silly radiator coverings during winter

Today it is -32 wind chill -46 winter front is on now if that young fellow would like to come up here and work with no winter front on he will soon learn why they exist. They go on and off quite easy so when you get to a warmer spot you unclip them.

 

Well, I have been driving for going on 20 years, I have never seen the need for a winterfront except once. I was driving an early 90's international cabover and the heat went out. When I got to the terminal, they replaced the thermostats and then I had more heat than I knew what to do with...

 

The roads and traffic are really bad in LA. This is one of the reason I drive an automatic.

The 5 is horrible through the Central Valley.

What they call weather out here is a joke.

I am wearing shorts and a T-shirt in January. They call my sweatshirt a jacket.

But the scenery is great

 

If you have a big radiator made to cool some big power it will get too cold when the single digits start getting close.

I have a solid grille cover I made just for idling in cold weather but I never get to use it anymore since my modus operandi is to park it after Christmas. And I'll run my block heater with a generator down to single digit temps.

The OP was talking about warm weather. Like maybe a guy came from Fargo, peed in a jar the whole way non-stop and it's 60° in Houston and he still didn't take his cardboard out of his grill.

I've left the truckstop more than once and forgot to remove grille cover until I wonder why engine temp is getting hot.

 

8th note is on the money. No OEM manufacturer of either the truck or engine recommend the use of a winterfront. The need for them evaporated years ago when mechanical control injection systems combined with poorly controlled cooling systems were replaced with newer technology. You might even damage some systems these days using them, certainly the decreased aerodynamics will cause poorer fuel mileage.

 

Hmmm no need for a winter front, my new trk with a paccar certainly needed it the other day in northern nd running in a head wind with -40 below coolant temp down below 150. Hard on the emissions. Dpf filter etc. My new trk even came with one i requested it. Yes there is a time and place for them.

 

You do understand that manufacturers recommendations are a legal way to protect the manufacturer from Stupid, don't you? At my company, we have Beancounter. The trucking manufacturers told Beancounter that if he jacked with the engine parameters on the ECM in any way, it automatically voids the warrantee. If winter fronts were bad, it would automatically void the warrantee.

I upgraded from a factory rad to the biggest rad I could fit under the hood. Changed thermostats, and went to hotter thermostats. That didn't help. Running down the highway, she does run a lot cooler than I would like in cold weather. I don't run a winter front, but my fuel economy does suffer because she's running cold.

 

Another reason for poor fuel economy in very cold weather could be increased drag due to bearing grease never getting warm enough.
We all know how hard it is to crank the landing gear when it's 10 degrees. I'd imaging anything that is lubricated and exposed to the constant cold would get pretty stiff, like wheel bearings and differentials. Even the transmission.

 

When too much cool air enters the engine & radiator is cooled down too much, you decrease MPG fuel economy because piston combustion chamber doesn't generate enough heat to properly burn the diesel. Proof of this is when you start the engine on a cold morning. Observe the white exhaust smoke, which is unburned diesel due to lack of heat. Remove the radiator covers and you'll eventually see white smoke in your exhaust. Furthermore, you need a hot radiator to heat the air when running the cab heater. When you turn on the heater, air passes through the heater core box, which taps into the hot radiator fluid to heat up the air. If the radiator is not hot enough, you'll only get semi-warm air instead of hot air, which may result in your windshield & windows fogging up as not enough hot air is produced by the heater core box.

 

you tell them stranger,i have come to the conclusion 99% of the posters on here are the problem with trucking,fools and idiots.the other 1% are stick haulers....lol