time etc. The question is, at what temp should I plug the thing in at night. If it gets down to the low 20's again tonight, should I plug er in. Thanks All,

Tom

 

It might be a good idea to plug in. We normally try to plug in for anything below 25 or so.

 

it would be a good idea to plug it in for sure. 25degrees or below is correct but if it's gonna be 32 F. or colder i plug it in. especially since mine is on a timer which makes it more convienent.
but yes i would recommend it.

 

I don't plug my 04 in when it is even -20 and its starts right up (at those temps don't worey) if you had a powerstroke it would be a different story

 

I do it the same way. Its not that it needs to be plugged in when it that temp, but it starts so much nicer, and the heat comes on much quicker. Plus, you don't need to wait for 30 seconds as the grid heaters won't need to kick on. And the amount of electricity it actually takes, I can't justify not doing it.

 

I plug mine in when it gets below freezing. I use a timer and it comes on 2 hours before i leave for work. I read on here somewhere that the heater draws 4KW per hour, i think. Correct me if i am wrong.
scotte

 

I heard it was like 700 watts but that even seems high to me. 4KW would boil all the water out and couldn't be run on an ordinary 110v cord.

I just stopped plugging mine in. I really like having it ready to drive as soon as I start it. Just let the grid heaters cycle though and you shouldn't have a problem starting even without the heater. It'll just run a bit rough and take longer till you can go.

Edwin

 

Hey thanks for the comments. Not to sound like a tard, but do you guys plug it in a couple hours prior to start in the morn, or do you plug in over night. Again, Ive never had to do this Thanks guys.

Tom

 

Man, I feel like such a newb

 

So far I've been leaving mine on all night but I think this is probably a waste of power. Next year I'll try a timer. Two hours seems like a good number.

Whatever you do, DON'T use ETHER! The grid heaters could cause an explosion.

Edwin

 

Overnight. I don't have a timer, and there is no way I'm gonna get up 3 hours before I'm gonna leave to plug in. I'm much too lazy for that.

 

What kind of timer are y'all using for plugging it in?

 

So that fire breathin, soot monger of yours does not like the cold eh?

Did you load it with Howes meaner cleaner as we discussed??? Could gel your fuel if it gets cold enough!!!

Newbees

LMAO!!


Rick

 

At that temperature, that nice thick Yankee #2 Diesel was propably 90% of your problem. Look in the owners manual under fuel specifications. If you don't live in the area you are going to, make sure you get some #1 in there or some anti gelling product to keep things moving. Up here they Climatize the fuel, meaning it gets thiner coming from the refinery, as it get's colder, and thicker as it gets warmer. Last week, we moved from -37C fuel to -34C fuel at the Petro-Canada bluk station. An uncle of mine was telling me of a pass through the mountans West of Creston, British Columbia where people have gone through, (really high atitude and nighttime make for some weird cold spots even in the summer) and had the fuel in their trucks gell up so bad they had to turn around or even be towed out. He said that the last fuel stations on either side of the pass, only run #1 diesel all year to keep people from running into this problem. How much of that is bull, I can't say, but it does get darn cold up here in some places. And some are worse than others.

 

Right on fellas, all night it is.