Just took a short trip to the store, the truck has been outside since I got home from work at 3:30, 5* out right now, fired right up and was blowing warm, not hot but warm air when I got to the store about 2 miles away.
Once the idle smooths out and the GPs stop cycling my truck is ready to drive, I haven't seen any reason to let it warm up.

 

Sorry, True dat! About 30 sec to a min to let the oil thin is all you really need.

 

when i say 5 mins in the summer thats with out the cold start advance kicking on. i let her go 5 mins to allow oil get places that it needs to be.

As far as the 20 mins goes, It might be 10-15 im not sure. but i just know that it takes for ever for that cold start advance to kick off. i never drive it while thats on.

Mac: The block heater better be working or i will be pissed. When i got the motor the block heater (as far as i knew) that was in it worked but the plug wouldnt stay in it so i put my other one in it which was brand spankin new. And when it kicked on you could hear it crackin and hummin. When i get home i just plug it in so im not sure if its working or not.

Ford: Honestly i dont trust synthetic oil. on top of that what i do with the truck i dont trust running a 5w threw it. When i do oil i put in the good ol delo 500 with 2 quarts of lucas. i know that these trucks eat oil when it gets to a certain point, so i can trust that when it gets to that point and it does start eating it i know its "fine" enough to burn it. Where as i have never owned anythign that has run a syn and i have not done my research on its build. Although you do bring a valid point. If i were to even run a 10w threw it, it probably would help with the warm up. but im still not too keen on the lubricity of it all.

As far as my anti-freeze goes. its a Fairly good mix of 75/25. On that and the temps we get out here i seen a bucket of 50/50 frozen today. Still not keen with tht either. Which is why i run the 75/25. just puts my mind at ease knowing that it wont freeze on me. Simply because i can not have this truck broke down. It is used for work on occasion when we need it but if we dont then we use a company truck if avaliable.

Also i will totally agree with your guys statement on using a 1000w an hour. It is RETARTED that it is usuing that but like i said. Some days i just get a phone call and they say Get to work! so i need it to just hop in and go. I do have a shop tht is half insulated. but it still wouldnt help much in my opinion. and i cant affford to run a diesel heater from 9-when i wake to go to work. if i could believe me i would.

As far as glow plugs go, They are Great. When i knew cold weather was comin our way i went threw that system. More as a saftey measure than anything. And if they were to not aid at all then, i can afford to not run them and just use a tiny amount of SF to get her going. but im not too keen on that either.

 

The oil gets everywhere it needs to be within seconds, at any temperature.

Right back to -- why? It's designed to be advanced when cold, that doesn't mean it shouldn't be driven that way.

If you hear it cracklin' under there, it's probably good. But you can get a simple meter called a "Kill-a-Watt" that tells you the watt draw of anything you have plugged into it. Usu. used to meter good/bad power usage around the house, but it's handy for stuff like this.

What's the basis for the mistrust of synthetic? True, with dino oil, you have to be careful about those with wide viscosity ranges, such as 5w40, because to achieve that range, more of the oil by volume has to be dedicated to viscosity indexers, which leaves less volume to the actual lubricating oil. None of that applies to synthetic. And the old "synthetics cause leaks" was true back when disco sucked, but not anymore; even our vintage of engine is compatible with synth. Bottom line - synthetic 5w40 will make an engine easier to start than dino 15w40. Synthetics are certainly a safer bet than additives like Lucas, that can't possibly be made to be compatible with ALL brands/types/chemistries of oil available for our trucks.

I'd have to check with my brother (used to work on cooling systems) on this, but I recall him saying that above about 60-65%, you actually start to _lose_ freeze protection, and it can start to gel at low temperatures. 50/50 should always be good down to -34F; if you saw some frozen, and esp. if it was in an open bucket, it's more than likely it was way weaker than that.

Is there a very earliest time, like they'd never call you before x hour? If so, just set the timer for an hour before that. So you'll have a minimum 1 hour run time anyway.

Hmm, wonder if you can get a cycling timer, one that could be rigged to be on for say an hour, then off for 1/2 hour, then on for an hour again, and so on. You'd at least save a few kWh dollars, and the truck would never get too cold.

As far as glow plugs go, They are Great. When i knew cold weather was comin our way i went threw that system. More as a saftey measure than anything. And if they were to not aid at all then, i can afford to not run them and just use a tiny amount of SF to get her going. but im not too keen on that either.[/QUOTE]

 

I'm going to second a lot of what madpogue just said.

The stock oil sensor on our engines is at the top of the engine. I'm not positive exactly how its plumbed, but I know by then its hit the main bearings, rods, piston squirters, cam, rockers, and for those equipped, the turbo may be the last on the line. A second or two after that, everything else that might need oil is bathed by the drain back.

Cold advance is to keep the engine running while you're driving and warming it up. Without it, it may stall out or run poorly the first couple miles while driving.

To save you some time and energy, why don't you buy a few heat guns. Aim one or more at the oil pan, and one or more at the intake (or directly into your filter). When you get a call, turn them on, then wait five minutes. Turn them off, wait 30 seconds, drive away. That will save on your electric bill and diesel bill. If you need heat in the cab instantly, buy one or more of those little auxiliary heater fan things that plug into the cigarette lighter. You could also swap in, or rig up a seat warmer.

If you're idling for several minutes, look up wet-stacking, you might actually be doing more harm to the engine.

 

I actually just replaced my block heater with a 1000 w tempro zero start and it made all the difference in the world. It was negative 15*F and she started like a warm summer day. I can reach in the fender liner and feel the heat radiating of the block.

 

How to put this nicley....

Far as waiting for the cold advance to kick off to drive all your doing is destroying your engine and wasting diesel, the ONLY way to warm up an engine is to drive it Ive never seen anything (with a working thermostat) not be warm enough to kick off the cold advance/high idle in a mile or 2 (including -15deg F mornings)

For waiting 5min for oil to circulate just look at your oil pressure gauge if that has pressure so does everything in the engine (if you actully have enough oil should take a couple seconds)

Just as an FYI above about 60% coolant/ 30% water your loosing freeze protection not gaining, in an unpressurized system 50/50 will freeze at -32F and frankly if its colder then that you need auxililary sources of heat for any engine so itll even start

Also the theory that you recently repaired the block heater so it should work is probbly the dumbest thing Ive heard yet, just because a part is new doesnt mean its good (Ive lost count of how many name brand parts have been bad out of the box) instead of just assuming the heater works plug it in for an hour or 2 and go out and feel the engine at the very least it should be warm to the touch (if you can get to the block heater easily that should easily burn your hand)

Ill not try to argue the synthetics (its your $$ and engine do with it what you want) but mind explaining your logic?