I hate to admit this, but will....Last winter my truck did not start on two of the coldest mornings. Seemed like when it was -50°F to -55°F, it would not start. Even if it was plugged in all night long with the block heater, oil pan heater, and battery heaters. It would crank over, but not fire. If the ambient temperature warmed up 5° or 10° it would start, but run rough for a few seconds. I run Power Service diesel fuel suppliment with #1 diesel, so it wasn't a fuel gelling problem. I am running synthetic Delo 400 5W-40 this year, but will not know if that helps starting until it's too late.

Well, to prevent this from happening this winter, especially now that all my vehicles are diesel. I want to install a coolant tank heater. Kim Hotstart specs page This is a 1500 watt heater that takes coolant from the bottom of the block and uses convection to move the heated coolant up to the top of the engine. This heat cycle creates flow of the coolant without use of a pump.

My question is....Where is the best place to plumb in the heater?

 

Being in Alaska, it is very understandable but, ya gotta admit...a coolant tank heater sounds kinda funny.

 

Awe come on.....human body parts fall off at -55°F

How about a freeze plug heater on the drivers side engine block? Measure the plug diameter and hit up your local John Deere dealer or auto supplier.

 

Best place to plumb it in? Another state.

 

Well, weather that cold is way out of my expertise. Yikes!

On a serious note, your cranks but will not start thing could have been due to oil not being able to flow properly at those temperatures. The fuel injectors are actuated by engine oil placed under high pressure with a special pump and pressure rail. To make a long story short, the PCM will let the engine crank and will watch the pressure build in that rail. Once the pressure hits 500 psi, it will begin firing the injectors. I just wonder if the poor pump couldn't get it moving enough to build pressure.

Were you using dino oil before? The synthetics will usually flow at a lower temp, so you may have already solved it with that 5w-40 Delo in there.

 

I was using dino Delo 400 10W-30 previously in the winters. Hopefully the synthetic I have in now will help or even fix the problem.

I still want to put in the tank style coolant heater also. On gasoline vehicles in the past, at -40° or 50° you could plug it in an hour before starting and it would start no problem. Couldn't do that with engine block heaters only. I'll look under the hood today and see if I can find a good place to plumb it in. I will have to find a line from the lower part of the block and one to the top of the block to ensure circulation.

 

At these extreme cold temps I think a curculating block heater like what you are talking about is bang on. I would advise higher wattage or a webasto type set up, they are branded Blue Heat and pump heated coolant through the engine and use battery and diesel fuel. There are also electric plug in crculating block heaters. If you go to a heavy truck parts supplier they can help you out. Install is not simple but this is what is on our Big Diesel 4*4 tractor that must start at -40 Celsius for the generator. Webasto is what heavy trucks use as well. this way they can sleep in the sleeper, heat the cab and engine so it will start with no power.

Also, 5w-40 syn is probably to thick at -50. You should be down to 5-30 syn for this particular part of the year I would think. You cant be running the same oil all year in the extremes of temp. I run dino 15w-40 in summer, I tow in 30 to 40 + Celsius. In winter, dino 15w-30 for winter starting. I hear I could get away with syn 5w-40 all year, but you are way further north and 20 to 30 degrees colder in winter.

 

Since your post says you already have a bazillion heaters, about the only thing you can do is try to better retain the heat you are making. Get a tarp and cover the truck, the whole truck would be best, but at a minimum the front end. It needs to be an old fashioned heavy duty canvas tarp. Not a cheap plastic one. Cover the truck completely to the ground and it will help keep the heat you are making inside the engine compartment instead of trying to heat the entire driveway. I have dealt with -20 to -30 with -60 windchill and this is the only way thigns would start. The other option.......... when it gets that cold don't shut it off. It will cost a bit of money to run it that long and you get into wet-stacking and other debates, but if you are in a situation where it absolutely MUST start, that might be what you have to do.

 

If it has a 5/8" port on it, it sounds to me like they're planning on you splicing it in at a heater hose. Excursions and CrewCabs have a heater control valve on them nowadays though. If you don't have one of those, then coolant flows all the time through there and that is a possibility. Otherwise, you're going to have to do some work with tee fittings.

There's a hose of about the right diameter that runs underneath the degas bottle and connects in at a Y pipe. Maybe that would be better.

 

It was -27°F this morning and got me thinking about preparing for when it gets really cold, ie. -50°F to -60F° here in a couple months. I went in and talked the the service department about adding a tank coolant heater, but they haven't done it before and don't recommend it. I asked about adding a second block heater but he said there weren't provisions for it. I guess there is a special boss in the block that the factory one is inserted into.

Now I got looking at ways to get the most out of the heaters I have on the truck now. I crawled under the truck and found that there is only a 125 watt silicon oil pan heater installed. I don't think this is enough to heat the 15 to 16 quarts of oil that the 6.0 has. 125 watt heaters is what I've used in the past on gas engines with 5 quarts of oil. After searching the web I found a website that has some sizing guidelines. http://www.dieselproducts.com/prohea...ps_sizing.html It recommends a 500 WATT heater for this much oil. That sounds like a lot of electricity being used, but is most likely what is needed to heat the oil when it is really cold.

Since there is already one 125 watt heater installed, I will install a second 125 watt heater and see if this helps. It will only be 250 watts, but more than I currently have. I let you know if this helps. It's suppose to get -40°F tomorrow.

 

I would think that synthetic 5W-40 will go along ways from what you were using last winter.

Don't they make a 0W-40 synthetic oil (do not knwo the brand)... but I thought someone sells a 0W-40 synthetic diesel rated oil... just for extreme climates!!!!

Good luck... stay warm!!!

 

Just out of curiosity, how do you get under the truck bundled up to do this stuff? You must be really skinny!! Heck, I throw on my winter coat here in Missouri and my long johns and I'm to thick to fit!

Good God, I knew there was a reason I didn't move farther North!!