Problem with a friend of a friends truck in the frozen dakotas and I don't have an answer (cold down here is 45....above of course) Do the common rail trucks have the 3cyl warm up feature??? Problem is on cold starts (been 10 to -15 for the last few days). Barely starts, but when it does fire it misses bad, and lots of white smoke. Has already had the flash. Not sure if additives are being used, or if the manual cold weather idle is enabled. Thanks for any comments!!

 

At those temps if he is not plugging in...it will go to the 3 cyl program.
When I did not plug mine in...it did that and it sounded nasty.
If he is plugging in, I would get the block heater checked.
You are describing a very cold motor start.
My truck ramps up the idle to 1000 after a few minutes after start up.
I run a block heater and a pan heater plus a winter front and Howes.
Scotty

 

At those temps the diesels of years ago would not even start, never mind running rough. A block heater would be good for his truck.

 

I might be wrong but I thought I read some where that on the third gen trucks they done away with the 3 cylinder thing and went with just the high idle.

 

The 3cyl issue is what seems to be in question here. From the description I got it sounded like it was, but I can't find any data on it at work. Guess I'll try to call tech and get the skinny on this.

 

Is your buddy plugging it in? Anything below 40F and he should.

My cord went bad 2 days ago. That CTD beast really growls trying to start at those temps. She did, but she was not happy. New cord, and now she is a happy CDT once again.

 

There is no 3 cylinder idle program. It was tried, but then shot down by NVH engineers for poor idle quality (runs like poo, but does warm up faster).

That's not to say you weren't running on 3 cylinders, just that the ECM is not running on 3 cylinders on purpose to warm up faster.

 

The 03 definately had the 3 cyl idle and it would kick in after the truck idled for about 3 minutes and the Ambient temp was below 15F and the truck was not plugged in.
The 04 was built in June of 03 [took delivery in Aug 03] and the two times it idled and then went to the knock/idle it was not plugged in and sounded just like the 03.
Perhaps they ditched the 3 cyl idle in later models?
I will look at my 03 and 04 service manuals and owners manuals as I recall reading something in one of those about this.

Scotty

 

last year at work my truck was outside for 12 hours and the high was less then 20. the rearview said 10 degrees when i finally got rolling. it instantly went to 1000rpms. usually it takes a minute, but that time it did as soon as it fired. is this the 3 cylinder program?

Could some elaborate on this 3 cylinder thing?

 

My '03 would kick into the 3 cyl mode when it was realllllly cold out. But (and I know that I'm a bad boy for treating the gal like this ) my 04.5 started up just fine yesterday morning at -30 C (-22F) and didn't kick into 3 cylinders at all, just ramped up to high idle and hadn't been plugged in. It still seems ot fog out the acreage with the white smoke on those mornings, but so does everyone's vehicle when it's that cold.

From the sounds of things though plugging in should resolves your buddy's issue, but also switching to a leighter grade oil or synthetics might also improve his startability. Like Scotty I also use Howes and it certainly doesn't hurt to keep everything a little more lubed!

Maybe his truck still thinks it's in Mexico and is on strike?!

 

When I had my 01 and the 03 was at the shop...we learned that the 03 had the 3 cyl idle. We called the dealer as soon as we could because the truck started running different, louder but not missing. They told us that the 3 cyl idle was enabled because of the cold temps. It shuts down 3 of the six cylinders to heat it up faster.
I am trying to find info on the 04 but as stated, it may have done that because of the cold, not because of a 3 cyl program. The dealer claimed it had it but so far nothing shows up in the service manual for the 04.
Learn something new all the time. Thats what I get for believing a dealer I guess. LOL

If I find any reference to it on the 03 or 04 service manual I will post the info.

Scotty

 

The 3 cylinder cut is a program that only fires 3 cylinders to load the engine to decrease the warmup period.

I believe my truck has this program. I left my truck outside all day yesterday at work in about -4 F and when I went to start it it ran on what seemed to me like 3 cylinders with a lot of white smoke and higher than usual EGT's (400 +). It idled like that for about 3-4 minutes and then it fired all cylinders and went to 1000 RPM like usual and smooth as can be. I have never had this happen but I usually plug it in. This morning it was -22 F here and it was plugged in and slow turning over but it fired right up and went to 1000 RPM immediatley which has never happened before either. Usually it takes about a minute for it to go to high idle.

I think there is a lot to these trucks we don't know about. They seem to have a lot of "self preservation" built in as I'm finding out about over the last few colder days. I wonder what it's going to do when it gets cold outside like -40.

 

With my 2003 Cummins (CRD) I put the "winter-front" on when the daily temperature is around 10C, usually half of the grill covered and then as it gets colder I cover the other half (a Lund stainless steel winter front).

I'm plugging it in now because it's near 0C most days. It takes a long time to heat up that much iron it seems, so I usually leave it plugged in overnight or else it doesn't do much. I'm not sure if that's normal or not.

I want to use synthetic oil since I hate thinking of 10 litres of cold thick oil having to heat up to circulate to the upper part of the engine. I'm a big synthetic oil fan but since I've only had the truck since Feb. '05 I haven't used any in it yet.

I never heard of the "3 cylinder idle" until I read it here. I did think I could hear some missing when it was cold and idled. I'm still trying to get used to this beast and all it's new sounds.

It just takes a long long time to heat up, I really baby it when it's cold and the oil pressure is at or just past the high normal range. The turbo moans a bit too until everything is warm.

My problem is at work when I leave it for eight hours and it isn't plugged in (no plugs nearby). I thought of buying a solar panel, an inverter and running the block heater cord into the cab. Goofy I know, but I wonder if it would help.

 

FWIW mine has never gone to 3 cyls. It will idle up to 1000 rpm, but that's about it.

 

I have yet to plug mine in but it almost always starts with lots of white smoke and a miss. I have just chalked it up to a diesel starting in cooler to cold conditions or even possibly an injector issue. I have monitored the oil for signs of diesel but haven't noticed any yet. I found that it would even run rough for a minute when starting it at mid teens °C in the fall. It is definitly worse the colder it is. I figure I have lots of warranty left so no need to panic until it is a bigger issue or I am already getting warranty work done. As far as oil I run Esso Extra XD-3 0W40 all year round with great luck. It is made by Exxon who is also the parent company of Mobil and is CI4 rated. It is a true group IV base stock and is also only $18.00 /4L jug which is more than half the price of Mobil Delvac. Don't need to worry about oil flow as bad running this oil when it is sub-zero, likewise it also performs well when hot.

If anyone figures out anything about the cold weather missfire please chime in as I am curious but not overly worried yet. My mileage is great as well so again not too concerned at this time (averaging approx. 18 US mpg in the city..hand calculated.)