As with others in NA, we've also been suffering cold temps and started to notice how cool things were feeling inside the truck, even at full operating temperature. When it was getting to -20*C I was beginning to lose track of who was crying more - my kids or wife.
So, being an idiot, I decided to take my limited tech knowledge (ya, the dangerous level) and 'do something'. I figured that I needed to replace the thermostat as a starting point as it was relatively cheap. Looking back, completely the wrong choice given that the truck was heating to op temp in a reasonable period of time. No fix and visions of toasted core, full dash removal, etc filled my head.
The problem became much more acute when I was headed off last weekend to go winter camping for two nights (write-up and pics to follow). The temps were forecast to drop to -25*C (-13F) the first night and -30*C (-22F) the second (in fact actual temps were far worse -34/-30F and -40/-40F). The thought of making the 4 hour drive north with no heater was alarming, although the burning desire to go camping found me on the highway the next day to our meeting point.
The night before at 1:30AM I pulled the FSM and started to read the heater diagnostic. Lots of gating valves, air control vents, bla, bla, bla. The next AM I was sitting in the truck waiting for the others and decided to have a quick look under the hood. I opened the hood - glanced back and there it was - the cable that operates the valve had simply slipped off (a clip holds it in place) and it was in the closed/cold position. A quick turn and heat started to gush in :-[
Trust the FSM grasshopper!
PS, after 2 days of sitting in these temps, mine was the only truck to start (without being plugged in). I have a relatively new battery, brand new M1 synthetic and synthetic in the diffs etc. A bit of a grrrrrr, rrrrrr, rrrrr - but then it fired up! Some belt wine and then started to purr like normal. Others that came out at a later point had to use stoves to heat the oil and hot water to heat the batteries (discos, volvos, PU trucks, etc).
Cheers, Hugh
So, being an idiot, I decided to take my limited tech knowledge (ya, the dangerous level) and 'do something'. I figured that I needed to replace the thermostat as a starting point as it was relatively cheap. Looking back, completely the wrong choice given that the truck was heating to op temp in a reasonable period of time. No fix and visions of toasted core, full dash removal, etc filled my head.
The problem became much more acute when I was headed off last weekend to go winter camping for two nights (write-up and pics to follow). The temps were forecast to drop to -25*C (-13F) the first night and -30*C (-22F) the second (in fact actual temps were far worse -34/-30F and -40/-40F). The thought of making the 4 hour drive north with no heater was alarming, although the burning desire to go camping found me on the highway the next day to our meeting point.
The night before at 1:30AM I pulled the FSM and started to read the heater diagnostic. Lots of gating valves, air control vents, bla, bla, bla. The next AM I was sitting in the truck waiting for the others and decided to have a quick look under the hood. I opened the hood - glanced back and there it was - the cable that operates the valve had simply slipped off (a clip holds it in place) and it was in the closed/cold position. A quick turn and heat started to gush in :-[
Trust the FSM grasshopper!
PS, after 2 days of sitting in these temps, mine was the only truck to start (without being plugged in). I have a relatively new battery, brand new M1 synthetic and synthetic in the diffs etc. A bit of a grrrrrr, rrrrrr, rrrrr - but then it fired up! Some belt wine and then started to purr like normal. Others that came out at a later point had to use stoves to heat the oil and hot water to heat the batteries (discos, volvos, PU trucks, etc).
Cheers, Hugh
