Winter Weather Tips and Reminders from McCandless Idealease

Winter is quickly approaching Colorado, and as your partner in transportation, the McCandless Idealease team has been busy preparing for the severe cold.

During their last preventive maintenance service, your trucks had extra inspections performed on the fuel, air and starting systems to help ensure proper performance in cold weather.  Please review the following items with your transportation staff and drivers to avoid costly delays and/or service calls:
 

SUPPLY CHAIN CONSTRAINTS: We are still experiencing supply chain constraints on certain items and additional back-ordered parts will be difficult to source with emergency service calls.  Therefore, it is imperative that your drivers add fuel treatment EVERY TIME they fuel and plug their trucks in overnight to assist with winter starting.  It’s too late after the ambient temperatures dip below 20 ° F.

COLD WEATHER STARTING: If your vehicle displays a warning light for “Wait-to-Start”, you must wait until the light goes out before trying to start the engine. The intake grid heater is coming on to heat the air coming into the engine for easier starting in cold temps. 

STARTING FLUID/SPRAY: Do NOT use starting fluids or sprays like ether. Use with modern trucks can result in explosions that can cause serious injury or death.

FUELING: Always use quality ULSD fuel with a Cetane rating of 42 and anti-gel additive any time the temp is 32 degrees or colder. What counts is the fuel and additive that is already in the tank when it gets cold, not what you put in after the cold weather hits.

DEF FLUID: Never add anything to the DEF tank for cold weather operation. The truck is designed to thaw itself out if it is frozen with the engine’s coolant system. Only use clear DEF fluid. Never add anything but specific DEF fluid!

FUEL ADDITIVE: Blended fuel is rarely available in ULSD, so additives MUST be put in the tanks by the driver at each fueling per the manufacturer’s instructions. Howe’s Diesel Treat, Power Service Anti-Gel, or Lucas Anti-Gel Cold Weather with water dispersants are great options that are available at McCandless Truck Center and most truck stops.  Remember: You must put additives in fuel before the cold weather hits and let the truck run for about 10-15 minutes to ensure additive gets through the filters. If your truck has a 5-minute idle shutdown feature, you will need to bring up the engine RPMs to keep it from manually shutting down.  In most cases this can be done by setting the cruise control then pressing and holding the accel button.

CHAIN LAWS: Colorado requires drivers on certain roads to carry chains after September 1 or face fines. Please read the laws here: https://www.codot.gov/travel/colorado-chain-law. Chains can be purchased at McCandless Truck Center, most truck stops and online.

SEVERE COLD WEATHER: When the weather is predicted to be below 20 degrees all trucks should be either parked inside or have block heaters plugged into a 20-amp circuit with a 3-wired extension cord that is at least 12-gauge wires; or, as a last resort remain idling at +1,100 RPM. CAUTION: Leaving a unit idle can cause extra soot loading & the DPF to become plugged!!

DRIVER’S EMERGENCY KIT: Drivers should prepare for emergencies that could strand them for an extended period of time by putting together an Emergency Kit. This kit can contain items like water, canned food, blanket, extra jacket/hat/gloves, charged cell phone, flashlight, personal prescription medicines, extra glasses, etc.

EMERGENCY NUMBERS: Idealease is available to assist you in emergencies by calling either 303-739-9900 (McCandless Idealease-Denver) or 800-435-3273 (Idealnet). We will provide service at a cost on a “first-call, first-dispatch” basis and work to get your trucks running as soon as possible.

BLOCK HEATER EXTENSION CORDS: We suggest using an extension cord with an end that lights up to verify you have power getting to the block heater from your building.