Tips for a warm cabin this winter?
 

When I took delivery of my '05 Ram I had them enable the fast idle (very nice feature). When the service tech showed me how it worked he made the comment that "you'll use this alot because these things don't make heat in the cold." The first morning when I needed the heater I remembered his comment, and quicly learned he was right.

I love my truck, but I gotta say I don't like having to drive nearly 7 miles before I begin to feel any heat. When the outside temps dip below 10 degrees its common for me to run it on fast idle for 15 minutes (minimum), and still not have heat for the first 10 minutes of my drive.

Coolant level is correct. The engine will reach normal operating temp, but it just takes a while. Is this normal?

Any suggestions to help build heat into the engine during the winter?
:td:

Block the radiator with cardboard, and it probably wouldn't hurt to change out the thermostat. Be sure you get one from Cummins.

plug it in

Ideling in the cold isnt good - plug it in for 3 hours, and use a winter front like Wildbill suggested. You can also remove your fan for winter. That helps a lot.

Start the truck and let it idle for 30 seconds or so and then drive it. Start slow and keep it under 2k rpm. It will warm up. Its the nature of the beast.

An ESPAR heater is some of the best money you can spend on your truck:


http://www.espar.com/html/products/coolantheaters.html

Actually, don't remove the fan. The ECM controls the fan speed on the 3rd gens, you'll throw codes, sending the truck into limp mode.

that just the nature of the truck even letting mine high idle for 30mins before i got into it while i lived in AK it was still cold. what we did up there to take care of that is put a space heater inside the cab just make sure it is one that is surge protected and will shut off if it overheats or tips over so you dont get a fire

I did the cardboard thing and plugged mine in when I lived in wyoming, it worked a little, but to me when its -20 its gonna be cold no matter what you do...

Move to Texas!:yeah:

Idle in N if you have not modded the VB......it won't circulate fluid in P.

Try to avoid idle- it produces a lot of condensation inside the engine, soot and neglectible heat.
An hour of idle runs you two or three gallons of fuel.
An engine heater needs less than a quarter of a gallon per hour and the truck is really hot inside the cab and the engine is warmed up to operating temperatures. That's cool.( no not cool- it's really warm!)


Have a look here:

Enhance your quality of life - Welcome to Espar

or there

http://www.webasto.us/home/en/homepage.html

If you fired it up 15 mins early for 5 days a week, 4 weeks a month, 6 months a year at $3.50 a gallon (what fuel is here) that would be $190 extra fuel burned a year over an Espar.

So... it would take about 10 years to equal the cost of the Espar... Not exactly a winning agruement there.

Having warm coolant is nice though... just not $2000 nice IMO.

I just wear warm clothes. It's been staying around -10* the past few days here and my cab gets maybe 50-55* during my 40 mile drive to work.

Hey, nate you don't have an A/C then? Because it's not worth it?:ha:

Ok, what about avoiding wear and coldstarts. Think of it like a saftey device. You don't have to wear that thick layers of clothes And your windows are free of ice and snow. I can hear my neighour getting out half an hour earlier, trying to get rid of ice and snow. He is always p....d when I start the heater with my remote.( He knows that I have one)
I love to read the news in the morning instead and to have a comfy take off with a cup of coffee. My girl loves it too- she is always freezing.

Only a person not having a heater can talk about it in that way.
You do have a cell phone, don't you? Could you live without it? Sure you can, but it is more comfortable to have one, right?

you will find a calculator here:

http://www.espar.com/html/service/ca...alculator.html

I didn't say those heaters aren't nice, but it's not worth $1500-2000 on an old truck like mine.

I fire my truck up 5-10 mins before leaving. Go out, fire the truck up, bring the dog outback to do his thing, put him back in the house, clean the windows if I need to and then leave.

When it gets -10* or colder I plug the truck in for a couple hrs before I plan on leaving for work... So I guess that is ~$0.25 per day that I plug it in.

I plug it in regularly when the temps fall below 20. I don't run the engine with the block pluged in as I've been told that's asking for trouble with the block heaters.

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Thanks guys for the responses. I should have been clearer....

1. I plug it in over night.
2. I unplug, start it up, and set the fast idle to be 1200-1400 rpms.
3. Sometimes I turn the defrost on high if I have ice

This is pretty much my normal winter routine. With the defrost on sometimes it will cut the chill in the cab, but its still plenty cold inside.

Also, sometimes I'm in my truck parked during the winter for extended periods of time (eating lunch for example) and I'll simply crank up the fast idle to 1200 rpms. If its 0 or below the engine temp will actually lower back to cold rather than remain in its normal operating temp range.

I know that idling the engine for periods of time isn't good, but the fast idle should be OK. Plus the computer will automatically raise the idle over 1000 rpms if I don't set the fast idle, which I'm sure is designed for protection of the engine.

I was going to try a radiator cover, but there seems to be a bunch of space between the grill and radiatory front, which to me would allow lots of cold air to get around a grill cover. I may see if I can fab up a cover that fits up against the radiator.
:humm:

well i own a 2002 dodge cummins and all i do to heat it up fast is put it in 2nd the when i want to shift i never use the gas for the first 5 min i just shift and let the clutch out slowly and let it pick idle a
then shift again:tu:

How many degrees can an engine heater pull up temperatures above surrounding temperatures? 50°+?

Nate, you are absolut correct with the statement that they aren't cheap!
But have in mind, that you will pull the unit and take it with you to your next truck,please.
Why? Because you won't miss it! Compare an engine block heater with a fully warmed up truck showing real operating engine temperatures when you start!
You also can use it whereever you are- no external power supply needed.

Ok,there is a disadvantage that should be mentioned. These units do consume current- not a lot, but the also connected interior fan does.
I will write an install about an independent power supply to provide the board power needed for the heater and to insure an always safe start this fall using a dual independent battery setup.

Well jest put a cover over the grille. We done this back in the 50 to warm up all of are diesel tractors and big trucks. You can still buy them at some truck stops. If you want you can drive with it on till your Eng is heated up. Or you can have one made to look good on your rig.

Sounds like another good reason to buy an exaust brake.

Install an exaust brake and enable the high idle feature, your truck will be warm and the exhaust temps. are warm enough to keep the cylinders clean as well.

Take a look at the Pac-Brake PRXB.

I have an espar heater on my 06 and me and the girlfrind love it. It gets to -40 here in northern Alberta and i run it for 90 mins off the programmer. Cab is always warm and you just have to keep the blower on low so it doesn't drain the battery. I installed mine in my garage in acouple hours real easy to do if you are good with tools. The kit i got was built for dodge trucks and bolted rite in to holes and brackets on the trucks. I got mine for $850 cdn. Best Thing i got for the truck love it. :tu:

What are you guys doing for cabs that won't even warm up after an hour of driving? I have heat when it is around 0 Celsius, then nothing below that. When it is -20, I have to wear full on winter gear, and it only keeps the frost off the windshield.

I solved this problem by cutting the heated area into half by using a thin transparent foil you usually use for painting jobs.
If you reduce the room to be heated, you cut down the needed amount of heat. Learned this in the military with the poor insulated trucks.
Maybe this helps a bit.

Winter Front
 

Winter front is your answer. Mopar sells a really nice one that fits like a glove with adjustable velcro openings so you can leave it on with temp swings and have it opened up or closed enough for the right cooling at anything between -20F and +70F. I don't use the block heater until single digits and below. A few minutes of high idle before pulling out when it's really cold and I get heat in 5 minutes with the winter front closed:

Attachment 39435

My 98 wont warm up worth a damn in the winter if I dint block the radiator I have an Alaskan Tarp very nice to have. You can use a piece of cardboard to and plugin it in will help you out to.

They just don't make much heat unless you're putting the fuel to them workin' em'. You have to conserve what little heat there is being made running unloaded.

Ah, I've done the winter front, that didn't help either. Can't block off the area to be heated either, cause I haul the wife and 2 kids....lol.

I'm gonna look into a few options this spring to see if there is a better solution. Maybe time to do some custom fab....:jump:

How cold does it get. It got to Neg 29 here in colorado and my truck warmed up....

It will get down to -40 here. Usually sits around -30. And the ole megacab is a brick of ice.

It aint your truck its ole wheather causin your problems lol

Yeah, I know. This spring/summer is going to be concentrating on keeping heat in for the winter....lol.

If you want to spend money on something works for quick warmup, add an EB. Bonus is you have better braking also.

I keep it in the garage temp set at 40

Thats what Im looking into, too bad its a grand.

A cheaper option that im going to do for now is to get a little 12v electric heater that plugs into the cigerette lighter. Truck shops online have all sorts of junk that runs off 12v. And they have heated seat covers that plug in too.

Plugging your truck in over night is a must in cold weather. My heater comes to life after a couple miles tops when its in the 20's-30's

The reason why diesel take longer to warm up is because the blocks are soo much thicker. When we bench test big rigs after we rebuild the motors we can run them for 20 minutes with no load, on very high idle with no coolant and have no issues of overheating. Granted those blocks are a lot bigger.