Gee wiz, its been in the twenties around here for a while, I have still not plugged it in(of course I don't have the cord yet either). Truck starts and purrs like a kitten am I missing something? I didn't even plan on thinking about it until the temps drop below zero.

 

But, I can tell the difference in the sound of the engine when I've kept the heater plugged in at night vs when I haven't. Since I live on a busy rural highway, when I pull out of the driveway, I need to get up to speed pronto. Too much truck traffic here near the border. Tonage rules, and I don't want to git squashed! I am a firm believer that any internal cumbustion engine run hard when cold will have a shorter life. Worse for a diesel. So I keep it warmed up a bit. Not that if I don't the rig's hard to start in the morning, Not at all. But it does warm up quicker, about seven minutes idling in the driveway and I'm ready to go.

I've had gas V8's that I've treated this way that have gone better than 150,000 miles with only needing a new clutch. They don't burn oil either. -And I'm not easy on the throttle once something's warmed to operating temperature. I hope to at least double that number with my new diesel.

As soon as I sell my old truck, I'll keep this one in-doors at night too. "Silver" is a very spoiled truck. (remember, Silver was a white horse. Hey, don't look at me, my kids name the truck.)

 

I have an abient temp controled timer. Works real good. When the outside temp gets below a set temp the block heater turns on for the set time. I like about 4 hours. with temps in the teens here in Northern Arizona.

What I see some guys doing, especially up in Canada, Alaska, North Dakota ect when is really cold - below zero, when they are working in the field or no where to plug in for a few hours is chain a generator in their bed and then run the cord to the front. I have designed some electronics for one group to automaticly start the generator every so often then turn it off. Kinda neat.

 

I have a couple of block heater questions for us Californian's that have to put up with real harsh winters....
1. It rarely gets below +30 at night and I am able to drive slow for the first 7-8 miles in the morning. Should I use the block heater anyway?
2. I am heading to Reno, NV skiing this Christmas. I won't be able to plug the heater in.
Is there any thing I should do while in the snow for 4 days.
Thanks.

 

Just to keep things in perspective, the average coffee maker uses 1000 Watts.

Most of us wouldn't think twice about leaving the coffee maker on, other than making the coffee look like diesel oil.....

I use an X10 outlet in the garage next to the truck to turn the heater on remotely. When it is cold enough to warrant the heater, I program it to turn on about 3 hours before I expect to use the truck. Down to about 15 degrees, that is enough ( at least it was on my old '93 Turbo diesel ) If it is colder than that probably want to add an hour.

Only thing you have to remember is to plug the truck in the night before.

 

CAN ANYONE HELP US. I ALSO DO NOT USE MY BLOCK HEATER HERE IN CALIF. I LIVE IN THE HIGH DESERT. ONCE IN AWHILE IT MAY GET DOWN TO 20. USUALLY 35 - 45 DEGREES IN THE WINTER. THIS MORNING IT WAS 35. MY TRUCK STARTED EASY. I LET IT WARM UP A MINUTE, AND TOOK OFF. NO PROBLEMS. WHAT AM I MISSING. THIS IS MY FIRST DIESEL AND I LOVE IT. I WILL NEVER BUY A SPARK PLUG AGAIN. THANKS

 

IMO nether one of you need to use the "plug" however it will NOT hurt if you used the plug at 40 degrees, or 60 degrees or 30 degrees...no matter what the temp their is no harm in using it…TRY it and you will see how quick the truck will warm up….

 

When I had an '01 F250, I used the block heater regularly during the winter---however, now I have a '04 F350 6.0 and I don't seem to be able to locater the plug. Is it at the same location behind the left fog light or has Ford placed it somewhere else?

 

Gemstar - Try to the right of your right fog light area. I have an '03 and that is where mine is. It was hidden pretty well for me. I don't know if they changed the location or not in the '04.

 

It's not that you're missing anything. But, In my experience with heavy equipment, Diesels by design don't run as well when cold as when they're warm. Remember, there's no spark plug. The glow plugs only stay on for a couple minutes. From then on it takes pure stoikiometric forces to ignite the fuel. One thing to think of is the added compression ratio. Just as with my race cars back in the day, high compression ratios, as with a diesel, bring high pressures to cold brittle metals. Yes alloys and strength designs in diesels are better nowadays, but there's always the chance to prematurely stress a component. Better to be warmer. I do not believe a diesel should be driven cold. I know people do it, and many probably won't have problems. But there's always one... Driving them cold will most likely take some percentage of life away from the engine. If you can't keep the engine warm when parked, it's just a good idea to let it sit and idle until a safe operating temperature is attained.

Using the heater, with temperatures in the 30's for about four hours, my before the work commute warmup times are cut in half. I even make the wife warm up her Jeep before she drives it. 100,000 miles on the 5.2 liter (Mopar 318) and it's running like it was new.

My new truck is my first personal diesel too. (So I'm no expert.)