Hey all. You know, the more I think about it, the more and more Im wanting a diesel. Im falling in love with the way they sound.
Also, I tend to keep my trucks untill they have at least 200,000 miles on them, so I think that the fuel economy will offset the added purchase price of a truck with a diesel in it. Im planning on getting a 2 or 3-year-old F-250 reg cab longed 4x4 XL, so its not like Im getting a $50,000 truck anyways. I think I should be able to find one in the $20,000-$25,000 range.
Anyways, lets not get into the old "gas vs diesel" debate again, ok?
So, my question has to do with the time you need to let a diesel both warm-up and cool-down.
I live in Wisconsin, and we get some pretty cold winters. Now, I have access to a garage where I could leave my truck plugged in at night, but on a cold morning how much of a warm-up time would a diesel need on average. Lets say the temps get down to 0 F, would I need to let the truck idle for 5 minutes before I leave for work in the morning?
Also, Ive heard that before you shut the truck off you have to let it idle for a couple of minutes to let the turbo cool down. Is this true? That kinda sounds like an inconvenience, especially if you are running errands on the weekends (driving from store to store, maybe only a few blocks at a time), but I guess if thats the nature of the beast its something I could get used to.
Thanks in advance...

 

If you plug in the truck in winter, you would put a timer on it to come on 2-3 hours before you leave for work in the morning, then the truck would only need a minute to warm up. If you don't plug it in, you would probably give it 5-10 minutes on a cold morning. The only time you need to let the truck cool down is after towing a load, beating on the truck, or right after getting off the freeway. By the time you idle through a parking lot and park it after normal driving it is cooled down plenty.

 

I have an alarm with remote start but it's hard to remote start when the truck is that cold, but the best feature is that you push a button and you can take out the key and set the alarm, this allows the truck to run without the key in the ignition and the alarm on, whenever I get off the freeway and go into a store I set it and it will turn off by itself, or you can hit the same button after 1 or 2 minutes and it will shutdown.

 

i live in southern WI and i usually let my truck warm up for about 10 minutes before i take off. i have it on a timer so it starts the block heater 3 hours before i leave. if you have guages let it cool down until the egts get to below 350 or if no guages just let it idle down for a minute or two after you stop. you will not regret getting a diesel

 

Thread moved to General Diesel Discussion forum.

-Matt