Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Factory ECM has fast idle option in cold weather

[Red Rocket]

Used qc2

I watched the quickcheck2, and noticed some things that could be useful. When the motor starts, as of this morning it was 5'f, but the grid heaters cycling brought the temp up to 40 some in the manifold, then when those stopped cycling, the IAT went down to about 20'f, not 5 because i assume the motor was warming up and adding heat from the block. By this measure I expect to see the 15'f 3cylinder operation at more like -5'f, after a night sitting out in the cold for the whole night. From the time I started it, to the time the fast idle quit at 173'f coolant temp, was about 30 minutes. Hope this sheds some light on this subject. PS, after sitting for only 4 hours, the block is still warm enough to cause the IAT to stay above 32'f.



Nick

 

[Mpoland]

Plug in vs. High Idle

A question that I've had is which is better.



1. Plug in the block heater. This means that the factory high idle will never work, or



2. Leave the truck outside, and rely on the "high idle" to warm it up.



As cold running as my truck is, I don't understand why DC made the trip levels for the "high idle" so low.



An example: With the outside temp reading 12 degrees F, after being plugged in last night, and letting it idle for 30 minutes, the temp gauge still had not moved. I was just starting to get some heat in the cab after driving 4 miles, with the O/D off. (And I have cardboard in front of the radiator)



The only time my "high idle" has worked, was after it was outside over night. I have a hard time leaving my truck outside, instead of in the garage.

 

[Pit Bull]

Re: Plug in vs. High Idle

Originally posted by Mpoland

A question that I've had is which is better.



1. Plug in the block heater. This means that the factory high idle will never work, or



2. Leave the truck outside, and rely on the "high idle" to warm it up.

Plug in is better, 2-3 hours should do it. You can test by how quick the start engine light goes out when you turn on the grid heaters. It's not good for them to let them idle that long to try and warm them up. Put on some cloths and drive it that is the best way to bring it up to temp. If you have a heated garage then you don't have a problem. Even with the high idle the best way to warm these truck up is to drive em.

 

[David_VT]

Finally got mine to work!

I really like this high idle software.

The truck had almost 100K on it before I finally got the sw to work!



It was in for $2500 in front end work so I guess they took pity on my plight and loaded the upgrade.

 

[willyslover]

you guys in Vermont are fast on the answer ain't ya



must be that cold climate ya live in . . did ya just get thawed out since the last post was 12/2002 before your post LOL



Good to see your name pop out of the woodwork again David

 

[Coyote556]

is there anyway someone with a OBDII scan tool could enable the high idle feature? i had the computer reflashed, and guess what, i guess the guy did not know how to enable the feature because it does not work. i have a friend that owns a garage and i was wondering if he could do it with his scan tool?

 

[jtisdale]

is there anyway someone with a OBDII scan tool could enable the high idle feature? i had the computer reflashed, and guess what, i guess the guy did not know how to enable the feature because it does not work. i have a friend that owns a garage and i was wondering if he could do it with his scan tool?

No, it has to be DRB III.

 

[Coyote556]

is drbIII a diesel only type of software? Maybe he has the DRBIII, ill have to call him. Is it common for a private garage to have that or is it dealer only? thanks for the help

 

[wtfd6]

drb III is dealer only. as far as i know anyway.

 

[Coyote556]

thanks for the help

 

[GKinney]

tsb 18-019-01

Well after owning the truck for 6 years now... I finally had the re-flash done today. I would have never known about the feature if it wasn't for this forum!! I have been waiting for it to work now... . but after reading the post from redrocket about the block holding that much heat for 4 hours... maybe I am impatient then. Supposed to be 12 below F. tonight... so I guess tomorrow morning will tell the story. Hope it works... ... ... . I had the reflash done for $29 and some change... . guess I have wasted more than that before.

 

[wtfd6]

i just had mine done on wednesday. it hasnt done anything yet. i will find out tommorrow too.

 

[SnoKing]

Well guys, if it does not work, take the TSB into the dealership and have them read the part about turning on the 3 cylinder idle. That is what enables the whole thing. Few techs seem to be able to enable it on the first try. SNOKING

 

[DDvorak]

I had to take mine in twice, the second time spelling out that the tech needed to turn on the 3 Cylinder idle and which menu he needed to look at (which I got here on this site). It works great! Although it gets really cold here in North Pole, Alaska from time to time. You just have to keep badgering the Dealer to get the thing enabled correctly.

 

[David_VT]

Love Mine!

Mine took two tries to get the software working.



The truck idles up when it is cold enough. A gradual increase after a short delay if the software finds the rig cold enough. When it is really cold the 3 cyl thing kicks in and the exhaust cloud virtually goes to zero. Kind on neat and it really wams things up quickly!



If the truck is plugged in, there is too much heat to trigger the ramp up. However if you leave the rig unplugged and it is cold enough outside, the ramp up will start as the heat from the electric heater fades away. This is especially true if you leave your cab heater on max trying to defrost the windshield on a bitter morning.



Seeing how reliable this has been for two winters, I have removed my after market high idle hardware. I idle at accident scenes running emergency lighting, etc and no longer have fear the truck will get too cold.



Happy holidays to all!

 

[GKinney]

high idle

Thanks for the replies guys... ... . well it is about -2*F right now and I didn't plug her in last night... so if it doesn't work now, it will be a trip back to the dealer I guess. The service manager had the tsb printed out when I got there so I figured the mech. would have read it... . he seemed pretty smart? We'll see. There is a diesel shop here too and I talked to him about it... . he has a dbrIII also..... seemed pretty excited about messing with it, might go there instead. Happy holidays to you all too!!!

 

[GKinney]

update

Well I finally went out to start the ole girl... it was about 5*F at the time. It went through it's usual roughness for the first minute or so..... and by the sounds of it even before the pre-heaters quit cycling, it was running on the 3cyl. feature. I haven't yet seen the high idle work though... it was running at the normal 850+-rpm... bummer. I think I read somewhere in this post that someone mentioned that the high idle and the 3cyl. feature had to be enabled separately... ... does anyone know about that??? The tsb makes it sound like they are both enabled together... . well guess it is a trip back to the dealer either way. Thanks in advance for the help!!!

 

[wtfd6]

glad to hear that yours worked. mine didnt do anything different. it still idled the same and smoked like crazy. guess ill be heading back to the dealer also.

 

[SnoKing]

Well I finally went out to start the ole girl... it was about 5*F at the time. It went through it's usual roughness for the first minute or so..... and by the sounds of it even before the pre-heaters quit cycling, it was running on the 3cyl. feature. I haven't yet seen the high idle work though... it was running at the normal 850+-rpm... bummer. I think I read somewhere in this post that someone mentioned that the high idle and the 3cyl. feature had to be enabled separately... ... does anyone know about that??? The tsb makes it sound like they are both enabled together... . well guess it is a trip back to the dealer either way. Thanks in advance for the help!!!

Hate to be the one that tells you. IT DID NOT WORK. It will first ramp up to 1200 RPM and then if it is cold enough it will also go into 3 cylinder at 1200 RPM and you will mess your pants. SNOKING

 

[Red Rocket]

Yes the sound of the 3 cyl feature will blow your mind. If it doesn't idle up it didn't work, as stated before, and dealers are really good at screwing it up. Just to point something out, the high idle, and 3 cyl will kick in while the block heater is plugged in, but from my experience with the truck plugged in all night and sitting for about 10 hours, you need about -5 F for high idle, and -8 or -10 for the 3 cylinders, but it does happen. I think it was -12 here the other morning, and I did this exact thing. This feature is well worth putting some time in to make it work.





Nick