to avoid jumping in my truck in the am and nursing a cold diesel down the road not talking real cold (houston cold) but to reduce the warm up time I have been pluging my truck in at night. When I start it the engin temp and oil pressure move to normal range much quicker and my assumption is that that is better for the engin than driving it at below normal range for the 5 miles it takes otherwise. Any opinions about this subject. I hope that this truck runs 10 years. and am attempting to do anything cost effective to make that happen. I will be switching to synthetic when my 1 year of free oil changes expires.

 

it's fine, but I wouldnt worry about plugging up the block heater untill the temps get into the teens.

the grid heater is capable of starting the truck in temps as low as -20 to -30F.

 

he has an interesting point there on saving warmup times with the block heater... I wonder how fast the dials turn when it's plugged in...

 

I've used my heater for all 12 years of owning the truck. I makes a MAJOR difference during the cold weather. I also installed a Schumaker battery conditioner. I use a triple tap so both can be powered at the same time. If you keep the batteries charging BEFORE the outside temp drops below 32 degrees, the batteries will maintain a full charge. It's a 2.5 amp charger/conditioner. Makes all the difference in the world. 12 years and I am on my second set of batteries.

Just my 2 cents.



Good luck.

 

I am not talking about thrue cold it just accelerates the engine warm up. When I start cold it just seems like it takes 5 miles to come up to nominal temp and pressure. I understand that if the turbo spins without sufficent oil it can be damaged if the oil is to thick it will not flow through the turbo as well, at say 60° ambient temp is the oil fluid enough to not result in some incrimental damage over the life of the engine and what would be the down side of heating the block under moderate temps be.

 

I was kinda wondering this as well.

I've only plugged my Ram in once, and I swear it smelled like I was cooking the oil. Perhaps it is because I park my truck on a slight hill. Where is the heater located in the pan? If it's towards the very front, then I could definately see where either all, or part of the heater wasn't covered by oil ( I park my Ram with the tailgate at the lowest part of the hill ). Beyond that though, does this heater heat up the oil to the point where it actually starts to break it down?

 

The factory block heater on my truck heats the coolant and is located "in the water jacket of the engine just above and behind the oil filter." The manual also suggests using it between 40 and 0 F and requires it below 0. I usually plug mine in during the wineter, I feel like starting a relatively warmer engine is better in the long run than a relatively colder one

 

The grid heater strains you batteries and alternator. Look how much the lights go dim when the thing clicks on! Plugging it in should save battery life and alternator life. I use mine all the time 50F and lower. I also like having almost instant heat on those cold mornings.

Bob

 

Since I didn't get the heater as an option from the dealer, where can I get one. I live near Chicago IL, so it will come in handy here pretty soon.

 

I could be wrong but someone told me that all the Cummins have the heater in, but what you didn't get as an option is the cord/wiring, that you use to plug the thing in. Anyone else know for sure.