Cold Weather.....

If it is plugged in, and the block heater is working, then you should have no problems starting it. If you are really worried, then in extremely cold weather I will crank it for about 10 seconds, and if it hasn't started, then I spray a short shot of starting fluid into the intake and it fires right off. haven't had to do that since 2 years ago, but I have that trick as an option.

 

If you are able to plug it in do so, if you have to park your truck in a yard somewhere and can't plug it in I would invest in one of those engine heaters, they work great and you can set them on a timer so you could set it to go off a couple hours before you start

Espar and Webasto make these heaters

 

Just plug it in.

Oh, and remember to push the clutch in before you try to crank it. It makes a big difference when them puppies are cold.

I left a truck unpluged the other night in Milwaukee. it was below 0. It wouldn't start and I had to push it out of the parking lot by hand!!! they sure don't push any easyer when they are cold either

 

Keep it running it doesn't waste that much fuel, you may not want to come out from under your blanket in the morning. Those trucks are built to run 24 hours a day.

 

there ain´t such a thing as a nonstop running engine...
Take it from a former engine machinist.
I´ve grinded and rebuilt enough big diesels to know better.

Get yourself an engine coolant heater, use that instead than running 24hrs and killing your engine in the long run.
http://www.webastoshowroom.com/blueheat/

 

2gls/hr at while idling at 700rpm..no heat to speak of...

Compare that to a cooant heater a 0.08gl/hr and you can heat your cabin so hot you´ll sweat to death...
And check where I live...