Keeping Diesel Engine Warm

Super_Dave wrote:
Are those AGM? Standard acid battery is much cheaper than that.

Tell me where

Picinisco wrote:

rhagfo wrote:
Last time I replaceed my batteries cost was less than $200 OEM MOPAR, this was in 2012 still cranking hard.

Each?

Interstate have 750cca for $170, each

Are those AGM? Standard acid battery is much cheaper than that.

rhagfo wrote:
Last time I replaceed my batteries cost was less than $200 OEM MOPAR, this was in 2012 still cranking hard.

Each?

Interstate have 750cca for $170, each

Picinisco wrote:

zcookiemonstar wrote:
Do you only have this problem when boondocking? Are you disconnecting your camper from the truck? If not this could just be a case of you draining your truck batteries with the campers power usage. Does your truck start fine at home without plugging in the heater?

No
Yes
No

I have thrown away the K&N filter and gone back to a paper filter. I have pullet out the intake heater to clean it but it is spotless.

The person i bought the truck from last february had just replaced both batteries, both marked 11/17 so i did not suspect them however on further examiation i find that they are 650cca batteries so suspect that they are a little weak, when cold, at getting the engine spinning to 200rpm, so when i get the $350 plus to replace them I will.

Last time I replaceed my batteries cost was less than $200 OEM MOPAR, this was in 2012 still cranking hard.

zcookiemonstar wrote:
Do you only have this problem when boondocking? Are you disconnecting your camper from the truck? If not this could just be a case of you draining your truck batteries with the campers power usage. Does your truck start fine at home without plugging in the heater?

No
Yes
No

I have thrown away the K&N filter and gone back to a paper filter. I have pullet out the intake heater to clean it but it is spotless.

The person i bought the truck from last february had just replaced both batteries, both marked 11/17 so i did not suspect them however on further examiation i find that they are 650cca batteries so suspect that they are a little weak, when cold, at getting the engine spinning to 200rpm, so when i get the $350 plus to replace them I will.

Do you only have this problem when boondocking? Are you disconnecting your camper from the truck? If not this could just be a case of you draining your truck batteries with the campers power usage. Does your truck start fine at home without plugging in the heater?

My dad was having similar problems with his '03 Ram/Cummins with only about 120,000 miles on it. It just would not start whether he plugged it in or not. In fact, it didn't even need to be all that cold out. Just a cold engine from not running over night would do it unless it was like 80-90 degrees outside and even then it was maybe 50-50 whether it would start. He was having to use starting fluid more and more often, which can be dangerous. First, he changed the batteries. No luck. Then he changed the grid heater. No Luck. Then he changed the lift pump. Still no luck. I think he even changed the block heater element and still didn't fix it. So he replaced the injectors and that fixed it.

It was a Ford 7.3 but we had an issue with cold when the starter was going bad.

It still turned over and sounded fine while cranking. In warm weather it started no problem but it started to struggle in cold weather.

At first I argued with the mechanic but he finally convinced me to change the starter. Sure enough with a new starter, she started right up the following winter without being plugged in down to -10F.

While it sounded fine to my ear, it has to crank fast enough that the heat generated during compression isn't absorbed by the block faster than it can reach ignition temps.

^ True. Minimum cranking rpms and minimum rail pressure numbers must both be met for ecm to fire the injectors.

OPs issue that goes away when warm is more likely injectors, possibly fca, or more remotely , the prv.

Cold starts below about +10 or zero when we are talking diesels. Snythetic oil remains viscous at low temps. Number one diesel helps a lot with higher cetane numbers and less gelling.