Winter Blast on its way

I know what @cke is talking about, and it usually has to do with condensation in fuel tanks and air system. That said, if I had my choice i'd put mine in a heated shop too.

 

I drove though Houston going to San Antonio back during the January 2024 arctic blast and it was pretty scary on those untreated overpasses. People were wrecking out everywhere.

 

If I was a gambling man, id bet @cke posts a picture of a tarped load tomorrow on the flatbed pics forum wanting everyone to think he was balls out tarping in the freezing weather. I can't be the only one thats caught on to that over the years LMFAO.

 

Avoid the South if at all possible..especially I-35 from OKC to DFW.. this may be our storm of the century.. it's never just winter when there's an ice storm in the South.. We don't have the infrastructure to handle this type of weather so it's more dangerous..ok everybody stay safe..

 

-31 here,,likely thin the herd of a few tonight

 

Mines 1995 S60, hates cold starts.

‘block’ heater is a loop element directly behind the water pump in a flat ‘S’ shaped manifold.

3-4 hours plugged in (2000w element?) Will have the coolant temp at 60 degrees.

Then the main concern is battery health to crank, and diesel additive to prevent gelling until warm fuel returns to the tanks/system.

I am spoiled in the regards to having it in a covered uninsulated shop, but plugged to shore power that has a battery tender. If the batteries are down, the generator will usually still fire - and then charge batteries enough to fire the truck up.

Long story short, just 3-4 hours on the block heater before firing it up is fine - but like @Oxbow mentioned, watch your connections and cords - I about burned my #### to the ground a couple of years ago from a loose connection.

 

We’re in southwest Missouri , what troubles me is that - it’s been an unusually mild winter, and complacency is often the bigger enemy.

I had to motivate myself to chop wood, gather salt, shovels, spreaders, check generators, fill gas tanks, etc etc.

Only a foot of snow from tomorrow night through Sunday, and sub freezing till Wednesday - but I have a feeling it’ll cause more problems than winters past where it snowed , froze and melted off regularly.

 

I've been running semi-synthetic oil for about a decade now, dead cold starts are a non-issue, even well below zero. I just make sure fuel is treated or blended for the temps. This DD13 fires every time within a few seconds, and oil pressure is just as fast. And that's with the Webasto running overnight, so the batteries aren't at full charge.

I don't normally have the ability to plug in.

 

I usually on the slopes every Friday but not today. They never used to close for cold weather.