How long to get heat in a 04.5 in the morning?

[Got Smoke?]

Alright same buddy of mine with the 04. 5 3500 6spd is complaining about it taking forever to get heat in the cold mornings(its been down in the 20's and teen's here).



He went and bought the block heater cord from the dealer... ... . but says that it doesn't help the truck get heat any quicker?



If I leave my truck plugged in overnight, I have heat within a couple of minutes of start up? He says it takes him 10-15 minutes of driving down the road to start to get heat.



So is there something we might need to look into or is this normal for this 3rd Gen?

 

[SSchang]

My '04. 5 is the same way. Even if I have it plugged in, the air coming from the vents is maybe a little warmer than if I hadn't plugged it in. I need to drive a good 10-15 miles on a 10 deg morning to get decent heat.



Scott

 

[DDiMarco]

8 deg F this morning in SE CT, definetely 7-10 miles before appreciable heat comes out of the vents of my 04. 5. No block heater cord yet but the motor fires up in about 180 deg of rotation, no probs.

 

[jam1on1]

not much heat

mine is the same way it going to the dealer on thursday even when plugged in over night still not much heat. drove for over forty miles on sunday still only got between 140/200 degrees

 

[nickleinonen]

lack of heat created in the cooling system is a normal thing in modern diesels when it is cold outside...



my truck when it was cold last week [± -15°f] the temp gauge didn't move off the stopper on the 1/2 hour drive to work, and on the one really cold morning, my truck was running for 2+ hours and the temp gauge had moved about 1/4" off the stopper... block heater helps a bit, but really just in making it easier to start. if you want heat, get an espar or webasto engine preheater... that's what i am going to do...



my egt at idle after both drives home from work would drop to less than 200°f within just a few seconds at idle... to me that means it is cold outside...

 

[BlueRam2500]

After mine is plugged in all night, I have heat within 10 minutes (roughly 8 miles) of driving it. Before plugging it in, it would be around 20 minutes before I had heat.

 

[PJ]

Plugged in or not plugged in, my truck is still cold for 15 min or more. I just wear a jacket and deal with it.

 

[WM-300]

When I am finished with my truck in the afternoon, it gets plugged in. Three days ago it was 22 below zero. Truck fired right up and ran quiet. Turned the Jake Exhaust Brake on, let it run 5 minutes and I had heat when I pulled out of the driveway. By the time I got to the village 5 miles, I had decent heat. You got to leave them plugged in all night and a short warm up before driving off and you will have reasonable quick heat



WM-300

 

[WStoops]

Here in NW Ct I have heat in 5 or 6 minutes but it is only warm. 10 minutes at 45 mph and I'm warm. The heated seats are awesome and provide great warmth in just a few minutes. If I'm going down a long hill it actually cools down.

 

[Motofreak]

I must be lucky, I have heat right away. Course its not as cold as some of you guys, was only 40 last night. I had it plugged in all night. Have a digital engine temp and when I fired it up it read 136 instantly.

 

[TWilkening]

It might warm up faster if you have a winter front on it.

 

[shendren]

heat? what heat?... ... . takes about 60 seconds with the seat warmer on high.

 

[SLinse]

it's been -10 to -20 here for about a week. I notice a big differance with a winterfront. Also while you are letting it warm up before driving, turn the heater knob to the recirc positon. when it's around 0 and warmer, I can let it warm up for about 10 mins, and it will be blowing warm air.



Mine defantly doesn't like the -20 and colder though. They are calling for -30 tonight, so it will be a cold drive to work tomarrow.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

I always put a good-sized chunk of cardboard between my radiator and intercooler in the cold months of winter and that helps noticeably. Just don't block the center portion where the fan hub is so the fan clutch will cycle properly.



With large cooling systems, and efficient diesels not making much heat under light loads, your truck won't warm up very fast. An e-brake like WM-300 has is a great way to warm up a truck before setting out.



Vaughn

 

[Wayne M.]

It's been pretty cool around NYC too, in the teens at start up. The engine is not real groggy and sometimes goes into high idle if I don't drive right away ( I don't plug in). I don't get good heat for about 5 miles, which is when i climb the frist hill of the day. This truck takes twice as long as my old '92 to get decent heat. I have tried using the recirc, but it isn't much better. I believe it's the nature of the beast. I'm considering a winterfront.

One other cold weather characteristic that bothers me with this new truck is the grid heaters, and how they cycle even after you've been running and warmed up. If you make a quick stop and restart, even though the water is at good temp the grids will cycle.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Oh another thing I noticed on my '03 compared to the three 2nd Gens I've owned. . . they seem to have less thermal insulation. It seemed to be harder to heat in the winter, and took a lot of AC to cool in the summer. The AC seemed to struggle when temps were in the low 100s.



Vaughn

 

[CRuth]

Well it doesn't get very cold where I am (might hit freezing a day or two) but its the same. No heat heat at all by the time I get to work. Only ten minutes away but every gas rig I've ever had had some heat by then. I mentioned this to my buddy who drives a ford diesel and he gets heat much faster.

 

[coobie]

Winter Front

I plug my truck in when it gets below 20-30 degrees. I find having a good winter front on also helps get heat quicker to the cab. Just my 2 cents Oo. coobie.

 

[Wayne M.]

Oh another thing I noticed on my '03 compared to the three 2nd Gens I've owned. . . they seem to have less thermal insulation. It seemed to be harder to heat in the winter, and took a lot of AC to cool in the summer. The AC seemed to struggle when temps were in the low 100s.



Vaughn

I noticed that also, but I went from a regular cab to a quad which doubles the cab area to heat and cool. My Durango don't have the optional rear heat/ A/c and it really struggles in the summer time. A good improvment for future models would be to give rear floor vents in the Rams.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Wayne I had a Quad Cab. . . still a smaller cab but closer in size to the 3G. You also have more glass area on the 3G which reduces the insulating factor.

Rear floor vents would be a nice improvement.