Idle Fuel Consumption

[WisdomWarlord]

I just read Page 2 of the comments. After this and some other things I've heard, I'm gonna carry a little 1500 watt gas generator with me and if I need help starting, it power a heating pad or battery charger if I need it. This truck has 302 k miles on it and it runs great, and I'd really like to put another 100k or more before a rebuild.
Thanks for everyone's input.

 

[redneckaggie]

just remember that it takes a while for those heating pads or a block heater to warm the engine, hence the reason I suggested the timer, you could still use a timer and fire the generator up at night and let it idle until the timer kicks on, would save some gas in the generator.

 

[Goofyexponent]

I think we went through this before abotu the gas gen set...and IIRC the little 1500 watt genny won't put enough amps out for the block heater.

 

[Silver Burner]

It should. A factory block heater is supposed to draw 1000W...

 

[Black dawg]

the cheap little 2 stroke generator that harbor freight sells runs the block heater just fine. I think the gen is rated 900w.

 

[smokin150]

I do a lot of traveling with my truck, spend quite a few nights idling at a truck stop to provide power to my slide in camper. As for idle gph I get on average 2-2.5 gallons per hour, that's with my inverter on, clearance lamps on and before I replaced my fan clutch, the fan going full speed. That is at the trucks base idle speed of like 850 rpm. Now I have noticed , and it has gotten progressively worse, as the truck sits and idles, it starts smoking, and missing, but as long as I bump up the idle it smooths out. Now I got 385k on this engine, and no telling how many hours as it was an old farm engine. I'm with the rest here, just plug it in... its cheaper

 

[RLDSL]

I didn't mention that I will be in the U. P. of Michigan, right on Lake Superior. Trust me, it could get brutally cold. -15 and colder, and winds that can easily be 25mph sustained for more that a day.
I wasn't aware of the washdown concerns.
Maybe I should have been more complete in how it will be used. I won't start the truck and just leave it to idle fire a few weeks. It will get driven at least 30 miles a day. When is not being driven, I want to leave it running instead of sitting it off.

I used to drive a big truck in the great white north and I'm VERY familiar with your area, ( and a bus company I used to turn wrenches for had a lot of equipment around your area, and I remember well what they had to deal with ) and you are very correct in your concerns and most of these guys have no idea what they are talking about.
That icy wind blows through there at a rate that makes factory block heaters a moot point. Unless you have the truck indoors, they wont work.
I remember the Bus company used to have teh mechanics take turns coming out at night and firing up all the units to let them run for an hour and then shut them down and go home then the next guy would come in an hour later and repeat to control fleet fuel cost, but block heaters were useless, they'd be out there with a service truck jumping 2/3 of the fleet by morning if they tried to rely on block heaters.
The only kind of block heater that would be of any use to you would be a fuel fired one like an Eberspacher ( Espar) or Webasto and at current fuel prices, they might be worth looking into since you would only use about 1/2 gal to pre heat the truck, you can set it on a timer or remote and rig it into your blower fan to where it pre heats the cab and defrosts the windows before you get in.

Getting a throttle stick, or doing the bypass thar idles you up will be great, Those little dash knobs to adjust throttle speed that you push the center to shut down work great, best to set at around 1200 rpm ( I had an old Kenworth with a 1693 Cat and it had over 1.3 million miles on it and had never been apart, and had been idled any time the weather was cold or hot, its all in how you take care of them ) Just make sure that you bring it up to a high idle if you are going to do it, otherwise by the time you get out to , especially up there, and without a winter front, your engine temp will be down to about 80 deg and it will be barely coughing along

 

[swervyjoe]

Everything I've read said that wind chill doesn't affect objects. Is that not accurate?

 

[tanman_2006]

Park the bed of the truck into the wind, it helps. I noticed a difference when I was in - 37 w/ 30mph winds and parked my truck and different direction.

 

[Wyreth]

Everything I've read said that wind chill doesn't affect objects. Is that not accurate?

That is not accurate. Just look at how your radiator fan works. That's windchill, affecting an object. (your radiator)

perhaps you're misunderstanding windchill's effect. Accept for very specific circumstances (evaporation being one of them) Air movement will never be able to cool an object colder than the ambient temperature. However, it makes things cool down faster. "wind chill temperature" means, it's going to chill you, as fast as if it were -30, even tho it's actually +10 out.

 

[swervyjoe]

That is not accurate. Just look at how your radiator fan works. That's windchill, affecting an object. (your radiator)

perhaps you're misunderstanding windchill's effect. Accept for very specific circumstances (evaporation being one of them) Air movement will never be able to cool an object colder than the ambient temperature. However, it makes things cool down faster. "wind chill temperature" means, it's going to chill you, as fast as if it were -30, even tho it's actually +10 out.

That's basically how I understood it. If its -30 with 40mph winds, the engine block wont get colder than -30.

 

[Wyreth]

That's basically how I understood it. If its -30 with 40mph winds, the engine block wont get colder than -30.

that's true, but with 40mph winds, it's going to get the block to -30 MUCH FASTER.

 

[War Wagon]

I have a stick on oil pan heater on my '94 in addition to the block heater. Arctic Fox is the brand and it's a nice cold weather addition.

 

[Coyote_Red]

I have used a stick on magnetic heater on my inline before I got the timing set right. It hated to fire in anything colder than +20. I stick the heater to the area where the freeze plugs are and it would actually warm the cast iron as well as the water. I would let it run a few hours before I went out and within in two minute of starting it would be over 100* water temp. I will look at the brand when I get home tonight, it may be something to consider sticking to the oil pan if you use a block heater. I would imagine that 15w-40 doesn't like to flow at -10.

One other thing to do is if you are around other people on the same schedule park your truck nose to nose and they will help to heat each other so they are not so cold in the morning.

 

[460mudsports]

Yep, windchill only affects living beings, but combing the intense cold and especially the wind will cool down everything it can blow around. The wind puts more molecules of cold air against everything warm, which then radiates that heat away.