Dodge and cold weather

[domehead]

Hi all,



When went out to start my truck this in Trinidad, CO it was -18 standing and -31 wind chill. Yes the engine roar to life but it was slow. The problem was the nav unit, blue tooth and Music copyto the hard drive.



The did not see the nav databse being installed, blue tooth did not work and the music was not displayed. Shut the the truck down and restarted and the problem was still there.



Drove for about two hours going to Denver and pulled into a rest area after taken care of things started the truck back up and the problem was gone. It appears the radio cannot handle the cold.



In silverthrone, co tonight and I wonder what other little items will stop working.

 

[AH64ID]

-18* is pretty cold, some electronics don't like it that cold. I would ask Dodge about it.



On a side note, non-living objects don't care 1 bit about wind-chill, wind-chill is an apparent effect on living creatures. You may know this, but you would be surprised how many people think that 40* ambient with a 25* wind-chill will freeze water.

 

[domehead]

I know that thank you. That was me crying about how dang cold it was. I did call the dodge dealer in Golden, Co and was told that this does happen and after the truck warms up most of the time the errors clear.



What I was wondering how many people have two hour drive time in the morning and if Dodge is working on a cold weather package for the electronics.

 

[HBarlow]

Domehead,

Stop by your friendly Wal-Mart and buy a $20 portable electric space heater and a bright orange extension cord so you can run your space heater in the truck overnight.

You gotta have all those electronic marvels when you start it up in the morning. You might not know which direction to turn when you leave the motel parking lot without your in-dash navigation and you wouldn't be able to get an early morning phone call from your agent or broker without your bluetooth.

 

[gtoli]

It's been cold here lately, down below 0* a couple times, the laptop computer in my Ford takes a while to "Warm the system up" and the battery light flashes until everththing warms up and is happy. Guess it's just the nature of the electronics beast.

 

[domehead]

I was wondering why I ended up in Kanas



LOL

 

[domehead]

The set of errors with cold weather and truck. The 4wdr service light came on than clear after about 200 miles than came back on than cleared again. Cruise control would not turn on cleared after restart at 200 miles.



Engine turns over very slowly like the batteries are weak. Hope I make it home without doing a battery swap.



The truck has 32,000 miles on it and it's year old.

 

[HBarlow]

I had to start mine in a blizzard in Chanute, KS about ten days ago. The low temp was about -5 if I am remembering correctly. It turned over just a bit slower than normal but fired right up, ran smoothly, and everything worked normally.

I have a poor man's aftermarket Garmin not the fancy in-dash navigation and never have programmed the Bluetooth in this truck. Don't know why I ordered it.

 

[AH64ID]

My Garmin has worked in subzero temps, but its not happy about it.



Those cold temps are well out of the operating range of lots of electronics, especially consumer electronics, so I can't say I am surprised they won't turn on... but they should attempt to turn on after a few minutes again.

 

[domehead]

I am in Nashville tonight and the trucknis operating fine no errors guess its just a southern truck you all
Taken it tobthe dealer Tuesday let you know what comes out of it

HBO I may need to call you to get direction back to the house or I will use the smoke signal method take care my friend its been a 3900 mile tri

 

[HBarlow]

I am in Nashville tonight and the trucknis operating fine no errors guess its just a southern truck you all
Taken it tobthe dealer Tuesday let you know what comes out of it

HBO I may need to call you to get direction back to the house or I will use the smoke signal method take care my friend its been a 3900 mile tri

Temps are supposed to be great across the south plains the next week or so and your Nav system should be happier. If it doesn't work call me and I'll plug your location and destination in MAPQUEST in my computer and tell you how to get home.

 

[Missouri Mule]

domehead was/is there a place you could plug in at(coolant heater) that should warm the cab.

 

[domehead]

domehead was/is there a place you could plug in at(coolant heater) that should warm the cab.

I was not close enough to any outlets to plug into for the block heater. It appears the electronics in this truck does not handle the cold weather very well at all. The start problem reminds of the old GM's when the start got warm and the winds would separate it would barley turn over and if you let them cool down for 30 min's it would start right up. Same thing with my dodge in cold weather.



I am back home and all of the bugs have vanished and the temp today is +52. I hope there are some codes in the computer to help the tech to trouble shoot the problems. The other thing is low voltage can cause some strange issue and if this new batteries do not like the cold it may have been part of the problem.

 

[HBarlow]

Domehead,

I would make a bet that your dealership will tell you they couldn't find anything wrong with your truck.

That new truck should NOT have any problem starting at -18* and the electronics, although very complex, should work also. If that is typical of the new G4 trucks many owners are going to be disappointed.

I guess it is possible that one of your new batteries has a manufacturing defect and is weak but I would doubt it.

 

[DThweatt]

In my work truck, we use panasonic toughbook laptops... anything colder then around 28deg and the computer will not fire up . . it will say "system warming up... please stand by" after 5-10 min and the cab warms up the computer will then turn on.



the nav in my truck has worked down to 20deg so far w/o issue. Have not been in really cold weather yet

 

[gtoli]

In my work truck, we use panasonic toughbook laptops... anything colder then around 28deg and the computer will not fire up . . it will say "system warming up... please stand by" after 5-10 min and the cab warms up the computer will then turn on.



the nav in my truck has worked down to 20deg so far w/o issue. Have not been in really cold weather yet

That's what we use, Toghbooks. They live up to their name. One of the guys forgot his on the roof of his car and got on the interstate. He heard it hit the trunk on the way to the pavement at 70 MPH. Other than a little damage to the case it worls fine. Actually he said when he picked it up, it was still running the program that was on at the time.

 

[domehead]

The dealer have replaced the batteries today, they want to keep the truck over night to see if anything else will appear.

 

[domehead]

Been thinking about the batteries being replaced. About three months ago the truck setup of about week and half and when I tried to start it barely turned over. I took it to the dealer that day and they tested the batteries and everything checked out. I am wondering if that was the warning sign that the batteries were weak and need to be replaced.

 

[domehead]

There are two other recalls that was done to my truck today the power steering cap and a new flash to the ecm was besides the batteries being replaced.

 

[tp0d]

I have a cell phone that i leave in my truck all the time. When its below 10F, it gives me a battery error and wont turn on unless I plug it in. After the cab warms, its fine. Never had an issue with the truck/radio, and I`ve seen -14 overnite here... I always plug her in tho. .

-j