Was up north yesterday and it got down to 12 deg over night and sputtering snow steadily. Got up to 20 deg F when I got back to the parking lot the next day to fire up the truck and she started up with two romp romps and then idled smooth. I thought for sure it was going to take me a couple tries but I was impressed. My last '97 PSD wouldn't have started in that situation to save its life, but it was short a few GP's I think.

 

nice i cant wait for the temp to be in the negatives with my truck up in maine now wonder how it will fair then :|

 

Did the truck fire up on b100 that day. Just curious. On another note, glad to hear your truck faired well in the colder temp. I to do not plug in, good feeling when she sits for a while and starts right up over the winter. Do not quote me, but I think my truck has original glowplugs with 179,000 on her. I did an oasis on it when I bought it with 100,000 miles and no reports of them being replaced. I am seriously knockin on wood here, but no white smoke at all in the coldest of temps.

 

last year when I bought my truck the GPR was bad. Being new to diesel this site helped me fix that problem myself and I choked two free oil changes outta the dealer for me having to deal with it. I got the Stancor GPR now. So far only been down to 19 degrees here and it fired up. Looking to see how cold it will start. Probably wont put it through that all the time but nice to know. I'll still get the timer for the block heater outlet.

 

Nope, definitely was not running B100 then!! I was 100% pure dino fuel on this trip. My homebrew B100 doesn't do so good below 30 deg or so. I has also cut the diesel with a good charge of diesel kleen white bottle.

My truck stays in the garage most of the winter and on a block heater with timer when it is out. It goes up north for snowmobile trips every few weeks. When it gets real cold on the trips, I carry a little generator to plug the heater into.... I think the biggest thing is lots of diesel kleen if you know you are in for some cold weather.

I was thinking about cycling the GP's a couple times but figured I'd give it a shot with only one cycle. That, and the batteries could not have taken much with the cold temps. The starter was noticable slower than usua. Would like to switch to synthetic oil to help even more eventually.

 

I've started mine at -20*F without the block heater. My truck started, but it didn't like it much. That was with synthetic oil too. Once it gets below -15*, these trucks get real pissed off about starting without being plugged in.

 

I'm glad you made the trip.. I never plug my tuck in till it gets below 0.. and never have a problem with cold starts.it has sat in 15 below for 10 hours unplugged before and started with a romp or 2....I run delo 15/40 year round..I treat every tank fill up with DK..change my filter before the cold sets in regardless of miles on it..then I will change it again come end of January..I always have a spare with me too..a bottle of 911 is handy as well..I have had the same bottle for 3 years now..never had to use it...i did run B10 last year and it didn't give me any trouble..maybe you could try to blend some yours in at fil ups???

 

The blend is a possibility, but we have shut down the bio stil since it is in my buddy's pool house (unheated) and just takes too much effort to make. Our drying system doesn't work so well in the cold and it is a pain to even transfer the grease without heating it to get it to pour!

I don't think my rig would start below 0 deg, but I am sure I will find out at some point.

Is there a risk of blowing the glow plugs if you cycle them too many times before starting? Would assume the only issue would be loss of battery power, but if you had a buddy to jump off of....

 

no you will not hurt them by doing that..sounds like you should do the GPR guzzle did..i am going to order one after x-mass and have for just in case..check this out... http://guzzle.rbmicro.com/s_gpr.html

 

Yep, I guess these trucks are made to start up in real cold weather as many of you have testified. However, do you function well in the mornings going outside wearing only your skivies? I didn't think so. Hey, these oils are rated at approx. 200 deg. F, so go ahead and help that baby out by plugging in the block heater that is connected to a timer so as to get a little jump on helping the oil warm up and start performing a little sooner.

More Power to the Diesels

 

Dude in a few words! You sir need to move!

 

Heck no! Colorado is great! Wish I moved here sooner.

 

Thats an understatement saying it didnt like it much. I started mine one morning when it was -14 after thinking it was plugged in to find out the gfi had tripped. These things make some mean noises when you do this to them!!!

 

No worries about that here. If it gets anywhere near 0, not to mention below, I don't function so who cares if the truck starts.

I don't know how you people do it. I'd be out campaigning for more global warming.

 

It's all about the GP's. I had a 1999 F-250 with bad plugs and it was a pain to start below 35 degrees, but it would crank eventually. My '01 Excursion busts off immediately. Try cranking an old 6.9 or 7.3 non-turbo without GP's or block heater- they don't crank when it's 75 degrees outside! ....I still love those old engines, though.