My recently purchased truck seems to take forever to warm up. Seems like I have to drive at least 5 miles before temperature registers on the gauge. Once it reaches 190, it stays steady -- no load city driving.

Is this normal? The service manual/owners manuals are vague about how long it should take to warm up. Temperatures here (fla) have been moderate. How long do most folks let the engine warm up before driving? I am not thrilled with running a cold engine, even at low speed/no load.

I also noticed that the oil pressure is slightly higher than average until I hit the 190 mark, which makes sense, but that can't be good for the engine.

I am tempted to change the thermostat but would apprieciate input first.

Thanks in advance

 

Diesels take a long time to warm up. 5 miles doesn't sound out of whack to me. Don't worry about high oil pressure, high is good (as long as it isn't so high it blows the filter off).

 

i agree with batphreak. and if u read the owners manual the way i took it its ok to drive with just a few min a warm up time 3-5 min and its ok to drive not hi load driving but light load driving

 

If you are in a colder region, yo can always get those heater plates that install in the grill and block airflow. should help warm the truck up.

 

atleast it isnt a Cummins N14. those things take forever to heat up.

but you have to look at it like this. the hemi, which is mostly aluminum and weighs about 550 pounds can heat up quick due to Al being a lighter metal. the Cummins ISBe tips the scale at 1000 pounds of iron. heating up that much iron takes a bit.

another way to heat up quicker would be to order the block heater pigtail and install that. every ISBe has the block heater installed, however in most areas the pigtail to hook up to 120vAC is a factory add on.

Shaun has the best fix. the air dams, which can be made from cardboard, can be used to force the engine to heat up quicker, and some have reported a fuel mileage increase from this in the winter. I guess it keeps the engine warmer to cause a more complete combustion.

 

I am 3 miles from the highway and I just baby it until I get to the highway. I figure that if I'm ideling it in the driveway, or driving 20 mph, it is the same rpm so I might as well be rolling down the road. I'm not putting a load on the engine, just driving easy. No problems.

Tim

 

Something else to consider is having the high idle activated by the dealer.