Just got my smarty jr. that comes with the high idle feature enabled. What's better in everyones opinion for cold morning start ups? I usually only let it warm up 5 or 10 minutes when its really cold out. Should I let the truck do its own thing or should I high idle it first thing after start up?

Thanks guys,
Tom

 

I high Idle right away (probably 30 seconds after oil pressure build up)and then turn my exhaust brake on

 

What makes you think its got a 3 cyl warm up feature?

 

I guess my question is, does 1000 RPM qualify as fast idle? I notice that I can start my truck in the morning, he will smooth out at 750 rpm, and I usually shift it over to neutral, while it warms. So I get out and scrape frost off windshield, and I will hear the engine speed up. It's pretty wild to hear it speed up when your standing outside the truck! I let it idle, come back out of the house 5 or 10 minutes later, and he is running at 1000 RPM.
Tap the accelerator and it drops to 750. Drop and gear and go.
I think it decides that since it is in neutral after two minutes or so to speed up to 1000rpm.
so does 1000 rpm qualify for the fast idle ? I havn't had any TSB ECU flashes applied. Its such a good truck.

 

it sounds like my small block with a .720 solid roller.

 

If you leave your truck in PARK and its cold enough it will idle to 1000 Rpm.THEY ALL DO THIS since the first 3rd gens came out.If its cold enough it will go to 1000 rpm the minute it starts.The MANUAL high idle is the ramp feature through the cruise control with a 1500 rpm max.You TURN it on a off.Its not automatic like the 1000 rpm.I'm still NOT convenced that a cold start that sounds like a roller cam is a THREE cylinder cold feature.It was supposly ONLY a 2nd generation feature and THEN if programed for it.Only a FEW post of such not all and I think its just plain a rough running cold issue.My truck gives a FAINT HINT of such,very faint hint on extreme cold.But the faint hint of having a lopy cam I get sure is NOT a 3cyl.warmup.In fact mine did this more exagerated until I put the Rokktech crank sensor on many moons ago.Advancing the timing those couple of degrees made cold starts much smoother.

 

when im putting out my goose decoys in the morning and let it idle in the field i can actually hear it go from the automatic high idle to the 3 cyl idle, i guess thats a generic term since were not sure if it actually has this feature. but im tellin you its not a faint hint of it.......it actually rocks the truck a little and then after doing this for a while it will go back into the auto high idle. now im talking between 0-20 degrees out........it doesnt do it when its 50 degrees.

 

My faint hint is in the middle or low teens.

 

Like Hounddog said I didn't know a 3rd Gen could do a 3 cyl shuffle like the 2nd Gen engines can. My self being I have a winter front and use winter weight 5w oil I let mine idle for 1-2 minutes and then set the high idle to 1100 RPM's for no more then 5 minutes. After that I drive it but keep the RPM's at or below 1800 RPM's until it get to at least 160 degrees water temp. I warm mine up this way when it gets -23 below zero and the block heater has been on for up to 4 hours.

Anyway if the temps are between zero and -20 below when you park so set decoys then you need to be blocking the radiator or using a winter front of some sort (if you don't have one buy one) so that the engine & coolant will retain more heat. My self at those temps I would close off all 4 flaps on my winter front and then set the manual high idle up to around 11-1500 RPM's to help keep the engine warm.

My 02

 

DBLR.So you haven't noticed any kind of rough/strange running in cold? See so few mention this I keep thinking its NOT a 3 cyl.warmup feature.Just running rough in the cold.My neighbor several times has been stuck in motel rooms in blizzards and commented how well his truck started and ran in 0 kinda temps with no hint of sounding like it had a cam in etc.Mine when NEW in the cold ran crappy,not a even idle,like it was skipping and had white smoke until I did the crank sensor mode.My old 93W250 was easy to start and ran smooth in ANY temp or weather I encountered.

 

The one time mine has run ruff at start up, was when it was about 17 degrees out and I forgot to let the grid heater cycle. Then it ran ruff and smoked what looked like grayish white exhaust in the mirror but it only did so for a minute or so and then it smoothed out and ran great. I've started my truck many times at 5 degrees and above with out the block heater being plugged in and I only cycle the grid heater once and it starts and never runs ruff. But then where I buy my fuel at has a high grade of winterized diesel fuel between Nov 10th and April 1st. Oh, I also run 5w30 synthetic oil so that may help some.

 

Mine starts smooth, no problem. It just idles at 750, for a few minutes, when I start it and its cold, below 30°. Its hitting on all six, its a smooth idle. Its just if you let em continue to idle, it will adjust itself up to 1000 rpm. I have seen this many times. Have not touched cruise button, just put it in neutral. I thought this was a feature. When the truck is warmed up, it idles at 750.

 

I thought all trucks were chicks?

The 3 cyl high idle is a VP44 feature, it does not happen on your truck.

What happens is above ~32 truck starts and idles at 750
below ~32 truck starts and idles at 750 for 2 minutes (no brake, throttle, etc inputs) and goes to 1000 until it reaches 160*.
below ~15 trucks starts and immediately idles at 1000 until it reaches 160*.

Now I have the cruise control fast idle enables and will activate it sometimes above 15 and only wait a second or two.. my reasoning is if the engine does it by itself when really cold, with really cold oil, there is no way I can hurt it doing it warmer with warmer better flowing oil.

So in short do what you want... if you really want it to warm up fast install a EB... But there is no 3cyl high idle... if it sounds rough something is wrong.

 

What I've been saying for ages about the 3cyl.thing on 3rd generation trucks.I know what advancing the timing a few silly degrees did to my cold start.Not saying thats the fix but it had a affect from rough cold start to a smooth run cold start.The first cold we had and I started mine I thought darn this is BAD compared to my smooth running 12 valve I had sold.I lived with it a while and then added the modified crank sensor and from the very next cold weather start it was smoooth.Almost but not as good as the 12valve was.

 

Yeah, with the advanced timing of the Smarty Jr on 40hp it is VERY smooth... about 50* cooler on EGT's during warmup, but I doubt thats enough to slow it down.