Grill covers for diesel engines - Page 2 - Montana Owners Club

Exnavydiver · 12-14-2009, 01:46 AM

While we were in Upstate NY in Oct it hit the 20s and 30s and it took awhile to warm the cab. I put the grill bra on and forgot it was there till we were headed south through PA. Wondered why the temp gauge was higher than normal till I stopped for fuel and did a oil check and saw the bra still on, DUH! Or as Homer Simpson says "DOOOH! took it off and everything went back to normal. I have an 06 D/A and it came with both upper and lower "bras". Have used the radiator bra a lot while in TN last year, but never the lower "bra" over the air dam and bumper. It does help the cab warm faster and helps in cold weather BUT not for towing... Dave

richfaa · 12-14-2009, 01:56 AM

Diesel motors take awhile to warm and produce enough heat to warm the cab. We would freeze in the school busses waiting for the motor to produce heat.. This Ford truck has what Ford calls " quick heat" but we have never tried it and hope we never do. High 80's yesterday....same for today... Dave S...have a nice trip..Tell us how it feels to be very cold..

Mudchief · 12-14-2009, 03:32 AM

With my old diesel trucks I used the cover and block heater. Without the block heater you could not start them and they would take forever to heat up without the cover. However with the Duramax I don't use either and have not had a problem down to -15.

RCN.Stoker · 12-14-2009, 08:35 AM

2008 Duramax here. Just put my cover on. The biggest benefit I have found is that the transmission fluid heats up faster and the shift points get back to normal. The Allison raises the low gear shift points when the temperatures are low to promote faster warm-ups. The oil in the fan also warms up more quickly and it de-clutches sooner eliminating the time I have to put up with it roaring. The Duramax has an eletro-viscous fan. Oil often remains in the clutch when you turn off the engine in the evening. The next morning it takes a bit of time for it to get back into the reservoir. The colder the morning the longer it takes. At least that has been my experience.

boje · 12-15-2009, 02:59 AM

Thanks for all the feedback. I noticed with my cover on, the temperature sensor on the rearview mirror noted a higher temp than was outside. My understanding is with the cover on, this will cause the sensor to give a false reading as no air is moving through the engine, causing it to relay air temperature warmed by the heat of the engine. I would think this would be a benefit by preventing fuel gelling in the filter. I use Power Service, but when it got to -39 degrees last year, the fuel gelled without the cover on.

Tom S. · 12-15-2009, 05:23 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by boje

Thanks for all the feedback. I noticed with my cover on, the temperature sensor on the rearview mirror noted a higher temp than was outside. My understanding is with the cover on, this will cause the sensor to give a false reading as no air is moving through the engine, causing it to relay air temperature warmed by the heat of the engine. I would think this would be a benefit by preventing fuel gelling in the filter. I use Power Service, but when it got to -39 degrees last year, the fuel gelled without the cover on.

Well, do you blame it? I gell at those temps too!

dsprik · 12-15-2009, 01:15 PM

I am sitting for the night in Knoxville right now. Only supposed to get down to the 20s tonight. Tomorrow as we make it into the Upper Great Lakes I will get a little more of a feel for how this 2002 will react to near zero temps. Hey, Rich, 40 here right now and it really feels like winter. Yesterday we were sitting the pool in 88° temps. Big change in a short time...

Exnavydiver · 12-15-2009, 02:07 PM

DAVE!! YOUR COMPASS IS BROKEN, TURN AROUND YOU ARE GOING THE WRONG WAY!!! AT SUNRISE GET THE SUN ON YOUR LEFT AND DRIVE FAST! Merry Christmas Y'all...

dsprik · 12-15-2009, 02:39 PM

No problem... But YOU have to call the 6 grandkids and tell them that Grandma is not coming for Christmas...

Well it's only for 10 days. We all need reinforcement once in a great while for why we decided in the first place to spend our winters in warmer climes...

dsprik · 12-17-2009, 03:13 PM

Well just drove up 700 miles from Knoxville top N. Mich and temps were in the mid 20s the entire trip except for right near the end where they dropped to single digits. From the time we left Knoxville @ 23° until we got home 700miles later, our trans temp never got over 110° - one notch above the peg on our gauge. Seemed to shift alright though.

Engine temp ran around 175, which was a little low, but kept us more than warm enough in the cab.

BTW, mileage was a surprising 21 mph the first leg of 660 miles and then 20 mph the next leg. Ave speed was 65/70 respectively.

I have now put on my grill cover and plugged in my "engine coolant heater". This morning - not plugged in last night - it unexpectedly dropped to 3°. Poor Duramax sounded awful trying to crank over and run initially. Once warmed up it sounded better, but I sure would not have just jumped in it and taken off somewhere.

richfaa · 12-18-2009, 02:35 AM

Give our regards to nanook of the North and keep bundled up. It is cold here.....only in the low 70.s today and rain..

dsprik · 12-18-2009, 09:54 AM

The nice thing about visiting, Rich, is that we won't have to deal with these roads/weather for 4 more months. We will be heading back to that "cold" FL weather in about a week...

I will probably start out with the grill cover on. It says in the instructions to not run with the cover above 32°. That may be most of the first day of travel. BTW, the cover does modify the temp readout on the rear view mirror as suggested earlier. Running in 22° temps produced a 39° readout. Also, the engine coolant heater does make a big difference in morning starts...

stimpy123 · 12-24-2009, 05:54 AM

Winter front also allows for the engine temp to remain in the best operating temperature range. I outfitted my duramax with an Edge w/ Attitude reprogrammer, and the display shows the temp at 180 when the truck sounds more quiet. It also seems to work better at that temperature, instead of 160. It would also help if the truck is driven into foggy area that would frost your windshield. The extra heat in the cab would allow for the defroster to work better if needed. Someone mentioned the 18 wheelers; they almost always have thermostatically controlled shutters in the front of the radiator to open when the temp is too high and close when the engine temp gets too low for best performance. The winter front would also help maintain the temp in a smaller range, so the cab heat would be good always. Just I wouldn't tow with the winterfront fully closed. I would try to find a way, such as velcro, to open the cover partially.

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