Anybody out there seen or heard of installing a Cummins starting heater grid into a 7.3 PSD. My wife's 01 is the most cold blooded vehicle I've ever owned. At 40 F, if it's not plugged in, I usually only have a 50/50 shot of getting it started. I've got twin 900 CCA batteries in there and the glow plugs are fine, even running synthetic for a little less friction. I'm sure it can be done, just hoping somebody else may have blazed the trail....

 

The California trucks have a intake heating element on them that runs off a relay mounted where the glow plug relay normally sits on the 49 state emission trucks.

It would be a relatively simple mod to perform to get an actual heating element in the system.

 

so, I'm assuming they've got a similar set up in the intake elbow like a Cummins to allow for the grid heater?

 

It's a rather small element that screws into the elbow/Y...looks similar to a cross between a block heater element and a temp sending unit.

A person could probably have good luck with adding an actual grid assembly in a custom intake system, eg. like a modified Tymar or similar.

I don't know how much start assistance the CA heating element provides--IIRC it's primary purpose is to help eliminate cold idle smoke.