Cold (Fridid) Weather Start Diesel?????

This 2014 F350 I have with the 6.7 sat out in -5 this week and when I went to start it at 8am it started like a summer day, no hard cranking just tap the key and let it start. Truck was not plugged in and I had not used it for 2 days. These new diesels are nothing like the diesels from just a few years ago. I do run 5 w 40 Rotella T-6 full synthetic oil in it...for smooth flow in cold weather. Any time below -0 I'm putting some Power Service or FPPF in the fuel .

If they can run their diesels on the North slope in Alaska during winter, you should be fine out hunting, etc...

boogie_4wheel wrote:
Did have a '95 PSD that hated cold weather, but it had a number less than 8 of the glow plugs that were functional.

i had a 4-cylinder Perkins diesel that would always start unless two of the four glow plugs were bad. I would never know they went out until the temperature really dipped low.

One of the uses of my diesel truck is pulling the snowmachine trailer. We've often gone out on a Thursday afternoon when it's above zero and when we've come back on Sunday night to load up, it's been down to -35 or colder.

I make sure I have good batteries with clean terminals, I put on battery heaters, a pad heater siliconed to the side of the oil pan and use synthetic oil. When we get back to the trucks, I pull out a Honda 2000 to plug the truck into while we're loading up the machines. And a Honda 1000 won't pull that load, it takes a 2000. While the battery charging cables always stay tied to the handle of the generator, I usually take a larger battery charger with me that can put out a 50 or 200A boost charge.

I don't silicone the pad heater to the bottom of the oil pan incase I have to put a propane heater or weed burner underneath for heat.

Yes, I do use Power Serve.

We also try to park the trucks side by side or nose to nose so that one can jump the other. You should know which truck is the easiest to start in the cold. Run the jumpers from the other truck (before trying to start it and running its batteries down) to the easiest to start truck and start it with the extra battery power. Then start the worse truck after the running truck has put some battery charge back into the worse one.

The above is only needed for when it gets really cold, but we never know how cold it's going to get when we're going to be gone for several days.

Bill

I'm in Minnesota and only use #2 diesel fuel. Last year during the POLOR VORTEX I never had a problem starting. Oh yeah I use the White Diesel Kleen.

I can only echo many of the comments made here, you're not gonna have any troubles with starting ANY of the new diesel pickups at temperatures well below zero;

provided:

you're running winter blend fuel and have good batteries.

One more thing to mention. Having lived in the Arctic tundra of North Dakota most of my adult life, I always changed fuel filters in my diesels in November, in order to have the freshest, newest filter working for me through those brutal cold winter months.

Never had a diesel gell up on me, even the morning it hit -50 F.

Also, correction, but think one poster said #2 was home heating oil. Think that is #1, but I've never had that style furnace, so not 100% sure.

As others have said, the stations run blended fuel after a certain date. Do believe most all the new diesels are advised NOT to run straight #1 fuel anyway.

With the '03 Dodge & now the '14 Ram I never had any problems starting in the cold of Wisconsin. Never used any kind of additive.

I've never been in remote areas in such extreme cold as you're indicating, but in Indiana, we have had some -20 degree weather over the last 10 years. I've own 2 Chevy diesels and did not have any problems at all in those temperatures. The fuel is blended at the pump. Actually, for auto consumption, you can only purchase this. #2 diesel fuel is reserved for home heating, and the fuel stations automatically switch over their fuel supplies as the temperatures change. I've never had a problem in cold weather. But, then again, I'm not in a remote area either. But... cold is cold... right?

I wanted to get in here and brag about my Dodge firing w/o block heater at -25*F, but everybody has already said that you shouldn't have an issue...

Did have a '95 PSD that hated cold weather, but it had a number less than 8 of the glow plugs that were functional.

I can remember as a kid where my Dad was a road commissioner and always had a large diesel truck and a road grader sitting at home. He would start a bon-fire under the oil pan on many cold days to get them started.

X2 on carrying a small generator with you when you are way back off the trails. Has saved my day too many times to count.

My 2KW Honda sits secured in the tail gate corner of my truck bed...


Roy Ken