I am driving my first diesel pickup and about to head into my first winter. It's a 1999 F-250 Super Duty Diesel. Anything I need to know to avoid any issues with this truck in the winter. It will be parked outside in the driveway not in a heated garage.

 

Where you from? That might help with how severe some of the potential problems will end up being.

 

Does it have a block heater?

 

I live in Omaha, Ne and yes it does have a block heater. Although, the plug is cut off for some reason.

 

All 99-03 7.3L's had a block heater. It wasn't an option.


As for winter, just drive it like you would any other vehicle. There is no need for extended warmup periods. Those are for old school diesels. The 7.3L will be a little sluggish when it's really cold out, until the oil temps start to come up. If you want to use the block heater, best bet is to buy a heavy duty timer. Have the timer set to come on about 3 hours or so before you typically leave the house for the day. If you plug it in without a timer and leave it like that all night long, it's just a huge waste of electricity, and your bill will skyrocket.

Common winter issues....
1) Glow plugs and glow plug relay (GPR). Typically the GPR is what goes out, rather than all 8 glow plugs at once. GPR's are cheap, and take about 10 minutes to swap out. If you are ever stuck cranking the truck, and it won't fire (but you see smoke out the tailpipe), test the GPR to see if it is getting voltage across both larger terminals. You do this test while the PCM tries to activate the GPR, typically when the engine is cold, and immediately after you turn the key to the "run" position.

2) Cold start romps. This is common when you are using 15w40 oil in the winter, and temps drop to around freezing or below. Cold start romps are not a sign of a problem, it's just something that happens when thicker oil is cold, and a high pressure oil pump trying to maintain ~500 psi of oil pressure. If you commonly have issues with cold start romps, switch to a synthetic oil and that will help tremendously.

3) Cold Air Package. This includes the exhaust backpressure valve. It's a butterfly valve that sits in the exhaust right after the turbine housing on the turbo. In cold weather, this valve shuts off the exhaust, creating excessive backpressure and putting an artificial load on the engine. This load is to help the engine warm up faster. The problem is that there is a sensor that reads backpressure, and the line leading to the sensor easily gets clogged with soot. If the sensor can't see higher levels of backpressure, the PCM won't open the EBPV, and the truck runs like an absolute turd until the engine oil temps come up.

4) Batteries. Make sure they are good. Cold weather kills old batteries, and diesels are exceptionally hard on them when cranking. Even having one good battery and one bad battery will keep you from starting up.


Anyway, those are the most common things that tend to pop up on these forums from time to time during the winter months.

 

See... My question was not with out cause, maybe his plug is cut off. But none the less, I am really sorry I have not been studying my Powerstroke history. Short of some people skills Pocket is spot on. And the use of a timer is where I was headed.

 

Is this standard on 7.3L, or an option? My 2000 has that feature with twin batteries.... but no heated mirrors. Go figure.

 

Shouldn't I be adding some type of additive to the fuel to keep it from gelling? Also, someone told me today to add trans fluid to my fuel because of low sulfur at the pump. This true?

 

Nah, there's nothing wrong with asking. And people skills???? Nothing a few beers can't cure.

Yes it's standard. The other parts of the cold air package include the air intake heater (if it's a 99.5 and up, early 99's didn't have one), and high idle. They are simply built in features into the engine and PCM programming to help the engine warm up faster in cold weather, and the air intake heater was Ford's "attempt" to reduce white smoke you typically see after cold morning starts.

If it brings you piece of mind, sure you can. But I don't. During the winter months fuel stations carry a winter blend of diesel. It's a mixture of #1 and #2 diesel, for a lower gel point. Usually in the winter it is extremely hard to find a station that carries straight #2 diesel. So your fuel that you buy is already mixed and ready for cold weather operation.

 

I'll buy you one next time I'm in CO!

My diesel skills are limited to Cummins VT903Ms in a boat and that thing stays pluged in all the time, same for the Volvo Penta and the Mercruiser. However my Bronco II had a block heater that when used helped it start faster and made the heater respond quicker, always a plus in Wisconsin. I don't really have any thing to worry about here in Alabama.