When it's cold and snowy out, how do you go about "warming up" the truck to get heat to defrost? I read that you should not let the vehicle idle for more than 10min and that idling is bad regardless and won't heat the engine. So how do you defrost and get heat going?
With the idle-up feature to the #4 upfitter switch get it warmed up?
What do you all do?

 

I dont think idling is as bad as you think and yes the motor warms up a little bit just takes along time.
scott

 

Idle for extended periods is not good. Yes it will heat up some, but not that much. Use a block heater three hours before you drive it and that will help alot.

You can also do the high idle mod so after you start it and run it a minute or two then hit the high idle mod and it will raise the engine to around 1200 rpms.

excessive idling at low rpms washes the cylinders with fuel.

I will just start mine up, then clear the snow away and by then it is starting to defrost, I then just pull out slowly. By the time I am at the main road it is doing fine. Cold but clearing the windows just fine.

 

Whenever it was below -30 I would leave the trucks plugged in all night. And after 5 minutes or so things were warm enough to start driving. After 5 minutes all your doing is wasting fuel.

 

Leaving it plugged in for any more than 3 hours before you leave is wasting electricity.

From the Manuals:

It is recommended that the engine block heater be used for starting
when the temperature is -10°F (-23°C) or colder. Refer to Engine block
heater (if equipped) in the Driving chapter of the Owner’s Guide.

Owner's Guide:

Block heater operation longer than 3 hours will not improve system performance and will unnecessarily use additional electricity.

 

If you lived where I live you would realize how wrong you are.
When its really cold (like -45 or colder) the block heaters are on all the time.
At -30 with the usual wind it feels like -40 to -50. No way a 3 hour plug in is going to help much. And when your truck does start the oil is so thick it sounds like crap for the 1st bit anyway.
And -23 is a nice winter day regardless.

 

Holy siht, that is coooldf! So, you're probably right. I'm just glad it's you and not me living in that hard climate...burrrrrrrrh. So now I'm wondering if the block heater really does much of anything at that sort of temps?

 

Block heaters are a vital part in cold weather running. But if the fuel gels your screwed anyway so fuel additives are a must.

 

Obviously the guy that wrote the manual works 2nd shift. For the rest of us that have to go to work at 8AM we would prefer to not have to set our alarms at 5AM to remind us to go plug in our trucks. For us we plug it in before we go to be and leave it running all night, "wasting" electricity.

 

Use a timer to active the power.

 

like he said...
still gotta remember to plug the damn thing in when you get home. lol.c

 

I just went out and bought a timer,cause I aint getting up at 3am to plug in truck.

 

I was just thinking about the timer idea and read through this thread. What kind of current does the block heater draw? I am not sure a standard light timer would be enough?

 

Im not sure on the draw, but I found a timer specifically for block heaters, outdoor lighting. I read the output on a few diff timers, somewhere between 8-15 amps i think.

 

I think it was 15 amps.