Was my engine not getting worked hard enough?

[cumminspower]

So, I know that these trucks were not designed to just be making trips to the supermarket & back home every day, but I have a truck that basically has just been used as a daily driver all its life. The truck got used once to tow a trailer from Oregon to Alabama & that was the most work it has seen in its entire life.....Basically, right now, I am using the truck to drive back and forth to work every day.....The problem is that I live so close to my shop that most of the time the truck never even gets up to normal operating temperature from the time that its started till it is shut down.What I'm wondering is if this is bad for the engine over time to not get it up to normal running temps when it is driven a lot of the time. I've just recently been trying to get the truck out on the interstate two or three times a week & getting on it pretty good & getting rpm's up to work the engine some.....It seems to have helped in getting rid of a little ticking noise I could hear after the truck was warming up a little....Could this cause some problems that the engine doesn't get up to normal temps every time it is driven back & forth to work? I just know that these engines were designed to be worked a little to stay happy.....

[white01]

start and stop not good on anything.need to get it out on the interstate like you said and get it hot.lactch on to a trailer with some weight on it and get the egts up there to burn out all of the build up.pull the trailer up a hill will get the gauge to climb quick.

[Mopar1973Man]

It not good on any engine to run short trip to the point the coolant temp never reaches full operating temp. Over of a period of time the engine oil starts to breakdown from contaminates from fuel, moisture, etc. I know of a Ford Diesel local that "Had" the same live and found itsself parked in a back yard now because the owner ate the engine... Like Mom's 1996 Dodge Ram its got a 5.9L Mopar Magnum V8 engine. I use it alot in the yard... Well my yard is a whole 4 arces tops... So like going down and getting a load of firewood from the shed and bringing it back to the main house. Even if I idle it the whole time it barely even shows 140*F of coolant so every other trip I will phyiscal get out on the highway and drive till its at full time and then turn around and return home... I know this little truck sees very little travel being it gets fuel once a month... But the whole idea is to heat the oil up to get all the contaminates burned off and moitures out of the oil.

[guesswho512]

as air cools at night, water condenses and forms dew. vehicles with open case vents(like motors without EGR and diffs) can have water condense inside them. a very small amount that is normally burnt off when you reach operating temps. my truck rarely pulls a trailer these days, but i still time find time to drag one out of the weeds to get the temps up.

[cumminspower]

Thanks for the info. That's pretty much what I thought might happen.....The only good thing is that I've always maintained the truck real well.....It never sees 3000 miles before the oil is changed. All the maintenance has pretty much been done using the severe duty schedule....I guess I just need to try start taking the long way to work so the truck stays happy....hahaaahaaa

[ISX]

In addition to the stuff they said I will give you some more input 1st hand.

I drove to college 3 times a day, maybe 4, both ways. So 8 trips a day for 5 days, I might roll a mile over on the odometer doing that for a week... It is across the street but I had to go all the way to the back of the place for where I was, maybe 1/10th mile from my apartment to there. But yeah the coolant was lucky to get 20 over ambient, even on 0F days I didn't let it warm up for more than a minute.

Now the results of this are your rings are not happy. When I bought the truck (with 254k miles even) it would start at 0F without the grid heaters on the first crank and have no smoke whatsoever, it was like it was a summer day. Now, it needs the grid heaters on that 0F day to get it to start instantly and it smokes. I haven't noticed any mpg difference but the power has dropped a little.

USE the grids every morning startup, up to 40-50F. If you just leave them alone they will run up to 60F, which is good. If possible, plug it in. If you can plug it in for an hour before leaving every morning, that will help a lot. It's always 10000% better to plug it in for an hour than start it at 0F.

Your batteries will also hate you. I got away with it because on the weekends I drove 180 miles to parents house and back so my batteries got all charged up again.

[flagmanruss]

I let my truck sit... health issues prevented me from physically getting into it... the dang brakes rusted up so the discs dragged the caliper frame... though the CTD drove it down the road "fine" (even passed state inspection that way) the mpg was way off (the following year, a different state inspection found it). NOW, I drive it at least once a week... 20 minutes to the nearest civilization, same back... Oh, yes, I scuff the brakes down the long hill leaving my house (also had to replace a rear disc because of rust chatter).

[LiveOak]

Thanks for the info. That's pretty much what I thought might happen.....The only good thing is that I've always maintained the truck real well.....It never sees 3000 miles before the oil is changed. All the maintenance has pretty much been done using the severe duty schedule.... I guess I just need to try start taking the long way to work so the truck stays happy....hahaaahaaa

You might try plugging the block heater on the engine in and plug the extension cord into a timer that is set to turn on and power the block heater about 4 hours before your start the engine to leave for work. This should give you a big head start on warming the engine up AND it will be a BIG relief for your truck batteries as the block heater will warm up the engine and intake manifold where the IAT sensor is located to a temp above 60 degrees which will preclude the grid heaters coming on when you turn on the ignition switch.

[moostang]

Is there any problem with leaving it plugged in all night?

[LiveOak]

Is there any problem with leaving it plugged in all night?

No, other than wasting a lot of electricity. It has been my experience that 4 hours of being plugged in will warm up the engine to the max. the block heater can. Timers are pretty cheap.

[ISX]

No, other than wasting a lot of electricity. It has been my experience that 4 hours of being plugged in will warm up the engine to the max. the block heater can. Timers are pretty cheap.

I have a digital timer from walmart for $20, even has a remote control. The only thing you have to remember is get one rated for at least 750 watts (1000+ is preferred) and it must have the ground prong. Some of them dont have the ground. If you are seeing amps instead of watts on the package then 750 watts = 6.25 amps and 1000 watts = 8.3.

[Dave3500]

Cumminspower,Gr8 name by the way, & wecome. Where do you live? Just curious as to what temps your truck may encounter. Do you keep it in a garage? That does help slow down the moisture, condensation problems like Russ has. If it's outside at least keep it off the bare groung or gravel.One thing for sure by following your severe maint. schedule your doing the best that you can for your truck. Get some fun weekend getaways planned so that you need to use it. When I'm not hauling hay w/ mine in the summer, I'm pulling a 74 King 2-horse trailer that I rebuilt this Aug & Sept. Painted it & am using it as a tailgate party vehicle. That trailer is a prime example of what happens when you leave something parked on the dirt, but that's another story. (No it doesn't smell like a horse inside, I might! (-: )CTD,Dave

[LiveOak]

I bought an Ingraham Heavy Duty timer at Walmart that handles up to 1875 watts a few year ago. It is the manual type that has little flip switches to set the on and off time. I guess they no longer make them and most are now digital solid state. Below is an example of one I found. You can probably find them cheaper at your local Walmart or hardware store. http://www.thehomesecuritysuperstore.com/security-lighting-programmable-random-timer-GPS-p=2297 http://firstratesecurity.com/elsetiti.html http://www.opentip.com/Sporting-Goods/Ge-Hour-Timer-Pk-p-1053537.html

[Mopar1973Man]

Like I had a conversation with another member last night about this subject... It's best to put the vehicle in a inclose building at least. Remember the block heater is just 750w and the block is not insulated so if your parked out in the wind it makes the job keeping the block warm very hard. I Keep my truck in a un-heated shop and the temp might get as low as 34-35*F but the block heater can heat the coolant and manifold well into the 120*F bracket compared to outside in blowing wind of 0*F where the block here can barely get 80-90*F... And yes a Cummins will start just fine at 0*F without a block heater...

[LiveOak]

Another thing that will help out alot is to install some "Winter Fronts" on the grill. They will hold in the heat the block heater produces much better and help the engine to develop and hold the heat it produces driving down the road. These are what I install on both of our trucks: http://www.turbodieselregister.com/cgi-bin/classifieds2/classifieds.cgi?session_key=&search_and_display_db_button=on&db_id=27646&query=retrieval So far, they have worked and held up well. I have been using them for about 4 years. They are a LOT easier to install and remove than the cloth type Winter grill fronts in my opinion.

[Bugman123]

:2cents:Back in the 80's i was working in a dealership where we had a Ford Sedan come in with a knocking sound in the engine, 6 cyl. I thought it was a rod bearing at first, but it ended up as carbon build up around the head gasket. The car was drivin about 5 miles 2 times a week. It never got warm enough to keep the combustion chamber clean, kept the choke on most of the trip. Replace the head gasket and got it back on the road.My point being if you don't drive it enough to get to operating temp on a regular basis, you my see something simular.

[moostang]

Thanks everyone, I think I'll be getting a timer and a winter front. Even plugged in it takes a long time to warm up all the way.

[Mopar1973Man]

Already got my winter front on and been running it since Oct 20...

[LiveOak]

Already got my winter front on and been running it since Oct 20...

Installing on our trucks today as well.

[flagmanruss]

Thanks for the reminder... I need to get my winter front on too.