" I do not have a fuel heater on my M1009. It starts at -40*. "
"Where I live, I must plug my car in to warm it enough to SAFELY start it."
I agree Westech,
I'm not saying it will not start at all. I'm saying it's quite bad for it. Mine once started in - 40*. But it sounded BRUTAL. That was an emergency situation. Like I said, I am amazed by how well the truck has held up in this climate, but starting it every day at -40* would surely shorten it's lifespan. I'm trying to prolong it's life with my block heaters and such. I don't like to start it under -20* engine temperature. As someone who has taken apart many many ruined engines that lived their whole lives up here, I can tell you that exceptionally cold starts damage them.
In all honestly, no I have not taken a ruined 6.2 diesel that lived all it's life up here apart, but I have taken apart many gas engines to see excessive piston wear and quite out-of-round cylinders. As I'm sure you know, the rings are set up to seat properly at full operating temperature. Starting an engine at -40* gives it 30 more degrees to have to climb before everything starts sealing properly than starting it at 0*. (110* more to climb than in the summer) During this time, you get excessive blow by -> dirtier oil. The textbook I used in engine school shows a chart of temperature verses wear. I could scan the page and post it, but the picture thing is down. When an engine is very cold (especially the newer ones with shorter piston skirts), the aluminum pistons slap around in their bores. Everything heats up at different rates. Cylinder wall temps climb rapidly as the rest of the block takes a long time to heat - this leads to stress cracks where hot and cold parts meet, weakening of the metal, etc.
I would love one of those fuel fired heater kits, but I'd have to mail-order one and I bet it'd cost me a fortune. I'm also uncomfortable about having fire under my hood when I'm not around - but I'd get over that if they were well made. I find all my electric heating works well and costs me very little to run. (electricity is cheap where I live, fuel is expensive). I also heard that the fuel fired heaters run their thermostats, pumps, solenoids, etc off your batteries.. low batteries would be a terrible situation up here. Especially with a 24volt set up that few people can boost (hence my generator + battery charger) My electrical set up is getting battery maintainers this year, keeping the batteries full while everything stays warm.
How much are the arctic kits worth? I am interested. I looked at one before I went electrical, but my electrical set up is $60 worth of block heaters, 2x $20 stick on pan heaters and one afternoon to install, as opposed to the kit I saw which was $400 and involved pulling oil and tranny pans, that I just put back on, and needed new fluids, more time, more headache.
I don't mean to put down your suggestion. Can you tell us more about your experience with these arctic kits? I've read the sales pitches. How do you feel about them? I trust another member's judgment alot more than the people who want me to buy it. Thanks.