First winter with the cummins.
Supposed to be single digits this week, and usually stays there for lengths in janury/February.
The ram came with the cold weather package including plug in block heater and grill cover. At what point should i be utilizing these things? I can put a cord out for the heater as soon as i find where they tucked the plug, but i've never really seen many pickups around here(Cleveland) with the grill cover
I plug in, in the 40s but my diesel is on its way to needing injectors soon. Most guys look at 30s, I believe.
I'd say the heater is more forgiving. Meaning that you could plug in at 60 degrees or 15 degrees.
Not so much for the grill cover
Its very complicated. Are you ready for all these instructions on how to start a Cummins in the cold?
Turn the key.
That's it.
We had an entire fleet of Cummins 6BT in our school buses. It didn't matter if it was 90 or 20 below. Never plugged one in. They were parked outside in a gravel lot. You just get in and start. Plugging in is healthier for injector coking at cold temps, but only worry about that if you're not going to get it up to temp on your drive. (which, for a 6BT is a while). Plugging in is also nice because it takes less time to get hot air out of the climate control.
i was thinking it would be quicker to get heat for the kids if i plugged it in overnight.
Canadian here, I plug my Civic in if it's under -10 deg C (google says that's 14 deg F) if that helps. I'm sure a modern diesel would be okay to plug in around that. Get a timer and use it to turn on a couple hours before you anticipate starting.
Better start them now and just leave them running until spring!
Used to plug in the gasoline vehicles if it was below 0 when I got up. If it was outside I would plug in before bed. I made a grill cover for the full size blazer and ran it after 20 degrees and below. Living in Minnesota that was usually mid December-mid February.
Don't forget the fuel
used to plug in the work trucks when it started getting into the 40s.. started thinking about adding kero the fuel when it got close to single digits
Found my plug, in the bumper cutout by the tow hook. Plugged it in, will see how quick we get heat in the morning.
Owners manual says put the grill cover on at 32. Will have to read the directions on that tomorrow after work. Get to change my fuel filters too since Amazon blew my order last month and I finally got the correct ones yesterday. Not looking forward to laying under truck in snow.
I'll give the modern Diesels credit, they usually start right away even if I crank the engine as soon as I get in because I didn't realize I got into something with glow plugs. I remember the bad old days of prechamber style engines where you were lucky if they started below freezing even after waiting for the glow plugs.
Direct chamber injection and modern low-resistance glow plugs (240A fuse mounted right on the battery? Yes please!) made winter starting painless.
I didn't realize my Duramax had a block heater until I pulled the fender liner to replace the glow plugs and found the cord. The truck always starts fine. I let the glow plug light go off, which takes 5 seconds. Or I don't....twist the key and it fires up. Even in below zero temps.
In reply to curtis73:
My 12v Cummins with 250k+ miles would barely start once temps hit freezing if it wasn't plugged in. And then it needed to warm up for about 10 min before I could even think of going anywhere... my neighbors hated when I drove that thing to work, leaving at 5am (straight through 4" exhaust = loud as berk).
My '03 TDi is more forgiving. It'll start in temps well below 0°F, but it's much happier if I can plug in. When I was at my ex's house, I'd try to plug in a couple of hours before I planned to leave. I remember a few times driving from work (where I can't plug in) to her place when the engine never totally warmed up.
patgizz wrote: i was thinking it would be quicker to get heat for the kids if i plugged it in overnight.
That would depend on how hot the heater got the engine to be.
If you were talking starting, idling, and then driving away vs. just driving away- the former would probably warm up a little more with a heater, the latter- I doubt it would make a noticeable difference until the temps got well below 0F. Driving is the most effective way to warm up a car.
The grill cover will matter if you drive long enough to open the thermostat when it's really cold- since most engines would rather run warm than cold (I'm not saying hot, but engines like running around 200F).
Following since I'll have a 12v cummins soon. :)
Personally I don't see why plugging the heater in would hurt it, so why not take the precaution and plug it in? Plus the added benefit of warming up quicker and having heat quicker. Only downside I would see is any electrical bills, but I doubt they use that much electricity.
I plug mine in if I'm planning on driving it on mornings where it will be at or below freezing. It still starts if I don't (240k mile 1st gen Powerstroke) but it's unhappy, loud, rough and bangy. It just seems easier on everything to plug it in. I actually ran the HD extension cord through a timer thats rated for the amperage so it goes live from 3 am till 7 am every morning. That way I can plug it in and leave it without heating all the time. I usually leave for work at 7 so it has time warm up before I go. I don't think the block heater makes much difference in the dash heat though. Putting in a working thermostat sure helped.
alfadriver wrote: The grill cover will matter if you drive long enough to open the thermostat when it's really cold- since most engines would rather run warm than cold (I'm not saying hot, but engines like running around 200F).
I've actually wondered about this for a while. The whole purpose of the thermostat is to regulate temperature. Why does having a big drop in coolant temp across the rad change that? If you don't have a grille cover, the thermostat just stays open for a shorter period of time before it closes again.
Ian F wrote: In reply to curtis73: My 12v Cummins with 250k+ miles would barely start once temps hit freezing if it wasn't plugged in. And then it needed to warm up for about 10 min before I could even think of going anywhere... my neighbors hated when I drove that thing to work, leaving at 5am (straight through 4" exhaust = loud as berk). My '03 TDi is more forgiving. It'll start in temps well below 0°F, but it's much happier if I can plug in. When I was at my ex's house, I'd try to plug in a couple of hours before I planned to leave. I remember a few times driving from work (where I can't plug in) to her place when the engine never totally warmed up.
Not even sure my '00 Jetta TDI has a block heater as I've never seen a plug. I've had to start it in as low as -15F without an issue. The '87 Mercedes 300D, on the other hand, I tend to use the block heater below 20F.
Where I grew up diesel grill covers where.....cardboard. or a feedbag.
Keith Tanner wrote:alfadriver wrote: The grill cover will matter if you drive long enough to open the thermostat when it's really cold- since most engines would rather run warm than cold (I'm not saying hot, but engines like running around 200F).I've actually wondered about this for a while. The whole purpose of the thermostat is to regulate temperature. Why does having a big drop in coolant temp across the rad change that? If you don't have a grille cover, the thermostat just stays open for a shorter period of time before it closes again.
The thermostat regulates the temp out of the engine, not the temp in. So a cold rad may lead to part of the engine being cold, another part being warm. Or maybe a slug of very cold water keeps going into the engine as the thermostat cycles open and closed.
All in all, I think it's more that the thermostat is the low nominal operating temp, not where you would really want it to be.
My 2012 Jetta TDI starts fine in cold weather. Although it's only gotten down to say -5 at my house the past 2 winters that I've owned it, it has started with no problem. There was a couple of times it misfired for a 1-2 minutes until the engine warmed up and it then ran on all 4 cylinders. I think the factory spec 5W-30 all synthetic oil has something to do with this.
With the grille block, I'd only use if you find the truck is unable to maintain normal coolant temp once warmed up in the cold.
I'm considering a dipstick style heater for my beater accord--putting it in the transmission dipstick. The thing drives so much better when the transmission is warm.
I'm also considering a block heater for my MIL's car. Not that it gets that cold, but she has MS and the cold has a huge negative affect on her.
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