I Live in alberta canada, and it gets pretty cold in the winter up here. I have heard of Highway tractors "hoarding" the under-side of the engine bay, with some type of canvas of tarp, to help keep engine temps up. I have cold fronts, and have gone as far as slipping cardboard in front of the radiator, and totally blocking it off, and I still cant get the water temp up! If anyone has any experience "hoarding" I would greatly appreciate your insight. Thanks in advance!
PS- truck is a 2003 3500 SRW 5.9 HO

 

I have seen them put a canvas under the engine from frame rail to frame rail. And then have seen where they wrap all the heater hoses to insulate them and cold fronts too as well.

 

How cold are we talking? With my mopar winter front here, I have no prob gettin the engine to come up to temp in 5-10 miles. Thermostat stuck open?

 

Mine does the same, so I am interested to hear what others have done. When it gets below about -25C (not including windchill!) mine takes a long time to warm up and will only warm-up while driving (under load). Even after warming up if you park it and idle it, cools off. I am glad mine has heated seats!

 

I am in the same boat as the rest of us Albertians on my 05 ram 3500. I have a winter front and take a peice of cardboard and put it between the condensor and rad.

Plugging in the truck and battery blankets as well as a battery tender help with start up, but its still cold in the cab.

I think you can buy a engine belly cover from Dodge, that covers the bottem of the truck under the engine

 

I've never heard of such a thing from dodge... Look into a espar heater, they make a setup for the ram. Do you have high idle enabled on the truck as well? That will help warm it up faster and keep heat in the truck