As the coldness is finally starting to hit Indiana, I was wondering what you guys were using to help warm your engines up quicker to generate heat inside the cab. I have a 20 minute drive into work and my truck doesn't start getting warmed up till I am about 5 minutes away, that is after letting it warm up 10 minutes at the house. I have thought about one of those car heaters you can plug into a cig lighter but I am not sure if they work well or not. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Do you use the block heater?

No I do not. This is my first diesel so I don't know that much about them yet. So the heater warms the whole engine? I thought I read it just keeps the batteries warmed up.

Don't the '05's have high idle?

The block heater heats up the coolant. I plug in my truck and it blows out warm almost immediately upon start-up. The other advantage of using the block heater is that your engine will warm up faster, which is good for long-term durability, especially on our trucks. These things were not designed for commuting, and moreso on these than normal cars it's important to get the engine to operating temperature.

Where in Indiana are you? I'm in Terre Haute.

I am in Rushville, just a little south and east of Indy. I go through Terra Haute on my way back home to Xenia, IL all the time. In fact, I will be heading that way this Friday.

Anyone know the cost and difficulty in adding a block heater? I live in Arkansas, but it seems that I'm heading north a lot. I'll be in Wisconsin Monday. brrr

this might help

http://dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19728

Does anybody have the part numbers to add the block heater to the '04?

From Dodge...good luck on the cord seperately. I couldn't find anything. However, if you want to order a cold weather package it will cost you about $170.00. That is for the radiator cover, battery warmers, and block heater cord. Really easy to install too. There are some aftermarket places to order the cord seperately and that will cost you about $30 to $50 bucks. A local Cummins dealer might have it too. As for the high idle.....not all 04.5's will do this. It is a a set-up the dealer will enable. Basically, you start the truck, then you turn on your cruise, and press "Set". This ramps the idle to 1000rpms. Then you can press "Accel" and raise it to 1500rpms. At least that is how mine is set-up. When you are ready to go, step on the brake or turn off the cruise. Oh, I also heard you have to have an auto.....but I have read that some manuals do it too.

I bought the cord from my local Cummins shop for $11.46.

My truck was set up with the block heater from the factory. What i do is I have an outlet timer for 2 hours before I go to work. The heater goes to work for 2 hours, but at the same time I have a ceramic heater inside the cab that I connected to the outlet as well. When I step out to the driveway, I disconnect both plugs and I climb in the truck. Man, its nice 80+ temp inside the cab, ice is already melted, and the engine starts up immediately and blows warm air. Go to walmart and buy a timer. Good luck.

Does anybody have the part numbers to add the block heater to the '04?
Your truck should have the heater in it, just not the cord. Betty:D

Yeah,I thought they all come with the block heaters,I thought the cord was an option,I had to just buy the cord from GENOS.
Also I just had the high idle enabled works great.
I noticed that when I start in cold,after a few seconds the idle will come up on its own,something like 800 RPMs,has anyone else seen this?

I noticed that when I start in cold,after a few seconds the idle will come up on its own,something like 800 RPMs,has anyone else seen this?
Yep mine does that too. It seems to be programmed to let the engine idle normal till it senses a little change in coolant temp. The time it takes for the high idle to kick in seems to vary with outside temps. I don't know if coolant temp is the way they do it for sure. Just a guess.

Then once you move the shift lever it resets to normal.