A question for all you lucky cummins people.I purchased a 95 12 valve with a cat back exhaust fuel plate gauges and a bd torque converter it has 119,000 kms on it .The question is I do a lot of short hauls and then some long holiday travel.with the short hauls I always try to get it up to operating temp by driving farther.
I have heard that this type of driving is really hard on the diesel too the point of causing serious problems I really love the truck and would hate to part with it but the answer to the I am also not the type to abuse a machine so if any one out there knows if this is extremely hard on this motor let me know. one other question how hard is changing the fuel filter it looks easily accessible but I have been fooled before.

 

It depends on how long the short hauls are? Are they 10 miles are 60 miles?

 

Well I'm not too sure about how hard a short haul is on the motor. I suppose some of that depends on how short that is. I don't think I'd probably be real concerned but thats me. I would say the fuel filter is a pain in the butt to change, but I also wouldn't say it looked easily accessible. If you just recently bought the truck, it might not hurt to change the filters just to be safe and no where you stand anyway. Then you will no how tough it is to change.

 

fuel filter changes are just as easy as an oil filter. do a search on here for fuel filter and there are several links, although I don't reccommend filling new filter with fuel before putting back on I just take old one off and put the drain and water sensor on the new one replacing all o-rings that come with filter then I open the bleeder bolt at the top and press the primer pump under the filter on the block and bleed like you would brakes only takes a couple pumps or so. when you go get your filter from the parts store check for a chiltons manual it has that and other good info for simple tasks and where some things are located.

your other question about long and short hauls if you are concerned about effects on motor get a remote start for start up and warm up I usually let idle for 2-5 mins. b4 leaving more during below freezing. they also sell what they call a cooldown timer the shutdown after you leave your truck to allow time for your turbo to coll ect.

good luck I'm sure other people will put there $0.02 in

 

The trick (actually the only easy way) to change a pre '97 fuel filter is to remove the two nuts that hold the brake master cylinder to the brake booster. It doesn't look like it but entire cylinder moves easily towards the driver's side providing plenty of access to the filter.
I also don't recommend prefilling the filter with fuel before installing.
The way I fill and bleed the filter is to open the bleed screw on top of the filter housing then pressurize the fuel tank with an air blowgun wrapped in a rag though the fill up spout. DO NOT EXCEED 10 PSI. It takes about 15 seconds to fill and bleed the filter.
If you don't have an air compressor you're stuck with pumping the primer button on the lift pump, use a wood dowel so you don't wear out your thumb.

 

I woud say a lot of the short hauls are in the 10 mile range whatever it takes to at least get the truck to operating temperature

 

i use a winter front to bring the temp up faster and when its real cold here i use a piece of card board in front of the radiator.i leave the winter front on most of the year accept for summer months,to keep temp more stable..... ..............

 

Probably the short hauls are harder on the truck, but I have been doing them for over 230,000 miles and things still run ok. I think that all of these cautions need to be kept in perspective.