-27° C yesterday morning, and -28° C this morning. Without the wind. Both my diesels are dead, even after being plugged in. I hate winter....

 

Yesterday morning we weren't at home so the truck wasn't plugged in. The forecast was -18° over night and it got to -27°. Was pretty sure it was gelled up so I got some fuel de-icer, got a very long extension cord from the hotel staff, plugged in for an hour or so, and fired up alright. This morning, after being plugged in for hours, I can't seem to crank enough until I need to wait for the batteries to charge... Ugh..

 

My 2003 Jetta TDI has similar issues. Poured a little bit of de icer in that too just in case. Have to wait til the truck gets fired up to move the charger over to the car. Fun Christmas morning.

 

I get fuel from the most reputable place around, and I'm sure they run winter fuel, I just don't know what strength. Anybody else on here get temps this cold? We are in an extreme cold warning right now. Still currently -27° C (-17° F). Luckily it's not too windy, only feels like a -40° wind chill lol. (FYI, -40°C = -40°F)

 

Merry Christmas. Stay warm.

 

 

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One down, one to go...

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5 minutes ago, Carbur8tr said:

So since I am cold illiterate, how many of you plug your truck in and does this help when the temps are below whatever temp you generally have problems at?

If I'm at home I plug it in all the time below 15 degrees I have a timer plugged into my wall that starts warming the truck 2 hours before I get up. Plugging in is by know means needed on a well maintained rig.

Benefits are faster warm up easier starts fuel savings and I'm sure I'm missing a bunch of other little things

onething that I take as a major benefit is if the truck doesn't fire first time fuel reduces oil film on cylinder walls therefore possibly causing damage

Edited December 26, 20177 yr by WiscoRedkneck

Debating taking my truck on a road trip just north of @Me78569 here soon so trying to gauge whether or not I should take an extension cord with me. I no longer have a grid heater so I'm almost thinking it's a must at this point but good to hear from those of you who don't have much trouble down at those temperatures.

4 minutes ago, TFaoro said:

Did you forget to add something??

I'll look at the RaceMe files tonight and see if it can be changed. It might not be in UDC Pro if it's an "emissions thing"

 

They failed uploading the first time, they are there now. 

 

I don't see them in RaceMe either. They disappear in 2010, it makes me wonder if it's not ECM controlled anymore?

 

2 minutes ago, Carbur8tr said:

So since I am cold illiterate, how many of you plug your truck in and does this help when the temps are below whatever temp you generally have problems at?

 

I have when I drove the truck regularly. I used a 15A outdoor timer set for 90 minutes before I would leave for work. It helps at all temps, but it really makes a difference below 0°. 

 

3 minutes ago, Me78569 said:

My truck doesn't cycle for that long subzero.  its more like 20 seconds.    I dont know if IAT has been at -40*f ever when trying to start.  quite a few times at -30*f.  

 

With the large mass of these motors I rarely ever see my IAT/AAT/Battery Temps as low as the ambient temp. This morning they were 3° above ambient but the ambient had come up 10° from when I went to bed. 

 

 

2 minutes ago, Carbur8tr said:

Debating taking my truck on a road trip just north of @Me78569 here soon so trying to gauge whether or not I should take an extension cord with me. I no longer have a grid heater so I'm almost thinking it's a must at this point but good to hear from those of you who don't have much trouble down at those temperatures.

yes bring a cord,  your truck will get mad under ~20*f if you dont have grids.  I am sure you can get her to start, but it wont be fun

I will plug in when I can, and use a timer set foran hour before I leave. Raises the temp on the engineabout 50*. More so for the quick warmup.

2 minutes ago, Carbur8tr said:

Debating taking my truck on a road trip just north of @Me78569 here soon so trying to gauge whether or not I should take an extension cord with me. I no longer have a grid heater so I'm almost thinking it's a must at this point but good to hear from those of you who don't have much trouble down at those temperatures.

If you're grid heaters are removed and you go below 20 degrees and you are modified you will need the block heater

I debated keeping them on the truck but for my location there's really no point.  They might have been used 2 or 3 days out of the year.  That's an exaggeration, but being without them I can tell you that I've noticed no difference.

1 minute ago, WiscoRedkneck said:

If you're grid heaters are removed and you go below 20 degrees and you are modified you will need the block heater

We got down to 25 one morning and to my surprise she fired right up.  I would be curious to find the point at which I'm dead in the water but at the same time wouldn't care to waste the time and resources after hearing what @kzimmer has had to deal with.

7 minutes ago, Carbur8tr said:

I debated keeping them on the truck but for my location there's really no point.  They might have been used 2 or 3 days out of the year.  That's an exaggeration, but being without them I can tell you that I've noticed no difference.

After following advice of many on this forum and getting my truck back to where it needed to be maintenance wise I almost never use the grid heaters until 25 or less even then if I'm in a rush I forgot to fire them and just crank the engine right away granted my truck often will then remind me of the temperature with a cough sputter and a middle finger then I have to cycle the grids and it fires right off and if the truck is plugged in I don't need to fire the grids even at -15f 

Edited December 26, 20177 yr by WiscoRedkneck

4 minutes ago, WiscoRedkneck said:

After following advice of many on this forum and getting my truck back to where it needed to be maintenance wise I almost never use the grid heaters until 25 or less even then if I'm in a rush I forgot to fire them and just crank the engine right away granted my truck often will then remind me of the temperature with a cough sputter and a middle finger then I have to cycle the grids and it fires right off...

 

I don't use them when it's warm either. I really like being able to edit the tables for heater time. Now if I could just get access to the post-heat tables. 

 

 

9 minutes ago, Me78569 said:

yes bring a cord,  your truck will get mad under ~20*f if you dont have grids.  I am sure you can get her to start, but it wont be fun

 

I started at -15° last year without a grid heater. It barely started, thou I had bad batt's, and it was angry. I think CR's start better cold than VP's too. BLUF, take a cord. 

1 hour ago, Carbur8tr said:

So since I am cold illiterate, how many of you plug your truck in and does this help when the temps are below whatever temp you generally have problems at?

0 degree is my cut off for plugging in, I run the grids all year, I know it will start at colder temps than that, but when you have to leave at early a.m hours and it’s negative temps out I don’t have time to mess with a stubborn truck. Generally I plug in for 30 minutes to an hour, and if -15 to -20 f. I will plug in for a couple hours. Anything colder than that I just take one of the gassers.

Starting with an already semi warm engine   helps when it really gets cold as it doesn’t take as long to get up to operating tempature and the heat from engine along with the factory fuel heater aids in preventing fuel gelling. I do use an anti-gel in the -15 f. or colder. I also run with a barrier between the grill and radiator in the winter just to help get the temps up a little faster.

My problem is I keep my truck in a unheated garage and typically in the 40 degree range. Plugging in isn't need nor is grid heaters. Now no matter where I go no like right now I'm at Weiser, ID get breakfast and it's barely 13F outside. No where to plugin if I wanted. I'll get to my buddy place in Parma, ID and park the truck for 4 hours. I'm not going to string out a cord and us my friends power. Not fair or right. 

10 minutes ago, Mopar1973Man said:

My problem is I keep my truck in a unheated garage and typically in the 40 degree range. Plugging in isn't need nor is grid heaters. Now no matter where I go no like right now I'm at Weiser, ID get breakfast and it's barely 13F outside. No where to plugin if I wanted. I'll get to my buddy place in Parma, ID and park the truck for 4 hours. I'm not going to string out a cord and us my friends power. Not fair or right. 

 

How is your unheated garage 40°F? 

 

2 nights ago it got to -6° and my shop was 17°. 

 

Nice thing about running around is the motor takes a long time to  cool and the intake manifold warms up to the block temp and helps starting. 

Living room is above the garage. Wood stove just inside the man door of the basement. So your always getting wood for the stove out of garage leaving to door open and allow some heat out there.

Edited December 26, 20177 yr by Mopar1973Man

1 hour ago, Mopar1973Man said:

Living room is above the garage. Wood stove just inside the man door of the basement. So your always getting wood for the stove out of garage leaving to door open and allow some heat out there.

 

Gotcha. I was thinking you had a detached garage for some reason...maybe it's because these trucks don't fit in too many attached garages:-) 

 

 

I just went out and tested cranking rpms. I shut off the fuel and it cranked at 170-180 rpms. I was trying to figure out where I got 300 from and the only thing I can figure is the starter specs are 3000 minimum. 

 

I'm not able to edit cranking timing on the fly so I won't be testing that. This is what it is OEM thou, for funzies. 

 

This is off of an 03-04 since it has the same piston design as a VP truck. The 04.5-07 uses slightly different timing but I think that's mostly due to the piston bowl design. 

 

Main

Pilot

 

Edited December 26, 20177 yr by AH64ID

So I had checked my block heater with an ohm meter before and it looked fine. 20 ohms. Today I had a hunch, so I put a meter on the line side of the block heater cord, 20 ohms. Gave the heater side a wiggle, and high resistance/open cct. Gave it a tiny little tug and it popped right out, metal collar still threaded on the block heater...

 

FFS!

 

New cord after work I guess... Couldn't hurt.

@AH64ID So are those values the true starting values or in addition to a base timing value?

15 minutes ago, Carbur8tr said:

@AH64ID So are those values the true starting values or in addition to a base timing value?

 

My understanding is that they are a true starting value, thou my Touch won't display that value while cranking. 

Crank timing is 17* on our trucks according to the values I see on the output from the ecm.

39 minutes ago, Me78569 said:

Crank timing is 17* on our trucks according to the values I see on the output from the ecm.

That would make sense with higher pop on injectors it probably retards to 15 maybe and starts easier. I know on Gas motors guys have problems blowing starters out because they run total timing that is locked at 30 some degrees, so retarded timing helps start ups and advertising it up top is needed for high rims.

On the other hand I've seen 4 semis on the side of the road 3 duramaxes and a Ford. It's gotten cold here negative 10 last night today it was 7, be like this all week. About an inch of snow. 

I doubt the higher pop pressure effects timing that much.