[Saskydieselrammer]

Hi everyone. First Post on the forum and wanted to dive in on winter "issues" that some people are having with there trucks. This is my first winter season with my 15' Laramie Ecodiesel. As of right now it is -15C where I live in Saskatchewan and last week was -30C. Winter is here to stay. During the last cold snap I had zero issues starting or heating up my truck and never have thus far. From reading tons of winter forums this is what I'm doing to help my truck out.

1 - Obviously always plugging in my block heater below -10 or so. I have a heated garage so my truck is only outside at work or play.
2 - Battery warmer. Some people have said that these "special" batteries are very sensitive to temperature changes, not being a typical wet cell battery. Without my battery warmer my truck would definitely have a tough time cranking, and since I have installed it on a splitter with my block heater this truck fires up with no issue at -30C after sitting all day.
3 - Winter grill cover is a must. Mine came with the truck and believe they are free at most dealerships, if your 14' didn't come with one, Believe all the new ones do. Example of how well they work is driving down the highway my coolant leave dropped 15C without it on and also lowered significantly at red lights and when idling. Made a big difference.
4 - High Idle option with the GDE Hot Tune. I've read that leaving your truck idle forever isn't great for it but those are all from environment sites and I'm not mechanically inclined enough to know for real BUT with the High Idle on my truck with the GDE tune my truck revs at 1500rpm until coolant is warm and is usually good within 5-10 minutes.
5 - 1 minute before turning off on very cold days. This may be overkill but I have also read these intercoolers will collect moisture and freeze up on the very cold days. Some guys are letting the truck sit and idle in park for a minute before turning the ignition off to help clear it out.


Keep in mind this is my first diesel truck and have heard a lot of shitty stories from people with winter related issues, and some people with no issues at all. I like keeping good care of my trucks and this method has been great so far. I will keep updating as the winter progresses. First thread out!

 

[CDNLaramie]

Number 5 is a total waste of time IMO. The whole idea of having the cold weather bra is to keep heat in the engine bay which in turn help promote faster warm up times and prevent IC icing. This is not a new problem for any engine with forced induction. Usually icing is a result of short distance driving in winter. My eco boost had a terrible IC condensation problem, ended up having to drill a super small hole in the IC to allow it to drain. Some mfg's have little drains built into their IC to avoid this.

I was able to start my truck last winter @ -38C after sitting for a long weekend, no block heater. Started first try, sounded horrible for the first two seconds, but it worked LOL.. Obviously plugging the truck in at that temp is highly recommended.

 

[Patroller8D]

Battery blanket is my next buy, I had them on the old Cummins, they make a world of difference when power is required.

 

[saskhunter]

I live in Regina SK Canada. I have had my 2014 White Ecodiesel since Aug of 2014...I already have 98500kms on my Ram and it turns 3 yrs old Aug 2017.

In its 2 winters I have had ZERO winter starting issues. I plug it in when at home, but I don't have a battery blanket, I don't have GDE and every morning at 7am my wife drives me to work 14 kms round trip.

I have an Edge guage to tell me when it it wanting to regen and that is it...

Oh and I don't idle my truck for longer then 2 mins in the AM before we leave to drop me off...

Too me the secret is idle time with this engine the less the better.

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk

 

[CDNLaramie]

I agree, don't need to idle very long, drive truck slowly/low rpm for first few mins.

 

[007juice]

I never have issues, I simply warm it up for like 3min on a 30f degree day from inside my house with remote start and take off. No running issues at all on performance unless i dont warm it up then it does act like a manual truck. Still is the best fuel efficiency truck I owned so im happy. You cant have all greatness and no cons.

 

[Ben28881]

I had trouble starting at -38C once last winter. We were at a hotel in Ottawa and didn't have a receptacle to plug into. Truck threw a CEL when I tried to remote start it (service electronic throttle). Since it won't remote start with a CEL present, I had to go out where I cranked it for 20 seconds before it started. It was a bad feeling on a holiday Sunday with my family standing in the cold, but it worked out.

After that, it ran fine all weekend, however there was a CEL on, which the dealer cleared when I got home. I've never had a problem like that since.

I usually plug the truck in at night, that was an unusual situation.

 

[Tupelo]

Good post - thanks for sharing.

My experience with Winter in this Truck has been fine however. About all I do is make sure it is plugged in - that is about it. We did not have the Winter Fronts on the 2014 until last year. Up to that point, never had an issue, though I know some on this board had freezing issues, and were in this area.

We had a pretty cold winter in Ontario, two years ago - I was really happy with how the Truck started/performed, compared to previous diesel experiences.

 

[DataRider]

This is the first year I've put fronts on my 2014. Never had a problem starting. Only put the lowers in as there are active grill shutters on the top and only did this to allow the engine to heat up faster. I do a lot of very short trips and often have to take the truck out on the highway for a regen.