By Gail Marsh
We were trying to outrun the weather. Bitterly cold weather was giving chase to our RV as we tried to escape the winter cold of Missouri. We’d made plans ahead of time but hadn’t counted on the cold weather coming quite so quickly. Our first stop on our 1,000+ mile trip south was in northern Mississippi.
In a normal year, Mississippi temperatures would have been gentler on our diesel pickup truck. This year, the campground manager told us nighttime lows were forecast to be 19 degrees F. They’d had snow the day before we arrived. Yikes!
No problem! We have an engine heater…
19 degrees meant our diesel truck would need assistance if we wanted to continue to travel the following morning. So, Hubby dutifully plugged in the engine heater, and we hunkered down for the night, dreaming of warmer, sunnier days to come.
Non-functioning outlet
The next morning, the truck would not start. It just wouldn’t! Upon further inspection, we discovered that the electrical outlet into which the engine heater had been attached was not functioning. It was a faulty outlet. It was also, as forecast, 19 degrees.
There was no way the truck would start until the heater had time to do its job. We used an alternative outlet (that worked) but had to delay our start by more than two hours. As any RVer knows, a two-hour delay means the difference between parking and setting up in the daytime light or fumbling around an unfamiliar campground after dark.
Lessons learned?
What did we learn? First, it’s good to be prepared. It was a really good thing we had installed the engine heater on our diesel truck. However, when checking the weather forecasts, we’d only looked to see if winter storms were forecast for the areas we planned to travel. We hadn’t checked for temperatures. From now on we will.
Also, when using vitally important equipment, we will check that the electrical outlet(s) are operational. It would have taken just a minute to test the outlet before trusting it to operate our engine heater. We assumed the outlet worked. We won’t make that mistake again!
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##RVT1192
Bad electrical outlets are everywhere. A simple outlet tester used before plugging in would have saved your early start.
I have an extension cord for my truck/RV that has an indicator light in the plug end so you can see that the receptacle is live.
We were looking at 5 nights of cold for our drive from western Canada to southern Florida so I installed a Wabasto engine heater. No looking for outlets and I can park further away from buildings.
Thank you for this article! We are leaving this morning for a 3-week trip, and it is now 16 degrees outside and dropping. Being originally from New Orleans, where we (almost) never worried about plugging in the block heater, it slipped my mind. I just ran outside in my robe to take care of that oversite!
At 19 degrees your diesel truck should start. You might want to check to see if the grid heater is working properly for a Cummins or glow plugs for the Ford or GM.
My 97 F-350 7.3 diesel had to be plugged in when the temps got below freezing. I swore the house lights dimmed when I plugged it in. Now, my 2016 F-350 6.7 needs no block heater to start. I see the wire for the heater stuffed up behind the bumper but I’ve never ‘unwrapped’ it.
My 2005 plow truck starts at 20 below not being plugged in (starts easier if plugged in and warm quicker) to plow snow. When diesel engines are made they don’t know if the vehicle they are going into is going to Fairbanks or Houston so glow plugs or equivalent are standard equipped. Anything above 0 F should be a breeze without plugging it in.
Pretty sure most of us check weather on our phones. But it only gives a forecast for whichever single location we are in – and you often have to scroll to get temps, precipitation and wind. Drive Weather is a phone app that allows you put in your route and when you will travel and forecast those 3 weather factors fairly closely for where you will be and more importantly when you will be along your route.
The picture you show of an engine compartment is a Ram. with the Cummins 6.7 in it. I actually work for Cummins, and our engines are designed to start at 0 degrees without being plugged in. I’ve had no issues starting in single digits in eastern Oregon. You need to have your grid heater or batteries checked.
People who worship diesel pickups need to live in Fairbanks awhile…or travel through the Yukon in winter. They will get “learned” real fast about how glorious their toy is.
My first diesel pickup was a Dodge with the Cummins engine, second truck is a GMC with a Duramax engine. Both have started in sub-zero weather without being plugged in. If your truck would not start then you have a grid heater problem (Cummins) or glow plug problem (Ford or GMC). Had a friend with a Ford that would not start unless it was plugged in, had 4 out of 8 glow plugs bad. You might want to get it checked out. Drove a semi for 13 years, never plugged in and always started, no matter how cold. It would rumble and groan for a while, but it did start.
Thank you, Gail! Sorry about the unseasonably cold weather. Glad you found an operational outlet. Thank you, too, this reminded me that we have a block heater. Cold enough here in Nashville to need it before we depart in the morning (~10° F forecast). Have a great week and safe travels!
I’d forgotten about engine heaters that we used, even on gassers, back in the 50’s and 60″s until this article reminded me. Since ’69, I’ve heated our engines during the winter, in Florida. Still have tire chains hanging on the side of the barn to remind me where I came from. lol
Get an extension cord that has ends that light up when live. You’ll know there’s a problem immediately.