Why I Never Plug The Truck In During Winter

Discussion in 'Trucks [ Eighteen Wheelers ]' started by Burky, Dec 21, 2007.

  1. Brickman

    Brickman Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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    I'm willing to bet money that you either do not have the correct thermostat installed or its stuck open.

    I've never a driven a truck that didn't need fan pulling a hill in the summer.
     
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  3. Etosha

    Etosha World Citizen

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    I have a large engine for the type of work I do. Rarely does it even break a sweat. I would imagine that is the reason. The engine temp never goes over 200, and in winter it struggles to get there in the mornings. Detroit engines typically run cooler than the others from what I hear.
    Also remember that we are in the prairies, so hills are an anomaly in this part of the world. One one run I do there is one hill, but if I take a different route to that same destination, the river crossing is a higher bridge, so no hill.
    If I was pulling a fully loaded super B I would be worried if the fan didnt come on up a hill!
     
  4. Burky

    Burky Road Train Member

    I think I agree about the thermostats being bad. The truck should not even reach 200 if the cooling system is right. Even on a hill, whenever the temp jumps by at least 20 degrees, I would be looking real hard at the cooling system and trying to determine what is wrong. The thermosats on a Cummins are not hard to change, and I would get that done fairly quickly. If they are working right, they should hold the temp right at the correct mark, usually 170 or 180 degrees.
     
  5. Etosha

    Etosha World Citizen

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    Once my truck warms up from the ambient temp of 0F or colder it never sways from its 200 on the gauge. I dont see any problem there. As far as I can tell, if there are changes, then I should worry. But as long as things remain the same, then its OK.

    Correction to my original post... its a Detroit, not a Cummins. Sorry for the confusion.
     
  6. ziggystyles

    ziggystyles Road Train Member

    I dunno...I think that 200 degrees is rather high and I don't even know much about the engines yet, lol. When you think of the boiling point of water is 212, and you're running at 200...thats pretty close. Granted, I don't know the makeup of anti-freeze and its boiling point, if its the same or not...but just as a comparison...200 is high. Considering that I run around 150ish and thats in western WY and Eastern UT where we have some hills. I run a Detroit 60.

    Id be concerned if I was hitting 200 on the plains.
     
  7. Burky

    Burky Road Train Member

    I don't know of any engine that is supposed to be up at 200 degrees operating temp. Thermostats are designed to operate in the range of 160 to 180, and they never operate as high as 200. And I agree, there is little or no margin for error, since the temp is already up into the marginal temp range. There are several issues here, one of them being the oil breaking down from prolonged exposure to excessive heat. By running the oil that warm, it is going to be less effective at lubricating and the additives in the oil are much more lilely to fall out of suspension in the oil, resulting in wear problems.

    A system is capable of going up to 200, even over, but they are not designed to go that high for prolonged periods. Something is wrong here, and it needs to be figured out before it announces it's presence the hard way.

    You have a truck with a cooling system problem, whether it seems normal to you or not, and it needs to be solved before it costs you a big bundle of money. It could be thermotats, it could be a partially collapsed hose, it could be a bad gauge or a bad temp sensor. But there clearly is a problem, and it needs to be fixed. my 02.
     
  8. MedicineMan

    MedicineMan Road Train Member

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    no that was perticularily bad winter. You may remember it out your way. Cattle were freezing to death in the trailers, my dad had a set of batteries freeze up driving down the road. There was a 60mph head wind out of the west and I was running flat out barely able to maintain 50mph. It was an eye opening situation for a near rookie driver.
     
  9. Doma

    Doma Light Load Member

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    I remember using old railroad track switch heaters, we used to slide them under the pans to thin things up, I still have some of thoes heaters in the shed i wonder if they are worth anything, I know the small RR in the quincy shipyard still uses thees heaters on their switches, But now I just program the APU to start up if the outside temp reaches 31 degrees, it senses the temp, starts itself heats the coolant and powers the block heater, charges the batteries, and heats the sleeper, it also has a 3000 watt inverter, Yes I am spoiled, and earned it, heck I didnt even ask for it, it was all just handed to me with the truck,, Sometimes I miss owning my own stuff and sometimes I don't:biggrin_255:
     
  10. Brickman

    Brickman Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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    Burky and Ziggy nailed this one!

    My fan comes on at 185 and the check engine light and immenit shut down warning comes on at 205.

    Constant 200 indicates a problem, even if its the gauge.
     
  11. Etosha

    Etosha World Citizen

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    I appreciate the concern. Thanks for the input.
     
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