Extreme cold hard on electronics?
 

I have not started my dually in 2 months. It has sat outside through one of the coldest winters we have had in a long time.
This truck runs awesome, and always starts , no matter how cold it is. I can usually start it below 10 deg, without even cycling the glow plugs.
I go to start it this morning, and no love. Batteries are up, and cranking at normal speed. I can hear the normal relays cycling.
I try priming the pump, charging the batteries, and plugged in the block warmer. Came home at the end of the day, still no start, Truck is warm, and batteries are 100% .
I noticed this morning, and tonight, that my tuner was not lit up. It usually comes on with the ignition key. I also noticed that the tach did not show cranking.
Just for giggles, I unplugged the tuner ( it piggybacks in the ecm harness) , and just like always, the truck fired right up, and sounds normal.
We had just done a 3500 mile trip right before I parked it. It was running perfect, and the tuner has worked flawlessly for the duration of my ownership.
Like the rest of the north, we have had sustained periods down around zero for weeks on end here.
Think the cold could have killed it?

Did the fuel gel up?

sounds like an ignition switch going kaput.

rjp

No, it has been warm for the last 3 days, I had good fuel flow at the filter housing. I also had the truck on the heater all day today. Came home , tried to start it, cranked it 5 times or so, nothing, not even a sputter, unplugged the tuner, twisted the key, and instant, whoompa!

If the thing wasn't completely sealed, moisture would be suspect.
Or internal connections loosening due to freeze/thaw cycles.

You bet extreme swings in temperature are tough on electronics.
Most manufactures of equipment that must operate in the highest highs and the lowest lows test all their product in environment chambers.
The temperatures are ramped up and down in an attempt to get the product to fail. Sometimes shaker tables are used and humidity can be added and taken out.
Cool stuff to work on. Some that I have seen get down to -85 deg C or better and can pull down from room temperature in 30 minutes.

"down around zero for weeks on end here"

Sorry but that's not really cold. :)

But yes cold can break things....

Change fuel filter(s) add 911 to them, add Power service to fuel.Bleed fuel system .Varooom!

My Toyota Highlander will light the air bag light every time it gets below 20 degrees.
After the car warms up, if you shut it off and restart, the light goes out.

Yeah...I have fubar'd a couple of line locators and directional drill tracking systems by forgetting them overnight in sub -32 C temps....That doesn't qualify for warranty repair.....:(

I've got some LED outdoor spotlights.
When its near zero they flicker on and off.

I've removed tuners on D-maxes to fix driveability problems before, so that doesn't sound hard to believe.

I do not know that much about the design of electronics in the real world, but a transistor has a thermal voltage that can vary a small amount based on temperature. If it is not designed well, I could see it having problems.

Cold can be tough on electronics in a number of ways that you might not have thought possible. Electromechanical items, for example, tend to be copper and plastic. Like most materials, both expand and contract with heat and cold which will cause the points where the copper contacts to rub back and forth just a little bit (called micromotion) in each cycle. After a few times, a fine layer of fretting corrosion will accumulate on the interface and cause the contact resistance to soar. Sitting outside, your truck's interior does warm up in the sun, despite the cold temps.

This may sound a bit far fetched but if it weren't true, I wouldn't have had to (figuratively) write a check to swap out a bunch of head units in a certain model of pickup truck.

Have you plugged your tuner back in and tried it after being able to start the truck?

I am going to do that tonight. I left the tuner inside overnight to let it come back up to temperature.
Anxious to see if it works or not. Road tripping in 3 weeks, and will have to get a new one if not. I am spoiled now the truck feels slow when set back to stock, and the mileage drops 2-3 mpg.

Can cold affect electronics? Yes. Most devices have operating guidelines for temperature ranges they can operate in. Most vehicles go through cold weather testing to see how low the electrons can go. Doubt your tuner went through the rigorous testing your truck did. Probably the sub-zero temps in PA the last few weeks were below its operating range. If there is moisture that somehow got in there, may be able to dry it out with either the rice or silica gel methods. You may still be able to get it to work again.

Cold Weather Can Damage, Zap Electronic Devices

In my corner of the electronic components industry we use temp and humidity cycling to simulate aging. 2000 hours of "85/85" testing (cycling temp and humidity up and down, hot cold, dry humid) simulates 10 years of use.

^The cycling of extreme cold to warming interiors of vehicles has to be rough on the touch screens. Condensation or extreme small amounts of moisture is what concerns me in this new stuff. Info Garbage Dashboard, Inc. makes everything obsolete in 4 to 5 years. Try pricing them out post warranty!