so it is finally *** biting cold here in chicago and my truck takes for ever to get warm int the morning. it takes 20 to 30 minutes. but once it warms up, its hotter than a snakes ***. so, how can i get it to warm up faster in the morning.

 

excellent imagery here sir

 

are you just letting it idle for 20-30 mins?

 

yeah, just idle in my driveway.

 

well my best suggestion is to get in, start it, let it run for a min or two then drive it, that is the fastest way to heat it up and as long as the oil has started flowing everywhere your not going to hurt it, and it will save you gas, driving in a cold truck for a few mins is better than gettin 0mpg while it idles away

 

Could alo be a thermostat stuck open. Maybe replace it. I would suggest using a 195 degree so that the motor gets warmer before it opens.

 

if it was stuck open it wouldnt have much of any heat, he says it does after it warms up

 

if its stuck open you would eventually get heat when all the coolant got warm it would just take a while. I was just suggesting an easy and cheap place to start.

 

most of the time when they stick open the engine never actually reaches operating temp and not have heat, if he barely got any heat i would lean toward the thermostat, engines dont warm up that much when just idling, that why i suggested getting it going asap so it warms up faster and he uses less gas

 

So it takes 20 minutes for the engine to get to operating temp? That's probably not unusual for very cold conditions and just having it idle. I let my truck sit for 10 minutes in about 20 degree weather and it has very little heat when I get in, but after a couple minutes of driving it warms up fast.

I don't think it's the thermostat, if it was stuck open in cold weather the engine would never get warm enough to give any kind of real heat.