5 seconds is not bad @20*, imo.
I can let my truck idle out in the morning for 3 hours and all it will do is **** off the neighbors. I have to drive it and then I get heat (thats why I plug mine in). You may not need a T-stat. They can be tricky on our trucks. Before you do this I would find some threads about replacing them (gather intelligence and arm yourself before going in to battle). Where do you live? You also want to clean your FPR (Fuel Pressure Regulator) screen when you change your filter.
Oh and that little bit of smoke is not dangerous at cold start up, could be any number of things. If you can plug it in, try it (min 2 hours) and see how much smoke you have then.

 

definitely clean that little screen in the fuel bowl when you change the filter, its down about an inch on the drivers side. If its real bad you may need to pull the fpr off and clean it from both sides.

5 seconds isn't too bad I don't think.

Is is a little smoke or a lot? Let us know how the fuel filter looks like and if the hpop res is still full this morning.

 

On a cold morning, say 20 degrees, before I found my heater cord, mine would crank for 15 to 20 seconds if I let it. I usually would crank it a bit, turn it to off and wait a few seconds and repeat. When it finally caught it would blow blue smoke for at least 5 minutes until it got a little warmer.

After I found the plug and started plugging it in, it'd start in like 5 cranks (even on a 5 degree morning after negative wind chill all night) and only had a hint of blue smoke. Those block heaters really make the difference.

Is your exhaust back pressure valve working? Idling doesn't do much for warming these trucks up (in fact you're supposed to idle them to COOL down the turbos after a long drive) and your thermostat might be OK. The EBPV (which only works at engine speeds above idle) is what does most of the actual warming.

It works by constricting the exhaust from the turbine and creates lots of back pressure. You'll know if it's working because you'll feel like someone slammed on the brakes when it kicks in. You'll also hear a loud wooshing noise that sounds like compressor boot just came off. Hope that helps

 

ok the oil in the hpop res hasent dropped over nite and im gona go get a filter and t stat today .. it started alot better thismorning when i pre heated longer , but its smoking alot its a light blue smoke it slowly goes away takes probly close to an hour before its gone and even then u can still just faintly see it. and ya the ebpv is working as soon as i rev it up it comes on.. the fuel in this truck is maybe 6 months old so could that be some of the smoke problem? and i live in southern ontario

 

6 month fuel shouldn't be bad. You still may have injector orings leaking causing the smoking. Let us know how the filter looks like.

 

the filter wasent to bad bad it was brown but ive seen worse , i didnt clean that screen yet gona tomorow, i also knoticed that the fuel heater element is broken and the base ist mounted to has the coating peeling off so im gona fix that but how does that come out of there? its just a long stem with a nut on the bottom that looks like it screws onto the base, is that where it detaches?

 

If your heater is broken, your #22 fuse will be blown...that feeds power to the PCM and you won't have a WTS light and it will not start.
Sometimes they look loose/broken but they are not.

 

i can see that it is for sure broken unless its supposed to be in two peices?? it coulda blown a while back and someone replaced the fuse right? does the fuel heater make a big difference or just a bit ?

 

If you decide to remove it , the stand pipe in the center is a left hand thread ...

 

Good point Rick. it is backward/reverse thread...(I had a vandal in the night break mine not long ago).
If heater is broken, when you turn the key "ON" your #22 WILL blow. Do you have the WTS (Wait To Start) light come on? If you have WTS light it is NOT broken.

 

yup wts light comes on and im gona re check the element when i clean my screen, but im sure its broken haha wonder if they unplugged it? ill go look

 

so went out and double checked and ya the element is broken right over a gap on the base so the ends arent touching the base at all but i unplugged the heater wire to be safe . so ill get a price on one tomorrow

 

Look here Amazon.com: Dorman 904-210 Diesel Fuel Heating Element: Automotive

 

When you clean your screen, pull it all the way out and hold it in your hand. 2each 10mm bolts and a hose clamp on the FPR. Pull up and to YOUR right a LITTLE and the screen will come out. I use to "swab it with a Q'tip" but that doesn't cut the mustard, imo. I pulled mine out and it was thicker than a dime! I use Breake Clean to get the funk out.
As far as the heater element goes....unplugging it isn't going to hurt none.

 

i got thinking last night and read some other posts on fuel heaters and they dont really do that much do they like its not gona make that big of difference in starting so i would be okay to leave it for now and spend the money on my breaks. or do you guys think its worth doing right now?