Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) make'n heat

[PetesonM]

Its still cold here in WI. when its very cild -2 W -24 wind chill iI have been doing the cardboard trick in front of the rad because the thermo won't open till I have been driving a long time. Is it better to cover the front @ the grill which covers the intercooler or just the rad? I have half of the rad covered now but still takes 45min to an hour of drive time to get her up to temp. any tips besides plugn it in?

 

[johncameron]

The only tip I have is to lug the engine to keep the egt's up. I'll probably get shot for that one!

BTW, wind chill is not noticed by trucks, absolute temperature is all they care about. -2 is -2 with a 1000MPH wind for trucks.

 

[ThrottleJockey]

Cover the whole friggin thing. No holes at all. I put a solid hunk of sheet metal across my grill, took off the fan and put in 205 degree thermostat.



Nice.

 

[OL RATLR]

Cover the whole friggin thing. No holes at all. I put a solid hunk of sheet metal across my grill, took off the fan and put in 205 degree thermostat.



Nice.

Do not cover the hold radiator do a search and find out why. :-{}

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

BTW, wind chill is not noticed by trucks, absolute temperature is all they care about. -2 is -2 with a 1000MPH wind for trucks.

Don't quite agree with this. . . moving air carries heat away from warm objects more quickly than still air. Wind chill was originally determined by the rate a bottle of water suspended in the air froze. . . the faster the wind the faster it froze.



PetersonM I would cover both the radiator and intercooler. . . by keeping the intercooler from giving off heat you can warm the intake air a little. Here is another thought, someone posted about helping engine warming by restricting their air intake and causing EGTs to rise. But this can be a problem if you suddenly need to call on all the ponies your Cummins has to offer!

 

[RHestand]

Don't quite agree with this. . . moving air carries heat away from warm objects more quickly than still air. Wind chill was originally determined by the rate a bottle of water suspended in the air froze. . . the faster the wind the faster it froze.



PetersonM I would cover both the radiator and intercooler. . . by keeping the intercooler from giving off heat you can warm the intake air a little. Here is another thought, someone posted about helping engine warming by restricting their air intake and causing EGTs to rise. But this can be a problem if you suddenly need to call on all the ponies your Cummins has to offer!

Question? If the ambient temp. is 33 degrees and the wind was blowing fast enough to create a wind chill factor of 20 degrees, would the water freeze?

Just curious.

 

[PC12Driver]

Question? If the ambient temp. is 33 degrees and the wind was blowing fast enough to create a wind chill factor of 20 degrees, would the water freeze?

Just curious.

No. Wind chill only applies to what the temperature "feels like" exposed skin. It's a calculated, theoretical temperature. Stick a thermometer in a 30* room and it will read 30*. Put it outside in 30* temps with a 30mph wind and it will still read 30*. Actually, it may read a little higher in the wind because of friction.



For example, my airplane has a table in the manual that we use to correct the indicated temperature to actual temperature. The temperature sensor actually reads higher in cruise so we have to subtract a few degrees to get the actual outside temperature. Friction from the wind across the sensor warms it above ambient temperature.



Oh, and +1 for Vaughn's comment above. I cover everything at the grille, for the same reasons. I put my covers on in November and take them off in March. Seven years like this, no problems.

 

[jkern]

wind chill is a measure of evaporative effect that is felt... metal has no "feelings" nor is it usually wet.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Good description PC12Driver. Another way to think of wind chill is how fast the temperature of an object is brought down to ambient temp.

If it's 0F outside with no wind and you place a 200F hot potato on the porch it'll cool down to 0F in a certain amount of time.

Now let's take that same 200F hot potato and put it on the porch at 0 degrees and add a 30MPH wind. It'll cool that potato to 0F faster than the first example, but that frozen spud will not get colder than 0F.

Like PCDriver explained, if you leave a bottle of water in a 33F hurricane, it'll never freeze

Vaughn

 

[strehl]

I cut a piece of plastic to cover the a/c condensor. I leave the transmission cooler open. Its worked awsome for me this winter. Ive actually noticed my transmission stays cooler longer while plowing with it on. ( maybe the since the fan is still trying to pull air and more of it goes through the cooler?? i dont know. ) so far i've been in -32 deg while up north snowmobiling and engine temps only dropped to about 175 while idling for 5-10 min after engine hit 190. highest engine temp ive hit while plowing that 14 inches was 215

 

[BeefDoc]

My 2 cents

I agree that metal does not acknowledge a difference between air temp and windchill temp. That said, my truck will start ten times better if it sits out of the wind vs. in the wind. This is due to the wind taking more of the heat away from the block heater, not actually making the engine colder.



Your extended run time to get the motor up to temp could be a thermostat stuck part way open. I can have my truck up to temp in 15 miles at 0 degrees. I have replaced my thermostat twice, both times the rubber on the bottom was sucked into the thermostat, not allowing it to close completely. Might be worth checking.



Otherwise, cover the whole radiator/intercoooler with some cardboard.



For what it's worth

Matt

 

[CLawrence]

I would check or better yet replace your thermostat. I encounter the same temps and heat up in 10-15 miles with no covering up front.

CLawrence

 

[DWest]

Where to buy covers?

Where can you buy a front cover? Geno's had a cold weather kit, but I only need the cover as my truck is inside every night. DW

 

[PetesonM]

therm

Its great the debate that insews from a single Q: Anyway I put in a new thermo in sept noticed that truck was getting way hot @ dragstrip after only one pass. Im going to play arround with some diff combos and give you some feedback. Any combos anybody would like me to try (short of setting the truck on fire) let me know thanks.

 

[BeefDoc]

Where can you buy a front cover? Geno's had a cold weather kit, but I only need the cover as my truck is inside every night. DW

I've got 2 sets of the Lund cold fronts, they come as four pieces and snap into the honeycomb portion of the grille. They work well, don't look to bad, but can be very brittle in cold weather (install them when it's above 0 F). Can buy them on e-bay or from your local parts store (Lund dealer).



FWIW

Matt

 

[2-ND TIME]

Yes figured this one out years ago so here goes. If you are near a farm dealer store. They have baler belting about 10" wide our rads are wide enought for 5 of them. The depth of them is ???? can't remember 2 plus feet so 10 ft of this stuff cut the depth long. Use you belt or hole punch set to punch 5 holes in one end of all of them. I use the 500 /18" string to go throught all as needed. At -10C let two hang on the outside ends. The four now get varied with the temp as it gets colder. At -43*C the other week I had 4" of opening for the rad. But it still never made the cab warm. Rubber this stuff won't come apart and get stuck in your rads and won't melt too easily. The 1/8" string gets strung between the two hood supports. They need to be long enough to go twice that distance plus. About 8 ft. I also made a mud flap to cover the bottom of the engine tightly because mine burns so little fuel. So its cold all the time. I figure about 65 to 70 % of what everyones else does. So I know about cold engines. They made sure that mine was a lemon! Just tring to figure out Who's truck to get next. Not going to be burned again.

 

[DWest]

Replaced Thermo

Went to the dealer and asked about a cover and was told it wasn't available anymore. Asked about thermostat, was quoted $75. Went to auto parts store and got one one for $7. Works great, temp goes to 190 and holds steady. Temp was 10F so I may try taking 1/4" plywood out from between radiator and intercooler. DW