Covering the grill in cold weather

[EPFD217]

I live in MN and it actually gets cold here. I laugh when I hear of people who live below the Mason-Dixon line talk about cold. Cold begins below zero, not 50.

My truck takes a good 15 minutes of driving before it reaches 180*. ANyway, I was wondering about partially covering the grill to help the truck warm sooner. My idea was to just block the center portion of the grill and leave the two side panels open.

I see plenty of people with the commercially made ones. Does anyone do this on their 6.0L? Does it help, hurt, no change?

[steeltech65]

I totally agree with you on the whole southern thing about it being cold. I run a grill cover on my truck. I've had it since I bought my truck new, I don't remember the brand. Mine goes inbetween the slots in the grille. My truck will usually warm up in a mile or two. Just don't cover up the drivers side vertical slot, air intake. I have not noticed anything negative. All the temps run fine. I will take one or two off if I am towing a real heavy load for a longer distance.

[07lariat]

I run Fia grill covers summer and winter. The summer one is mesh and protects the rad from stones and bugs. The winter one is solid and covers the entire grill. I run it with the vent flaps closed and dont have any issues with overheating. It definately helps with warm up.

[cyclonestroker]

Originally Posted by 07lariat

I run Fia grill covers summer and winter. The summer one is mesh and protects the rad from stones and bugs. The winter one is solid and covers the entire grill. I run it with the vent flaps closed and dont have any issues with overheating. It definately helps with warm up.

I do the same. I currently have been having trouble with the bottom left snap staying attache to the grill though. I refuse to drill the snaps on so I'm using the stick a studs.

If your only getting to 180* you might consider replacing your thermostat. After I got my insight I was running 182* after like 20 min of driving so i replaced the thermostat the next day, truck warms up much faster.

[MountainMan]

Years ago when I drove commercially I remember reading somewhere that when covering the radiator for cold weather driving it is important to not have areas of no air flow across the radiator. The reason being is that at high speeds the blades of the fan enter areas of high pressure followed by areas of low pressure, this acts like a hammer on the fan blades and will eventually take out the water pump bearing. Thus if is better to restrict air flow evenly across the entire frontal area of the radiator.

[jetjock15]

i did many years in AK, i would just run cardboard from the bottom up and zip ty it in place... -20 and below i could not even get a temp reading no matter how long i drove without blocking the radiator... real easy to just cut and slide cardboard pieces up into the radiator and zip ty them at the bottom to hold in place...... good luck

[smokersteve]

Originally Posted by EPFD217

I My idea was to just block the center portion of the grill and leave the two side panels open.

I see plenty of people with the commercially made ones. Does anyone do this on their 6.0L? Does it help, hurt, no change?

I block the lower half of my grille often during the winter. I have never had any issues but I keep my eye on the temps just to make sure.

[Kwattro]

Never felt the need to do that on any of my vehicles. -21F here a few days ago. Truck warmed no different than my gasser motors.

[EPFD217]

I was thinking of trying it out by zip-tying some cardboard to the back of the grille and see if there is any improvement.

The thermostat comment is part of what started my thinking on this. My mechanic noticed that the temp and recommended changing it when I flush the coolant. After driving for an hour, I still never got above 181*. I was monitoring the diff. between ECT and EOT but the highest temp I saw was 184* but the diff between the two was never more than 6*.

Truck is completely stock '05 with 120K miles on it. I've had it since 88K miles. I thought maybe if I blocked some of the air through the grill I could see if it will warm faster. Tonight is going to be -15*F in the city and -20 in the outskirts where I live. My truck will be plugged in, but it would be nice if it didn't take 15-20mins to warm up.