Now the real cold weather has hit New England, it's taking for ever for the truck to warm up. This morning it sat idling for about 25 minutes and it only had a little bit of "almost warm" air comming out and the gauge was just above the "C"

I have never had a vehicle that would not warm up to something close to normal operating tempature while idling for 25 minutes.

I've noticed over the past month that something might be wrong but I normally only idle for 5 minutes and once I got going, it warmed up very quickly.

Before I make a trip to the dealer, please let me know if you have the same problem or you think this is not normal.

In the old days, I would replace the thermostat but with all the electronics running everything, I don't think it's that simple anymore.

Thanks

 

Vehicles running down the road tend to warm up faster than ones sitting at idle. It'll take 15-20 minutes for mine to warm up and get me some lukewarm heat if I let it idle in 20-30 degree weather. Riding down the road, it'll take about 5-7 miles and I'm good to go. Besides, extended idling isn't good.

 

You don't have any load on the engine, it isn't going to warm up that quick. I live in Wisconsin and it's been -20F a couple of nights now. It's a waste of time to let your truck idle for 25 minutes. Let it idle for a minute or two, then slowly get things going. The truck will be warmed up in 5 minutes driving it, plus you are actually using the gas and not wasting it.

 

I agreee, 25 minutes is to long to let it idle but I wanted to see if it could actually warm up to something close to normal operating tempatures.

My concern also relates to clearing the windshield of frost. The other morning, I saw a wacko driving down the road at over 60 MPH with just a little peep hole in her frost covered windshield.

Maybe efans would help?

 

I agree with the previous comments - your engine will warm up much faster if you drive it. As for the frost - I've always just dumped hot tap water on the windshield and ran the wipers (might not work if it is really cold outside).

Electric fans probably will not help you. Your thermostat should be closed until the engine reaches operating temperature, so you are getting negligable cooling from your current fan anyway.

 

Mine is warming up in 5-10 minutes, in this weeks single digits MAYBE 15 minutes to warm up.

 

I usually just start it up and let the idle drop to below 900rpms, then I get moving. Oh yeah, while I'm sitting there waiting, my seat heaters keep me toasty warm.

I'm in ATLANTA, GA where it rarely drops below 20 degrees, so that helps too

 

I have the same problem. I just get in and go, in less than 5 mins it is warmed up

 

I agree with deservit, i live in cleveland it takes my truck five minutes to warm up, it been single digits with a wind chill of -15 degrees at night.

 

When it's really cold out, your heater will actually take more heat out than the engine gives. This is espicially true with the climate control, as it kicks the fan up to high when it senses that interior temp is below a certain point and the engine temp is higher than a certain point. This is sort of self defeating as it will blow the engine cold, before the interior reaches the "fan slow down" point, and the cycle continues. Mine will do it at around -15F.
These climate control heaters are not perfect but there are a couple of work-arounds.Either put the fan on recirc, which you must do manually as this is NOT a saved setting, or take it off of auto and set the fan speed down-it will remember this, which is usefull if you have a remote starter. Or start driving around and the engine will make more than enough heat to keep ya' toasty.

 

Yeah, they all heat up quick under a load, but just sitting these trucks take way to long. My wifes 97 Gand Marquis with 4.6 heats up in 1/3 the time. Even my 88 Bronco with 147,000 being well worn in heats up in half the time my 150 does.. I've been wondering about this myself??


How about guy's with remote starters?? Most of them shut the engine off after 10-15 minutes. What the point if it take 20-25 minutes..?

 

You may have a defective thermostat. My truck takes about 5 minutes to warm up. I start driving it right after the rpms drop down to about 1000. Warms up faster under load anyway (as some other previous posters have noted).

Scott

 

Since christmas, it has been on average -25c to 35c at night in Calgary Alberta, my 04 started fine and with in 10 min of driving heater/defroster were working.

Let your engine run longer befor you run your heater, engine will warm up quicker, also I think ford tweaked the 5.4 so it would warm up quicker not sure if I read this in my owners manual....or heard this threw the grape vine.

use your block heater...

 

This isn't about warming up after you start driving it.

It's about leaving it sit idling... Read the first post, he did ask the question... Even when its 40 degrees out it takes 20-25 minutes for them to get up to operating temp...

 

We had -30F for about 3 days last week, while I was traveling on business, so no garage. I plugged the truck in at night at the hotel. Then 10 minutes before i left I hit the remote starter and the truck was warmed up. If I left the heater fan on very high the truck took forever to warm up. If I left the fan on low it warmed up a lot quicker.


One question I have though.... Does it hurt anything to leave the truck plugged in and then start it and leave it running for 5-10 minutes. I always used the remote start and then unplugged the truck when I went out to the truck.