drives2018 Jayco Seneca 37TS on a Freightliner M2 106, three kids in the cab bunk
Thanksgiving is at my mother in law's in Marquette this year, which is a 3 hour drive in the Seneca and a much longer drive emotionally. the forecast for that weekend is low single digits and the long range has one morning at minus 8.
the coach lives outside in our side yard. last winter we parked it in October and did not start it until April so i have zero cold start experience with it. it is a 2018 37TS on the M2, 6.7 Cummins.
questions. does the block heater need to be plugged in all night or is that overkill? there is a "wait to start" light that stays on a long time when it is cold, is it fine to just crank when it goes out? and once it is running, how long should i let it idle before i drive? my dad always let his trucks idle for 20 minutes and i suspect he was wrong.
freightliner_m2_techFull timerGaffney, SC
drivesother people's M2 106s all week, a 2015 Dynamax DX3 37RB on weekends
your dad was wrong, and so was mine.
the wait to start light is the intake grid heater warming the air going into the engine. key on, wait for the light to go out, then crank. if it does not catch in 15 or 20 seconds, stop, give the starter a minute to cool, and cycle the key again so the grid heater gets another go. do not sit there grinding for a minute straight.
block heater: three or four hours is plenty. all night just costs you electricity. a cheap outdoor timer on the cord is the best $20 you will spend this year.
idling: a few minutes until the oil pressure settles and the air pressure is built up enough to release the parking brake, then drive it gently for the first few miles. a modern diesel warms up faster under light load than it ever will at idle.
four_season_questionDay tripperMissoula, MT
drivesa 2015 Winnebago View 24G, moving up to a Super C this winter
the fuel thing is what got me. on the View, which is a Sprinter diesel, i once filled up in Idaho Falls in october, drove home and parked it, and in december the filter was waxed up solid. 19 below that week. the stations here had switched over to winter blend by then but my tank was still full of the summer stuff.
so now i run the tank low in the fall and fill up at home once it is cold, plus a dose of anti gel in the first tank of the season.
cummins_67_curiousDay tripperLubbock, TX
drivesa 2019 Ram 3500 for now, shopping for a Super C on the M2
Lubbock gets a handful of mornings in the teens a year so this is all theory for me. but i have read that idling a lot is bad for the emissions side on these. is that true on the motorhome engines too, or only on pickups?
freightliner_m2_techFull timerGaffney, SC
drivesother people's M2 106s all week, a 2015 Dynamax DX3 37RB on weekends
true for both. long idles at low load are hard on the DPF on any of these modern diesels. the exhaust never gets hot enough to burn the soot off on its own, so it loads up and you end up needing a regen sooner. a few minutes is fine. an hour so the cab warms up is not.
if you want heat while parked, that is what the coach furnace and the generator are for.
for anyone who wants the official version, Cummins has the owner's information and a dealer locator at cummins.com. the M2 coaches use their 6.7 in the medium duty versions, not the pickup one, and some of the specifics differ, so look up yours by the engine serial number on the valve cover tag.
bunk_over_cab_kidsOPDay tripperGreen Bay, WI
drives2018 Jayco Seneca 37TS on a Freightliner M2 106, three kids in the cab bunk
report. we made it to Marquette and back with nothing worse than family.
saturday morning was minus 11, not minus 8. block heater on a timer from 3 am off my brother in law's garage outlet, wait to start light stayed on about 30 seconds, and it fired on the first crank. smoked white for a minute and then settled. drove off once the air was up.
the one thing that went wrong: the pull cable on one of the air tank drains was frozen solid sunday night. i could not get it to move and it was not worth wrestling. it thawed the next day on the drive home and i drained it in my driveway. not a single drop of water came out, so maybe the dryer is doing its job, or maybe i am lucky.
mod_bev_tModeratorCoeur d'Alene, ID
drives2017 Dynamax Isata 5 35DBD on a Ford F-550, 6.7 Power Stroke
pinning a link to this one from the welcome thread because the same question has come in twice this week by email. on the Ford F-550 side it is pretty much the same advice with a 6.7 Power Stroke instead of the Cummins: block heater on a timer, let the glow plug light finish, drive it gently. Ron would add "and stop tapping the dash, it is not going to start faster," but that is a marriage thing.
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