Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) How warm do grid heaters get?

[LHanus]

Been having hard cold start problems, WTS light was only staying on a few seconds, pulled IAT and cleaned now WTS seems to be normal. Still hard to start in cold >50 degree weather without plugging it in. Question is after a 3 WTS cycles the heater grid is barely warm, can touch the intake where the grids are, feels about the temprature of lukewarm water. I do have 12V to the grids when the WTS light is on. It it supposed to get hotter than that? Have 120K miles do these things burn out after a while?



Thanks in advance

 

[BK]

I thought that the computer measured the temperature, and when hot enough it turned off the WTS light. So hence, if the grid didn't get hot enough, the WTS would never turn off.



So if that's true,, then my thought is... ...

Could it be that during cranking, your batteries are dropping way too low and hence messing with the fueling and timing and not starting correclty?

With the heater plugged in, the oil is warmer and cranks easier, could be all the margin you need not to have the batteries dip too low for the computer during cranking.

Going in 6 years on the batteries, they don't owe you a thing.

Do you have a large battery charger with a cranking mod?

 

[LHanus]

Replaced batteries in January due to slow cranking. Cranks normal now. Just seemed that the intake grids didnt seem real warm when I was checking the voltage to make sure the relays were working. (They are, battery voltage at both and both show some resitance but dont remember the exact figure).

 

[BK]

Is fuel pressure ok?

 

[obert]

12 volts to the heater dont mean squat in of itself. Those thigs draw alot of current. Make shure there is a good clean connection and a good ground.



That said, I would first suspect a small leak in the feul supply. not nececarily fuel out, but air in when the engine isnt running. Those little leaks can be nasty to find.



I have started mine below freezing with not much trouble on NO heat cycle.

Good luck!

 

[LHanus]

Apprieciate the info. I have been going through the fuel system based on searches of previous threads already. Main reason I asked this question was I saw several references to meltdowns due to the grids being stuck on yet while I was troubleshooting my WTS light problems (was due to dirty IAT) my grids seem to never get more than lukewarm (even with the WTS problems fixed). Unfortunately my neighbor who owned a CTD moved so I dont have anything to compare mine against.

 

[59Turbo]

Pull the intake elbow off and turn the key on and see if the grids turn red. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that they should turn red. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[dslmacdown]

Only good way to see if the heaters are working is to get or borrow a clamp-on amp meter and measure amps for each heater.

 

[Bob Wagner]

this is what happens when the relay welds, not my truck



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[Hohn]

Looks like they should be make enough heat to feel warm to the touch, eh?


If your truck isn't starting immediately, the problem isn't the grid heaters.


Most of these trucks will start with NO grid heating at all even in freezing temps. They will just run like crap and smoke like nuts.

I'd look elsewhere, as the heaters are probably not the problem...

 

[nps]

Like what Hohn says. I unhooked my grids about 4 months ago (start of the cold season) because I hate seeing the cycling on the lights and voltmeter. My truck starts the same whether its 35* or 75*.