Guys,

Question for you... WE are getting a bit of cold weather in this area over the next bit or so.. well I have a part time job.. starts at 4:30 till 1am.. which it will be very very cold at that time...
No place to plug in...

The only thing I can think of to be able to restart my truck at 1am is to start and let it run after a couple of hours... maybe around 8 or 9...

anything else that I could do...

Other that move to Aruba...

Pete...

Pat

typically yes...

I need to change my glow plugs.. just no time this week to do it...

Pete

Pete - I'm in the same boat - need new glow plugs and no time to change lately. Hi yesterday was 10* and I parked from 7 AM to 6 PM. Started up as hard and rough as it ever did, but started nonetheless. Of course my 2 new red tops don't hurt.

I think your idea of running for a while at mid-shift is sound; I've found these things hold heat for a while. The other thing I do in very cold weather is park with my tail into the prevailing wind.

Be thankful we aren't in Embarrass Mn: Negative 54 F last night. Real temp, not wind chill.:eek:

It was -38C the other day here, wind chill put it around -54C, my truck was plugged in and fired right up and was banging on all cylinders in seconds!

Mobil 1 15:50 full syn...

Good glow plugs and extended time make all the difference. If the batteries are more than three years old I would start looking for a sale, soon. It's starting to get cold on the East Coast now too. Three days near neg. numbers with no plug in and she fired right up.

It's not so much the starting that I'd be worried about. It's the startup and 30 sec. of no oil pressure because at -10f your oil is about the consistency of peanut butter. Glow plugs are no substitute for plugging your rig in when it gets below about 20f. I'm new to diesel's but have lived in AK my whole life (35yrs) and trust me when i tell you, your truck will live longer if you plug it in. Block heaters won't help you though if your glow plugs are bad. Ideally you would be able to do both. If you frequently find you have to start your vehicle with out the benefit of plugging it in, I'd definitely look into a lighter weight oil. Especially if you live somewhere that won't see 40f until late april. ;)

Starting it up midway through your shift might be ok, but if your truck is anything like mine water temps rarely get above about 150f at idle (a cold front or "high idle" might help a little though). It will still be pretty cold after 4hrs. Meaning you effectively have started it twice while it's cold rather than just once.

When I had my 6.5 the thing would not start if it sat for more than a few hours at about 25 degrees or below. Can't tell you how many times that left me in a bad state. I never got around to replacing the glow plugs until summer, so I don't know how that would've changed things. In the winter without question, the truck would crank and have no intentions whatsoever of starting. Replace the glow plugs, make sure your batteries are in good shape. It would be interesting if you could retrofit an intake air heater like the Cummins engines use, that might be benficial.

on kennedy's website, www.kennedydiesel.com, he has the instructions for the fast idle for a 6.5. very easy to do. i use the 1070 rpm idle and that is just about right. helps warm her up a little faster. if i lived up your way i would definatley be running a 10w30 or 5w40, but for ohio i will just stick with my 15w40. i have always thought about gettin an oil pan heater. boy, if you could take a block heater, oil pan heater, and a battery blanket heater and wire them all to one cord, that would be the way to go. might cause a little fire though......

...................... i have always thought about gettin an oil pan heater. boy, if you could take a block heater, oil pan heater, and a battery blanket heater and wire them all to one cord, that would be the way to go. might cause a little fire though...... My truck was an old Aleyeska (trans-alaska pipline service company) truck and they had all 4 of the heaters you mention put on it when it was new. I have to split them up across two different outlets, because all 4 on one outlet trips the breaker (20A). I usually just use the block heater and on really cold nights the tranny pan heater. I don't really have any interest in spending more money keeping my truck warm than my house, so I also use a timer that starts warming around 5am. ;)

I finally hit NAPA at the right time a few weeks ago and picked up some CF-4, CF/SL rated 5w-40 synthetic (bought 6 gallons). They can't keep it in stock up here.

Guys,

Plugging in as I said before .. not even close to an option...

I ended up the other nite just firing her up mid shift...

Looks like that is all I can do.. when it at home .. I plug her in...

It just that 3 or more nights a week now I work until 1am.. and usually dont worry about it unless under 20 or lower...


Pete

Command start...

My bus will start at +16°F. It may not really like it, but that's with a fresh batch of Kennedy plugs too. I do feel for ya, cause I'm not that far behind you in the not-starting department. New plugs don't do much good when you SES light says that your glow plug relay just bit the dust. Crankety-crank.

Above about 20F mine starts great, I just installed all new Delphi plugs and ran fresh wire from the relay, below that, it will start no prob, but it runs on 6cyls for bit, picks up #7 in just a few seconds and that last one is way behind depending on how cold it is. I'm pretty sure its low compression on the back 2 cylinders.

I'm able to plug mine in at night at home, but not during the day at work. It starts much better plugged in when the temps go below 20 F.

For really cold weather, no plug-in and some cash, there are a few fuel-burning heaters that will warm the engine, and even operate with a timer.

Check out Espar heaters: http://www.espar.com/