I live an a condo, and can't plug in either. I started her, after one cycle of the grid heater, at 9* F this morning. She idled (very rough) right up to about 1000 rpm, and was a bit "rompy" for the first couple of minutes, while I scraped my windshield, but then she settled down, and away I went.

FWIW, this truck goes WAY better in the cold the my '01 Powerstroke did, with way less white smoke.

 

Sunday morning it was 0 outside,it is usually plugged in but wife drove it and she forgot
Well anyway I took her to work Sunday morning,cycled the heaters and it fired right up,no problems.
this morning it was -4,it was plugged in,fired right up,wife took it to work,she came home for lunch and it ran fine.She drives a school bus and none of them would start this morning,most of then are GM diesels..

 

Check this out:

http://www.biodiesel.org/pdf_files/Cold%20Flow.PDF


I didn't have mine plugged in saturday night... woke up to 6° on the thermometer ... Went out and fired it up about 10 minutes before I had to leave... I got the high idle reflash done last year and I "think" I finally experienced the 3 cylinder shutdown that it does when it's super cold out... I was back inside and I heard it ramp up like normal and then a minute or so later it got pretty loud and was making a pretty interesting sound... Plugged it in at 9pm last night (went down to 4° or so) and unplugged it at 8am... much nicer starting it that way...


Tony

 

The thing that'll get ya in trouble when it's below zero F or lower is fuel gelling, but you should also remember your cold oil. If you ever have to add oil to your truck try this: leave the oil outside overnight when it's say -5 F and then put it in your fill tube...you'll be amazed at how long it'll take ya to empty that 1 quart! Almost a whole minute! Now, think about the 12 frozen quarts sitting in your oil pan...your poor oil pump has a heck of a time sucking that molasass up and pushing it through the ports in your block! And the only way that oil gets any warmer is by circulating through the cold engine block. Meanwhile, your bearings (turbo included) are screaming at you for the lack of lubrication.

Keep your oil pan and engine block warm! Or switch to a lower viscocity oil like 10W-30...5W-30 or 0W-30 for you tundra dwellers. And throw in some of that winter blend Powerservice...it's great stuff!

 

Spoken from a guy living in Florida......... TRADER!


I mean you wanna trade? REALLY! Do you wanna trade houses! LOL

Florida is sounding pretty good again after the 4 hurricanes!

 

It was about 13 degrees this morning. One cycle with the grid and it fired right up. It did idle lower than normal and the volt gauge was reading low until I put it in gear and drove it out. I hope it's not a sign of imminent failure of the alternator. I drove 15 minutes to work and the temp gauge barely moved. I may have to get a screen to block the radiator if this weather keeps up.

I also went to rent a Chevy 15' parcel van for a one day haul. I'm guessing they had Duramaxes for power. A really nice truck.

 

Hi peterr. More likely a sign of a normal voltage (amperage?) hogging heater grid. Mine will take up to 10 minutes to quit sucking the volts down to 11 or so as the heater grid cycles in and out. To use the infamous service manager's phrase: "Thats normal for these engines, there's nothing wrong."

 

-15°f this morning... truck started up pretty well with no block heater [no plug at work to plug in]

 

Thanks for the reassurance. This my 1st winter with the beast.

 

one little trick I found is once the truck is warmed up and you want to leave it idle while you run in someplace is the switch the heater control to max ac it recirculates the warm in cab air through the heater and the temp gauge stays warm

I tried it both ways yeterday (-35c) if I just left the heater on defrost/floor 2 minutes of idling and she was right cold on the guage .........when I left it on max ac and went into cdn tire for 10 minutes it was still warm when I came out

 

That's why I LOVE this place. I would never have even thought of that. Will try it next time I fire up the oil burner. Thanks dodgeram.

 

You'll have no problem with B10 and straight #2 plus Power Service down to about -30°F. I've been running B20 for 4 winters with just the regular dose of PS without one problem. Much more than B20 and the problems will start. Montana usually is colder than Alaska, but not this year. 60° on Sunday, warmer than Miami.

 

"Spoken from a guy living in Florida......... TRADER!


I mean you wanna trade? REALLY! Do you wanna trade houses! LOL

Florida is sounding pretty good again after the 4 hurricanes!"

We just moved here from Alaska in the middle of October...spent 6 yrs in AK. I know the summer heat is gonna kill me, but so far, I like the weather. I'm glad I got out before winter hit in AK!

 

-5? -12? Dang, I'm glad I am in south Texas this winter!!

 

HURRY! QUICK!

All of you folks north of the Red River, please put all of your fans outside and point them NORTH and turn them on high. Something needs to stop that 20* blast from the north that's headed this way.

PLEASE HELP!