Just bought a brand new 2004 4x4 2500 Quad cab. First time diesel owner, long time diesel driver. Love the truck, hate the seats. Theyare hard as hell, and hard on the back on rough road. I have less than 400 miles on truck and have had trouble getting it up to operating temp.

2 examples of why I think I have a problem.

1.Had truck in garage heated @65f degrees overnight
pulled out in am to 10f degree weather let truck run 5-10 mins, drove 3 miles through city, 6 miles on interstate pulled off to store parking lot engine barely above peg at 140drove around city took another 5 miles to hit 160. Took another 10 miles to come up to 180-190.

Same day

28f degrees

2. Cold start, idle 5-10 min, 3 miles in city stop and go ( heavier throttle starts to get temp up), pulled in to lot, left truck in idle/in store 10 mins, 3 miles stop and go, some heavy throttle starts to try and get temp up, pulled in drive and was able to put hand on radiator cap and leave it, upper radiator hose ice cold, valve cover cold. some small amount of heat from fan if in recirc. position.

Local service dept says this is normal, try winter cover. (looked evrywhere could not find decent cover other than stainless anywhere.)

I think the stat is stuck open.

Please tell me this is not normal for cummins!


First let me say, I understand a diesel engine takes time to warm up. I am an emergency worker of 12+ years, all of our vehicles are diesel. Generally when we run them \ we go heavy throttle for short distances (2-5 miles). They get hot and stay hot, the F 350s, even the big detroits running our ladder trucks. (this info is so you don't think I am a newbie to the world of diesels, like the dealerships treats everyone.) By the way not one of these trucks has a winter cover.

please help me.

 

Sounds normal to me. Maybe a little on the extreme side. These beasts take forever to warm up cause of their massive cooling systems. Try putting a winter front on.

 

sounds normal for these trucks,here is a link to a winter front http://www.tonnocover.com/php/fia_summary.php also available at cabelas...

 

Cummins says,

THE COOLING SYSTEM USED ON THE CUMMINS DIESEL ENGINE EQUIPPED VEHICLES PROVIDES THE CAPACITY AND PROTECTION OF THE HIGHER GVWR AND GCWR RATINGS AVAILABLE ON THESE VEHICLES. OWNERS SHOULD BE ADVISED OF THE NORMAL SLOWER WARM UP AND LOWER ENGINE OPERATING TEMPERATURES ASSOCIATED WITH DIESEL ENGINES.

THE COOLANT TEMPERATURE GAUGE WILL FLUCTUATE ON DIESEL ENGINE EQUIPPED VEHICLES. IT IS INFLUENCED BY VEHICLE LOAD, OUTSIDE AMBIENT TEMPERATURE AND EXTENDED IDLE TIME. THIS FUNCTION IS CONSIDERED NORMAL

 

Mine is the same way,normal temp cruising is a tick over 140F. As a matter of fact my gadge will only see 190F while either plowing or pulling my 16k fifth wheel in heat of the summer.
The truck has allways been that way.

 

Thanks everyone for your resposes, appreciate your knowledge. I guess I will just have to be patient. I will try the grille cover, and block heater in cold weather to speed up the process.

Does anyone know where I can buy a cord for the heater, other than through a mopar dealer? I have looked everywhere on the internet, with no luck.

Thanks!

 

Not sure what you are looking for - my 99 has a pigtal that's hidden behind one of the head lights in the summer - just leave it hang on the bumper in the winter - I run an extension cord with a timer on it that goes on 3 hours before I leave for work.

I've heard of some guys that remove the fan in the winter - I'm sure they aren't towing though. I've also heard of using a piece of cardboard to cover part of the radiator, but be carefull as you still need to cool the intake air post turbo. I'd be carefull about heavy footing it to help it warm up - I've heard "rule of thumb" is to keep it under 2k until the temp needle starts to move off of 140*

Good luck with your new truck.

 

Buy a cord from any Cummins dealer. I drive only a few miles to work all city not more than 3/4 mile between stoplights and when i pull in my parking space my temp is just in the "normal" range in 20F temps to around 40f

 

micstep,

Get yourself an exhaust brake or an Espar heater....much faster warmups with either.

With the Espar you dont have to worry about plugging in and with the exaust brake you dont have to worry about extended idleling.

 

pfft you cant really hot foot the truck when its cold anyways the acceleration is horrible, atliest on my truck ??

Usually the best thing i can do on a COLD day in my truck is turn on the seat warmers a few minutes before i get into it!

thats so nice heated seats is the best thing ever Why dont they just add an upgrade for an electrical heater in the dash so you have instant heat out of the vents?

i dont understand how thats so hard? although they would probably charge another 1000 for it greedy people

heh everytime in the winter that i get into my truck it takes like 6 miles to get any heat out of the vents, and it will take a LONG time to even hit operating temp, I actually posted about this a while ago, cuz i was confused how it was taking so long :/

 

I use a big For Sale sign (largest I could find) between the intercooler and radiator. I don't know if you have such a gap on your 3rd gen.
In the morning, since I have an AT, I usually start it and put it in reverse, with wheel chock and parking brake, and it warms up nicely in about 10 minutes, with no e-brake, regardless of the For Sale sign, or plugging it in.

Chris

 

If your upper rad hose is ice cold I doubt the thermostat is stuck open. I lived in eastern MT with temps in the winter 35 below and I never had trouble with my 2000. Not plugged in cycle the grid heater about 2 or 3 times, fire it up and let it rattle away for about 10 minutes. Once on the highway the temp gauge went right up to 190. I always use a piece of cardboard in front of everything because the intake air temp can be too cold for combustion. Leave a bit of the cores open for some air though. I put 105000 miles on mine in 3 years with 368 horse to the floor and all I did as far as repairs was set the valves. Excellent truck.

 

Agreed Coop! Same with me. I never plug mine in. It sits in a heated garage also for morning starts. And, at days end, if its under 10 I cycle the grids twice, and let it idle a minimum 15 mins. After I hit the Interstate fer a couple miles, its up to 190. Don't have anything in front of the radiator either.
Point being, not all CTD's are slow warmers!
But, all bs aside, I'd try the cold front. I used to have a 96, I had Lund cold front inserts. They were more for show, but, they would make it heat up extremely fast. I think if you serched for lund.com you may find them.
Good luck.

 

I certainly wouldn't want to buy a truck if I knew it had been cold idled.


From the Cummins Webpage:
Do not idle the engine for excessively long periods. Long periods of idling (more than 10 minutes) can damage an engine because combustion chamber temperatures drop so low the fuel will not burn completely. This will cause carbon to clog the injector spray holes and piston rings, and can cause the valves to stick. If the engine coolant temperature becomes too low (60 degrees C [140 degrees F]), raw fuel will wash the lubricating oil off the cylinder walls and dilute the crankcase oil; therefore, all moving parts of the engine will not receive the correct amount of lubrication.

 

Explain why Truckers run their trucks for weeks Bill????