Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Vehicle heater question

Get a weed burner and an old exhaust elbow off a tractor.

You will be unstoppable!

My concerns would be with the glow plug system. The system has lots of parts in high stressed areas, inside the engine. If everything is connected and working correctly the system is effective. When you are down to one glow plug working at 25% at -20F it will be a long day.
MM879

And what is essentially a breakdown situation is how you run your system?

Mine would fail to start long before I was down to one gp.

IIRC, the rule of thumb was if three of them are dead, replace them all.

Are we supposed to think that a passive revelation was an effort to sneak something by..,.? 😎


“Do you see that spot on the frosty roof of the car where there is none? And you’re still saying that you didn’t leave the dome light on when you were looking for your wallet last night? I’m sure there’s nothing wrong with the Autostart. Find the charger, Son. “ 😇

I don't want to write a specification on Glow Plug control systems. I do enough of that at work. Attached is a link to a supplier of glow plugs that discusses basic operation and service procedures. This should get you started.
https://www.accuratediesel.com/gplugs.htm

MM879

Well it was a trunk light so not visible. Rain had frozen the gasket and would not open completely. Likewise could not close completely.

Then being gone for two weeks really really killed the battery.

Good link!

I'm not associated with that company. Just a good explaination of the system used on the 7.3L engines.

I'm retired Chrysler 41 years in electrical engineering. The diesel systems I've worked on are the Bosch used on Cummins and Fiat diesel engines.
MM879

It always amazes me some of the stuff they come up with on vehicles these days........... or at least the stuff made in the last couple of decades - that's "these days" in my vocabulary .

Then again, it sometimes amazes me the stuff that isn't thunk of and delivered. Why doesn't the trunk light automatically turn off after a short period like some of the interior lights do?

A lot of thoughts never get thought in the vehicle design process it seems. Like having a swinging door with a ledge directly under the door... think swinging tailgate and bumper for example. A great way to seriously ding the bottom edge of the door...

I ran a diesel in the coldest places of the interior. Cummins start better than fords when real cold but I still ran two block heaters, one on each side. Tranny pan heater and 2 oil pan heaters one on each side. Plus battery pad heaters. I honestly didn’t plug my dodge in til it got below 10 below due to laziness but many a -50 or colder starts and never had any issues. Don’t skimp on heaters, do it right and some can be spliced together so you don’t need a breaker panel under the hood. A frozen diesel is a bitch to get started! Heated garages are tits for living up there, when we were house shopping the first thing I did at every single house we looked at was check to see if my truck fit in the garage (2500 long bed). If it didn’t fit we moved on to the next house on the list. But working as a fireman my truck would sit for 2 or 3 days at a time outside before being started.

The standard joke was to buy a heated garage with an attached home.

And turn the master bedroom into your reloading and gear room!

Maybe skin a wolf in there because the garage is too full.

There really should be rules about passively sneaking admissions and revelations into these forums.................... moderator?

Uh... I question your definition of passive!

Never before have I been accused being passive.....

But anyway back to the thread........when in hell is Rost making this trip?

Soon to be spring here.

I'll bet I could find much to appreciate about your home and lifestyle then.

Spring? I hope you didn't waste the extra 12 seconds of daylight we had today.

Twas nice and warm this evening however according to my wife; she, a Texas-born Yup'ik, hates cold but felt -9 was adequate in heat to comment about the warmth. I had to point out that FBX ain't the same as -9 out in typical Yup'ik country.

Don't forget to attach a bib to your grill. The one time I forgot to run one on an old Cummins truck, the grid heater kept cycling and staying on, even with a piece of cardboard in front of radiator. Forgot that the intercooler wasn't protected, and an air temp sensor tripped the grid heater to stay on. Lost battery charge and lights between salcha and north pole at 50 below. That 6bt motor ran some 25-30 miles with no battery. I had a trickle charger wired to a three-way plug, along with an oil pan heater and block heater. Had an unexpected stay in sht-hole-North pole. Plugged it in all night. By morning, the trickle charger gave enough charge to get back home. Was still cold, so just taped off the entire grill with duct tape, until I had finished making a bib. Damn diesels, cold blooded madness in the cold. While my neighbor with a half ton gas truck had a 30 minute plug in, and a warm cab 10 minutes later. I always needed at least 2hrs plugged in, and 20 mins idle for a luke- warm cab. Installed new Bosch injectors at 240,000 miles. Didn't change a thing with that cold blooded, smelly rattle trap. Fuel economy went up though.
Make sure your coolant isn't 50/50 mix by the time you hit northern B.C. I have pictures of my coolant looking like a green slushy at 57 below, I was pretty sure it was 60/40 mix.
I'm leery of battery blankets and don't use one. Napa has a nice 2.3 amp trickle charger that you can mount to your inner fender, wire right to battery.

All questions answered!