ok, another newbie question.

I have my truck. new to me, 1996 Dodge Ram 3500 cummins diesel dually. 160K miles. did I mention the pony mudflaps? heh.

anyway.

how often do I need to drive this thing ot keep it healthy over the winter? I have my wee car for commuting, etc and frankly, this truck wont fit into the parking garage at work (ah, urban life...) so since we're not hauling over the winter, it sits in my driveway waiting for a job.

I know trucks and cars (like horses!) are really happiest when they get USED. is a once a week 12 mile trip to the barn and back enough to keep my new red truck healthy and happy? I keep trying to find friends who need plywood picked up at the lumber yard, or who need help moving but again, its winter in the NorthWet and everyone is pretty much holed up for the next couple months...

or am I worrying needlessly?

That kind of a drive would also help to top off the battery.  Modern trucks have parasitc electrical draw for the various components.  Clock in dash, Electronic Odometer, maintaining your preset radio stations etc.  so depending on what electronics are installed in your truck, there will always be some draw on the battery unless you unhook it.  Instead of unhooking it, Just drive the truck once or twice a week and it will chagge the battery enough to keep it topped off.

It's important that the truck is actually driven and that the engine temperature is brought to its normal opperating temperature and maintained. Short trips or starting the motor and allowing it to idle for a limited while, will do more harm than good.

A diesel will not quickly come up its normal temperatures while it is idling from cold. A slow idle on a diesel will also wash the cylinder walls with excess fuel, cutting its lubrication. Everytime the engine is cold started, over a quart of water is dumped into the crankcase. Over time and high temperatures, this normally evaporates. When it cannot, the oil is water diluted, any metal above the top surface of the oil is exposed to rust, the exhaust system will rust from the inside out etc. Look at the tailpipe of any engine that is started on a cold day. You will see actual water dripping from the opening. Several of our posters have experienced their oil pans rusting from the inside out. Water is the cause and it's expensive to repair.

It would be better to have the truck sit unused with a battery tender maintaining the batteries, rather than multiple cold starts polluting the engine with water.

Yes, drive it and while at the barn leave it running if possible.  It is better on these trucks to let the idle instead of starting and stopping them all the time.  How many big trucks at the local truck stops you see running?  nearly all of them and most will have the same type engine and are left running for a reason. (ever priced a starter?)  Mine is the newer 6.7L and when it is started in the morning I do not turn it off unless I absolutely have too.

My F350 is driven less than three miles every few weeks in the deep winter starting about now just to dump the manure and get hay and grain.

Occasionally my wife will take it to work or we run an errand.

I have the original batteries 2005.  I have used this item for 3 winters now.  It remains plugged in 24 x7 it is mounted under my hood, she spins over like a top.

http://www.batterymart.com/p-battery-tender-plus-12v-5a-wp-battery-charger.html

I think the points that everybody has made here are good. The point about moisture in the engine and letting it run long enough to purge the oil of the moisture is good.

I'm a little less paranoid about the battery, though. Your profile says you are from Seattle. It really doesn't get that cold there to have to worry about battery tenders or needing to start the vehicle multiple times per week. Heck, I live in North Dakota, and my pickup will go 3 weeks or a month without being started sometimes. Some tractors sit from October to May without being started, and I only put a battery charger on them a couple times over the winter. As long as the battery has a full charge, the cold doesn't hurt it too bad. Especially when "cold" isn't actually very cold.

Oh, and be careful about finding people to haul stuff for. Pretty soon, the word will get out and you'll never get to use your pickup for your own use.

yeah, I was wondering about our wimpy winters in Seattle and how "cold" isnt really all that cold most of the time. sounds like I may just invest in a pair of super heavy duty jumper cables and a AAA membership (not sure my hybrid has enough oomph to jump start Helga the truck? they both have 2 batteries, but I'll need to do some research on that...)

try to drive her once a week (my Saturdays are usually a trip to the barn and back plus running to the feed store (another 15 miles) and other assorted errands, be sure to take the long way around ;), but the 5 miles to work on city streets (never getting above 30 mph) might do more harm than good.

in short, dont worry, drive her as much as possible, keep the fluids clean and full (I have an appt the first of the year :)) have a plan B if I find the battery discharged and relax :)

its been very educational listening to you guys...

The UPS trucks are specifically designed for their intended usage. Compared to open road vehicles, their motors are undersized. By working harder, they are always within their optium operating temperatures. This creates an efficient, fuel saving running cycle. When they are shut down, it is for a very short time period, and the engines don't cool off. The starters are heavy duty units, specifically designed for the high cycling, used daily.

Many states now have laws, making it unlawful to idle diesel trucks for anything exceeding five minutes. This time allows the turbo units to cool off before shut down, a very important issue for component longevity. These laws are to reduce air pollution. As was stated, instead of running a large engine at idle for heat, a smaller motor is used that produces less pollutants and uses less fuel. In addition, many large truck stops now have plug in shore services, that supply all the trucker's needs while his truck's engine is shut down.

Thirty minutes of driving is a good recommendation. It allows enough time to fully warm things up, evaporate the water from the combustion areas and oil supply and fully recharge the batteries.

thanks for the clear recommendations from you all....I was kinda starting to wonder if you guys defined "short" and "cold" a bit differently than I did!

30 minutes will get me to barn. If there's no traffic, I may take the scenic route so it takes longer ;)  (heck, if I leave at 4pm on a weekday, it will take me 1.5 hrs. whee! did I mention the toll bridge they're putting in this spring? hmm. now that I think on it, avoiding the toll bridge will DEFINATELY put me at 1/2 hr....)

anyway, thank you! all of you!

I did a little research on www.cumminsforum.com and found that either driving it to the barn ever so often or just disconnect the batteries you will be fine.  Don't let people scare you away with talk about Detroit diesels (they are totally different animals when it come to diesel)  Can not even come close to compairing them to Cummins diesels.

If you get time go to www.cumminsforum.com and there is a section just for 1994 to 1998.5 trucks.

just so the data is here in case anyone needs to search on it later...

it took Helga a good 20 min at highway speeds to get her temp guage up to half way and her battery charge guage up to 3/4. this is with an ambient temp of 50 degrees, and not having been run for about 2 weeks.

that said, after running into the feedstore for a 1/2 or so (crazy holiday shopping time at the feed store, apparently...), she started up just as warm as she had been when I stopped, so I figure the engine block was nice and toasty :).

I also noted that my GPS apparently stays on even with the truck shut down. need to remember to unplug that bad boy totally or I might come back at the end of a long weekend to find my battery dead!

At an ambient temperature of 50 degrees F, most of these discussions are a moot point. Drive and store your diesel as you would your car. You don't need extended idling or special starting considerations.

It's only when the temperatures fall below freezing, reaching zero or below, that starting and running a diesel involves different techniques than a gas motor.

We had a simple rule of thumb that worked well while using diesel powered equipment: Never run the motor when it's cold, never put it away when it's hot. Always allow the motor to warm up before pulling power, never shut it down until it has cooled off. This is especially important with turbo equiped motors. Used with moderation, these motors can last many people decades of use.

Our world has $3.00 gasoline and $3.25 diesel this morning..... Not going to leaving much of anything sitting around running unattended.... Didn't check the price of off road diesel fuel, bet it won't miss much from being three bucks!!!...... Merry Christmas.