i live in northern wi. every year there are few days in which the temp drops below neg 10 degrees. i sometimes work afternoon/night shifts. i was planning on the new dz but i am not going to plug in the engine prior to driving home. after the ford bulletin posted earlier cold weather does not seem to be a dz's friend. i would assume the v10 would do fine in cold weather?

thx for any input

 

Wisconsin in the winter: a diesel and no block heater= ouch share of -10 cold starts during its long or short life .


This is an easy decision Get A V10 since you are'nt physically able to plug the block heater in and properly perform the suggested cold start procedures that FORD is telling everyone to use.
If you don't use the block heater then of course its a no-brainer the engine can be damaged
Ford pre-warned 6.4 diesel buyers .

Buy a V10 and don't take the risk of damaging that diesel in cold weather starts!
Good luck either way you'd still get a good engine and a nice truck

 

Not to spoil the V10 party but Ford also "strongly recommends" plugging in their gas engines at temperatures below minus 10 degrees.

 

thx
i have a 05 toyota tunda dc which i recently started at the airport at -8degrees after sitting for 7 days in frigid temperatures. it started instantly. i now need to tow up to 11,000lbs. i never have to plug it in - it does not even have a warmer as an option!

 

I've never had a start problem with my v10 and its been sat for a month sometimes where it was exposed to colder temps than -10.
Same goes for my gasoline tractor it always starts and it was built in 1961 and lived in new york state all its life....
There are enough v10's out there that can give you a "POLL" as too where they live,how cold and have they ever had problems with out a block heater on there gas engines because of the engine not being preheated not a cold battery being the prob..

The oil viscosity that a v10 uses would not induce a cold start problem on a v10;i just don't see how it could.The oil is allready like a low viscosity anyways..

 

These owner's manual guidelines need to be applied with a bit of common sense, if one would apply their guidelines/requirements to the letter you might assume that you could park your 6.4 Powerstroke for two weeks at -9 and start it worry free but if parked for a few hours at -11 you better plug that baby in.
And I am sure you could start that V10 gasser at 40 below and jam the gas pedal to the floor with out any concerns.

 

Common Sense? What a novel idea. But it is so much more fun to have Chicken Little proclaim the sky is falling and your 6.4 will freeze up and die if you ever start it cold. There are all kinds of common sense approaches to this "concern" if convenient you can plug it in, if not you can get a remote start system that is set to start every few hours and run for 15 to 20 minutes. Your engine will not get cold and will not be destroyed. Common Sense, what a great novel approach.

 

would common sense say you need to plug in the new psd if it sits for 12 hours (while i work) in -5 to -15 degree weather after driving to work from a heated garage?

i was planning on getting a remote starter and let if run for 10 minutes prior to driving home on really cold days (i actually park very close to my office window) but the post from ford stating you can damage your engine just by starting in very cold weather has me looking at the v10.

 

I am not a big fan of remote starters in those conditions with any engine but provided you are using the correct weight oil, using a winter front or parking it out of the wind so it retains its heat longer, and sensible operation after it starts personally I would not be too concerned.
Or you can believe that at -9 everything will be fine and you can rev it to the moon to show off how well it starts but at -15 its going to self destruct no matter what you do.

 

I had a V10, an 02 purchased the fall of 2001. Poured gas into that thing to the tune of 9 miles to the gallon for 3 years. In the fall of 2004 I replaced it with a 6.0, my current truck. In a few weeks I will be trading it for a 6.4 I have on order. The V10 did not like the cold anymore than my current diesel does. I was and am careful to switch to lower vis oil for winter and as I said with the real cold days or more correctly, nights (below zero) I set the auto start to run every three hours. I set that when I park it for the night or if it will sit for any length of time during the day. It runs the engine for 15 minutes when I first set it and then for 15 minutes every three hours. I did the same with my V10. I had no problems with the v10 in 160K miles and have had no problems with the 6.0 in 130K miles. 3 winters for the V10 and 3 winters for the 6.0. I suspect the 6.4 will be just fine. As someone else stated. When it hits single digits and below, you need to treat any mechanical device a little different whether it runs on gas, diesel, propane or electricity.

 

sjprice
i respect/appreciate your opinions and experiences. i see there must be some dz vs gasser opinions. all on the v10 forum recommend i go with the gasser as we have weeks at a time with below +10degree temps. i agree that -10 is a nonscientific set point and would not base my decision on a specific number, however others opinions recemmend the gasser for frequent cold spells. now i am a bit confused. i need to talk with some local dz owners and find out if they have any issues here. i don't want to have to wait 5 minutes every time i leave from work for the engine to warm up.

thx

 

iF i STILL LIVED IN A COLD REGION AND HAD A HEATED GARAGE I would get a diesel.Once a diesel is started and warmed up they have the advantage over the gasser.
If I did not have a heated garage up there I would buy a gasser.

At work just plug a the block heater into a 2,000 watt inverter then recharge it while at home..

 

What Is An Inverter - How Big? I Assume It Has Its Own Battery???

Thx

 

Well after researching I found out that an iverter would not supply enough constant power long enough for the block heater to actually do its job.So,the guy that suggested an inverter on another 6.4 cold related topic maybe has an explanation of how it could work;I could not research proof.What I did find is that if you had another seperate 12volt battery you could use it to soley supply enough power to heat the engine long enough.

Below is what I found online:
that's what I'm thinking... I use a separate battery which is fully
charged and dedicate it to the block heater.... then the truck already has
its own battery that easily will start the vehicle as long as the block
heater warmed things up a bit...



You see last weekend up north we hit minus 35 Celsius at night and the daily
high was -17 Celsius... so my new truck battery turned the motor over easy
with 850 cca at -18 Celsius.... but the rest of the engine was so cold that
I just couldn't get it to go (until a break and an hour later)...


If I had a battery which I could charge up in the cottage then on the
morning I decide to go I simply take it out to the truck and hook it up...


My truck came with a built in block heater... not sure of the watts but it
is a 97 3.0 version... Obviously I can only use an inverter with that type
of plug.. so I don't want to mess around hooking up another one..


What do you think? This is ingenious...
btw, the reason I need this portability is because there are no electrical
outlets where I have to park in winter, and the cottage is a 10 min walk

If it were me and I had no access to a power source for my block heater I would just buy a remote starter that has a timer and that timer would start your truck then turn it off every 1hr , the truck would idle for 15 minutes every time it starts every 1 or 2 hrs it would keep your truck warm between starts while your at work plus you could get excited when you get out to your truck and its allready warm and ready too role..Now thats a truck 1 that starts running on its on stops running on its on and has 274hp and 630 ftlbs to the rears stock;dang thats what every smart man needs is a smart truck that does what its told to do..
Remember when the ambient temp is above cold start then you would not have to use the remote start..Also you could have your diesel use the high idle while idling this would insure that everything is getting enough flowing lubrication(did I just say that?honey-wife just trust me they say its..lol)

I think you really would be happy with that 6.4 pumping out 630foot ponds torque to the rears =stock and like I said before a diesel loves cold weather once its warm and running..Theres something magical about a diesel smoking up a cold snow layered day dang they look blue collar good when put in extreme conditions..

 

For everyone that has to let there truck sit in cold weather unplugged.

http://www.webasto.com/products/en/3115_3422.html

It may be pricey but compared to the price of a new engine...