Hello:

I live in Northern Virginia and have a 2002 Ford PSD which I plan on owning for a long time. I let my engine warm up most of the time for @10-15 minutes before taking off but regardless of warm up time, I "baby" it and never run the engine over 1600-1800 rpm's before it has warmed up. Am I reducing the life of the engine by not plugging it in during the colder months?

Thanks For Your Opinions;
Bud

 

Hi bud,

I would say no. My truck is now 17 years old. I own the truck for 8 years and have never plugged in since. (there is no 110 Volts available here, further I don't believe that you'll need "warming up" in Florida where the truck used before I bought it.)
Sure, if you have the possibility to warm up the engine by plugging it in would be better as a "cold start" especially if you live in a very cold area.
If you don't have the possibility to use the block heater you can also use a Webasto diesel heater which works without electric power.


Jens

 

Since you give it a good warm up every morning, it should be fine.
Just make sure that you don't get on till its warm. Another good thig to do is shut the O/D off till you've gone a few mile, this will extend the life of the tranny!

Will-

 

Something we have learned here in NE Ontario (and it gets cold here)
is that when you do your first cold start hold the key...lots of times
on that first cold start a novice will let off the key because of the bucking a cold diesel can do. A first start will be easier than multiple trys. We usually do not plug anything in until it gets to
0-F and lower. The starters are the biggest causualty on diesels here in the cold.

regards

 

opps forgot the OD question, I believe that the transmission
has a function that will not let it shift into OD until it is
at operating temp. This is regardless of OD control setting being
on or off.