6.0L Inline coolant heater

[madmat]

With winter among us and living in northern Alberta im looking to help warm my truck up a little quicker and making sure it starts on those -40c mornings. I was looking to add an inline coolant heater and was wondering if anyone else has done this to their 6.0L trucks. Any tips or specific heaters to buy??

I already have the factory block heater and run a battery warmer but just would like that extra piece of mind and extra warmth to the cab. 

[madmat]

Also does any one know the lower rad hose dimension on these trucks? 

[txab]

Gates shows for the 24476 hose, 1.5"

 

There is a screw-in block heater for these engines

[avalonandl]

Block heater is your best bet.

[madmat]

Yeah I have a block heater as well. Just looking to have warm fluid flowing through the motor when we have those really cold nights. Plus with the coolant warmer the truck heats up way quicker.

[madmat]

So just got off the phone with the shop foreman at my local dealer and he suggested that I don’t add a coolant heater as it will more then likely set off a check engine light and throw codes for outside temp versus coolant temp. 

So I guess I’ll just drop the idea. 

[MNorby]

I'm curious as to why? If you had one of those circulating water heat pumps you mount inline on your hose so now when you start your truck there is already say 100-150 degree water temp, what is different that driving your truck, shutting it off, then turning back on when the water temp is still up?

[kickass audio]

I'm no expert but I don't think you will get a code for having the antifreeze warm on a cold startup from leaving your truck overnight or for however long until you drive again. The only time you get a check engine light in regards to coolant temperature is if your coolant is not up to operating temps in a specified amount of time of having the engine running. I had that kind of code on my GMC Envoy I had twice when the thermostat failed and was partially getting stuck open. The truck would only get to 195 degrees Fahrenheit and not the 210-215 that the PCM wanted to see after I was driving for a bit so it threw on a check engine light for catalyst efficiency. As long as your coolant doesn't get insanely hot like your truck having an overheated cooling system you should have 0 issues.

 

The guy at the shop giving the advice is like saying that people who park in heated garages will have CEL's because the engine temp doesn't match ambient temps.

[txab]

There has been an issue with this, I believe that's the reason they put a t-stat on the cord of the factory screw-in type heaters to allow activation at about 0 degrees or so. There have been several threads in the past where people got a code set. Might search a bit for them

[SierraHD17]

Yeah it's a check code based on coolant temp, ambient temp and not running for a certain amount of time.  It will think the temp sensors are wrong and trigger a CEL.  

 

Block heater is plenty up in this part of the world being northern Alberta.