Someone in here posted a question about heaters-apparently because his EX wasn't providing hot air from his heating system. Perhaps my comments on heating systems, and the difference between gasoline and diesel powered EX's, will straighten this out.

I cant find his "thread', so I am adding this one to clear all this up.

As a side-note, I cant recall the guy's SN - it is the fellow who keeps adding my wise-crack about my weenie size, as a "quote" to his "posts", over and over again. (please, folks, dont get the wrong idea..I am not making fun of homosexuals, dont even know if this guy is one - just odd that he keeps mentioning my weenie size over and over again as a 'quote" in his posts...? ? ? ? )

Anyway, here's what I found. With a starting outside air temp. of 19 degrees F, I had mildly warm air coming out of both dash and rear heating systems in 2.5 mins. after I started driving (slowly).

By 3.5 mins. after start up, really nice and warm air coming out of those ducts, and by 4.5 mins after start-up...actually HOT air.

Now, as I noted in his initial "thread", I did explain that there is a MAJOR difference in warm-up time between diesel and gasoline powered vehicles. Cant recall if his is a gasser or diesel.

Here's the problem. Diesels are SO much more efficient than gasoline. They convert so much more of the energy in fuel into MECHANICAL energy, loosing less as heat. That explains why it takes so much longer for a diesel to warm up; in fact, it is not uncommon to never get a diesel fully warmed up on a cold day unless you physically block some of the air coming thru the engine compartment ( this explains why many larger diesel engine powered trucks have actual radiator shutters to reduce the air flow on cold days).

As to this fellow who likes to comment on my weenie size at the end of his "posts"; I got the impression he was not familiar with the concept of a engine cooling system thermostat. These are the things that block off water flow from the radiator, so that the motor can warm up on a cold day.

Many thermostats are designed to "fail safe", meaning, if they fail, they will fail at a partially or totally "open" condition, so that the motor wont warm up properly.

If you have a diesel powered EX and live in cold climates, you might want to think about blocking off MOST (but not ALL) of your radiator, so that you dramatically reduce the flow of cold outside air across your engine block. You will wont get as fast a warm-up or as hot as a gasoline motor, but it should help you get comfortably warm on really cold days.

 

If it's cold, winter front is the way to go with your diesel. If you aren't getting hot air, there's an actuator under the dash that will switch between cold and hot air. I had it seize in two cars previously. One was stuck on hot, and one was stuck on cold. Kind of a pain to get to in most vehicles, but relatively inexpensive to fix. So if you know the problem isn't engine temp, might want to look into that.

 

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...er-months.html

 

While somewhat true, diesels take longer to warm up because there is more "engine", more metal to soak up the heat and diesel burns cooler than gasoline as idle.

 

I guess some of us are just gifted with more hot air than others.

 

Actually, A thermostat blocks the flow FROM your engine.
When the coolant temperature is of a sufficent temperature to melt the wax pellet in the thermostat. The stainless steel rod moves a small amount allowing the stat to open thus expel hot engine side coolant. The temperature drops, wax hardens, stat. closes and so the cycle continues. That is why they wear out and why you should always buy the premium thermostats. Whats an extra $10 with so much responsibility.

 

. . . and the higher compression means that more of the explosion energy is dissapated into mechanical movement instead of heat. The heavier the oil, the more caloric content so there's actually more latent energy contained in diesel than gasoline. That and the high compression is why diesel engines have a higher mpg (or should I say HAD before all the dpf stuff!).

As to thermostat "fail safe", I had two Suburbans suffer a thermostat failure while running down the road and the stat stuck in the closed position and overheated the engine. However, a thermostat failure will usually manifest itself in an engine that takes an extraordinarily long time to get up to operating temperature, if at all.

We were a -2 this morning and I didn't plug my Excursion in last night. It fired right up and the temp needle started coming up and it was putting out heat in about 10 minutes. While the engine does run a little cooler than a gasser (about 190 degrees), we had really good heat output in 15 minutes. If you're not getting good cabin heat, it's highly likely that your thermostat is bad.

I won't comment about cocktail weenies vs foot longs.

 

Completely blocking the radiator in the winter may not be such a good idea. Remember if the fan clutch engages it has to get air from somewhere. This is very bad for the fan and the water pump bearings and shaft. On your big trucks the fan is air actuated at which time the louvers in front of the radiator will be opened thus allowing airflow.

If you will also notice on the big trucks where there is a snap-on cover over the grill, most of the time a small opening is left open for some airflow to prevent mechanical damage if and when the fan engages.

 

it not how big your weenie is that matters its what you do with it that counts. and you know what they say about small weenies? they need smaller buns. (what did you think the answer was?

I now have to go change my thermostat. Like I knew what was going on with my truck.

 

[quote=hoosierbaby64;7112538]

1) "......it not how big your weenie is that matters its what you do with it that counts............" THAT ISNT WHAT MY WIFE SAYS.....

and

2) " . .I now have to go change my thermostat. Like I knew what was going on with my truck........."

ALL THE MORE REASON TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS FORUM. LOTS OF GOOD INFO. IN HERE (along with some silly stuff.....!)
AND some very interesting technical issues that have a LOT to do with our safety...for example - the guy who CLAIMS that a catastrophic failure of his FRONT hydraulic system could also cause a total failure of his REAR hydraulic system. I STILL havn't had that explained to me ....