whats the lowest temp you've ever fired your ctd in?

[AWeiman]

sitting outside overnite whats the coldest you have ever had to fire your truck in. the coldest i did was -10f with the '01. the ol girl wasnt happy but she fired like always.

 

[BimmerAgent]

St. Paul

18 below in Minnesota. Cranked hard, but fired right up. Bruce

 

[Skydiver]

14F with no grids hooked up. Just a test. Too much raw fuel is not a good for the oil.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Let's set the scenario here: One 1996 Ram with over 400,000 miles on the clock, one optima battery and disconnected grid heaters. Sitting unplugged & not driven for over 12 hours, temps dipped to -5F overnight but was about +2F at morning startup. Delo 400 15w40 in the sump. It caught right away but sputtered out the first two cranks, the 3rd time it kept going with a lot of coughing and sputtering for a few moments. It's amazing how willingly these engines start. I think a DMax or PSD is pretty helpless if the glow plug relay goes out.

 

[HBarlow]

When I was transporting I spent a night at a Motel 6 somewhere in western Nebraska IIRC, might have been the Dakotas. It was -20* when I went out early the following morning to start my old '01. The truck had 300+k miles on it at the time. I cycled the grid heaters twice, held my breath, and turned the key. It turned over slowly, fired, shook, rattled, ran on two or three cylinders and smoked but it quickly smoothed out and ran fine.

After daylight on the interstate headed west I saw probably a dozen OTR trucks sitting shut down on the highway shoulders waiting for a tow truck or mobile mechanic. I assume they had gelled fuel. I was using Power Service and never had a problem. Later that morning it was -28* on the overhead as I went over the mountains.

Yes, I'm a fanatic about Dodge Rams with Cummins engines. Nobody could give me a GM or Furd.

 

[RobertHiltz]

I started two of them at -44. They were not plugged in, had Mobil 1 0-40 oil in them. About 18 hour cold soak and way below zero when parked.

 

[AClayton]

I don't even feel right admitting it was mere 15* when I started my truck one morning without being plugged in. Kinda lame in comparison when considering some of you guys! But my truck did it without a lot of fuss and after letting the oil pressure build, took off very slow and drove with a lot of care for about 3 miles in a suburban neighborhood. IIRC, it took about 20min. to come up to operating temp that morning.



Alan

 

[Jim W]

Jan of 09, daytime high was -20F since my truck is parked over night in a garage. I wanted to be sure that it would start when I went home from work that day. Went out at lunch time and started my truck up, cycled grid heater twice and then started right up. I do not run synthetic fluids nor have I change to a lighter weight engine oil.

Jim

 

[RHestand]

I think it was the Winter of 1998 the temps. dropped to -20 to-25 for about a week in N. WI. The first morning at-20 I had not plugged it in so I was a little bit anxious as to what it would do.
I let the heaters cycle one time, hit the starter and couldn't believe how slow it was cranking over. After about 4-5 very slow revolutions (15W40 dino) it fired one cyl. which helped it crank faster, then 5-6 more revs and a 2nd cyl. fired adding more engine speed then a 3rd cyl. fired and I finally let off the starter. After the third one fired and I was holding about 1/4 throttle it was really rockin & rollin, white fuel rich smoke was boiling out. Then finally one by one it fired all six and started smoothing out after 2-3 minutes. It definitely did not like waking up in -20 temps. and I considered myself lucky it even started. For the rest of the cold snap I kept it plugged in at night and had no more problems.
Ray

 

[AH64ID]

I have started a half dozen times in the 0 to -10*F range, sometime plugged in sometimes not. Fires right up. I also get regular starts in the winter in the teens with no block heater, it never complains. I will say that with the new Sears Platinum's (930 CCA vs 750 stock) it really turns over quick when cold its a very noticeable change.

-13* (hit this temp 4 or 5 times in the last year, but never colder) is the coldest I have driven the truck thru and couldn't even tell in the cab, thanks to good fuel, dual fuel heaters, and a winter front me and my fuel were toasty warm

 

[BarryG]

Mine has started after sitting at -20 though it was plugged in. Same morning drove to go ice fishing it was -29 when I parked it. It then sat for 7 hours and fired up at -25 with 2 cycles of the grids without being plugged in. Without the grid heaters I could not get it to start at -10 one morning. Was having problems with my ecm would have to reset it to get the grids to work then it fired right up.

 

[Mikey-KE7LBB]

-30 (ambient temp) without being plugged in and my 01 was very mad indeed!!!



Took 30 sec for grid heater and 15+ sec of cranking with pedal half way before she lit, but it STILL started!!!



Took a while before I dared to drive it, but I had other stuff to do in the mean time

 

[AWeiman]

Yes, I'm a fanatic about Dodge Rams with Cummins engines. Nobody could give me a GM or Furd.

thats half the reason i started this thread was so we could brag about the cold start capabilities of these trucks. i have a cousin whose truck has the "legendary" 7. 3 powerstroke, and well lets just say when it gets down to a certain temp he has "issues" if it aint plugged in. also wanted to throw in my dad has a 91 ctd started that after sitting over night in -5 weather. keep the stories coming.

 

[PatrickHansen]

-31 F, not plugged in. Clouds of black smoke until it warmed up a bit. The 5W30 synthetic is great for WI winters.

 

[Skydiver]

Found this thread that was started just over a year ago.
https://www.turbodieselregister.com...9048-cold-starting-those-unplugged-grids.html

 

[SHobbs]

I found out last year in CO that my truck does not like -15 F. I cycled the grids three times and it never fired, it tried to no avail. After an hour of being plugged in it did finally start

 

[Hammer]

-30 when I was up North of Quebec City one Winter riding snowmobiles with a Canadian friend of mine who has a cabin up there. It was ugly but it started and thank goodness for Amsoil... ... ... Andy

 

[jgillott]

-11 without the block heater.

 

[GaryOwen]

Found this on youtube. 2003 starting at -24F.





YouTube - 2003 Dodge Ram 3500 cold start at -24F

 

[rscurtis]

I'd like to see an 8 year old 6-litre do that.