Effective Oil Heaters?

Schattenjager

Expedition Leader
I visited the stealership up here and and they quoted ~$345 for one block heater. That included a mandatory coolant flush, despite the fact I just did it myself. Considering the part is about $25 and that they did not inspire confidence as far as getting a careful job done, I passed. Good prices seem as rare as quality workmanship around here, but I digress.

So, as a super cold front is coming in with temps going from the 20's to a bit below zero, I decided to try the lightbulb trick that many up here extol. I went to the Depot and spent about $15 on a metal incandescent drop light and a box of 75W (drop light max rating) cheapie bulbs. Right after getting home last night, while the motor was still nice and toasty, I placed the light under the exhaust heat shield near the front of the motor where the thermostat housing lives and ran the cord out the bottom so I could shut the hood completely.
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I broke out the trusty pyrometer this morning to test this seemingly hair brained notion and to gather empirical evidence. The outside temp is 12 with a slight breeze. To baseline the measurements, I read the front ARB bumper which was a predictable 12 degrees. Popping the hood I first took a reading of the oil pan, just above the heat pad and it showed 93 degrees. The exhaust heat shield above the light was 44. The thermostat housing was 37. The block well aft of the light was 28. The metal air filter housing was 33. The backside of the radiator was 29. The other side of the motor was cooler, but everything was above 25.

While not heated garage temps, this is far superior to ambient 12 exposure. The fact that the motor was hot when I plugged in the light surly helped. That the temps were all above 12 tells me that this is in fact a very inexpensive way to knock the chill off a cold night. There is no way the guts of the motor would cool off more than the surface temp, so the newly changed 5-30 Mobil 1 would seemingly have a slightly easier time circulating around at cold start, which is my primary concern. I might go all out and try draping a blanket over the hood to cover the edges which obviously vent a little warmth to the atmosphere. Might be good for another degree or two!
:bike_rider:
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sargeek

Adventurer
The light bulb trick does work, especially if you have a blanket to cover the hood and grill. Not an elegant solution, but an effective solution.

If you are serious about starting in the cold, I have seen engines with a left & right freeze plug heaters, an emersion heater in the oil pan, tranmission pan, left and right battery blanket/heaters. You just need to make sure that you have at minimum a dedicated 20 amp circuit to run everything,

A good battery shoudl be able to withsand -40F and not even come close to freezing.

Another great back up too to have is a backpacking stove that you can put under the engine to warm in up in an emergency.

I have also seen fleet vehicls with quick connects on the heater hoses. If they get one of the vehicles running, the can circulate the warm coolant into the cold engine and warm it up for starting.
 

Buliwyf

Viking with a Hammer
Another great back up too to have is a backpacking stove that you can put under the engine to warm in up in an emergency.
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A twin walled "Pepsi Can" stove, a block of wood, and a 2 litre bottle of denatured alcohol (SLX, or Yellow bottle HEAT injector cleaner) works well, costs nothing.
 

Pskhaat

2005 Expedition Trophy Champion
What oil pan heaters are you using that you say is not heating the oil above ambient? You should very easily get the oil a lot warmer than the outside air with those.
 

Schattenjager

Expedition Leader
What oil pan heaters are you using that you say is not heating the oil above ambient? You should very easily get the oil a lot warmer than the outside air with those.

It's a NAPA glue on orange pad. IT does get hot, but the temp of the oil on the dip stick says no joy. Perhaps the pan is heavy duty, or the point the dipstick is reaching is not getting a benefit. I'm running synthetic 5-30 for now with a block heater too. All three have eased my mind. That block heater is the real trick. The whole motor gets warm (45 at the coolest point on a 08 degree day after sitting overnight) I can hear it heating the water when I put my ear to the hood / fender seam.

When I was vintage racing, I used an Accusump oil pressure backup system. Would be interesting to see about a small one with a heating element. There would zero cold engine startup concerns then!
 

brussum

Adventurer
The water block heater is the trick. The one in my 7.3L diesel cranks out enough heat to melt the snow on the hood, even at subzero temps. Somehow, I don't think the stick-on oil pan heater does as well trying to heat 4 gallons of oil. That's why we run a little thinner oil in the winter. Honestly, I worry more about my belts and batteries than my oil when I rotate my key in the ignition.

That +8F sounds mighty tropical compared to our past few weeks. That -40F gets old really fast!

Cheers,
John
 

Wyowanderer

Explorer
I use a Kat's oilpan pad on both my vehicles now. It was pretty easy to install on the VW as it was self adhesive. The Ford needed to be glued, since I bought it years before they were available with glue (and it still works great). I also have a battery warmer under the starting batteries on both vehicles, but that's probably overkill.
The oil pan warmer warms the oil, and the engine enough to promote easy starting in extreme cold temps.


http://www.google.com/products/cata...=X&ei=hSLbTvqtMIi02AX1tZTSDg&ved=0CIgBEPMCMAI
 

LanduytG

New member
After one winters use you will never want to be without it. Yes its pricey but if you have more heat available than any electric heat. You don't have to worry about a breaker tripping and coming out to a cold truck. Use it to heat the cab and defrost windows before you even turn the key.
http://espar.com/html/products/hydronic5.html

Greg
 

Quill

Adventurer
In the old days the heater hose elements units would rust out fairly quickly, the ones on the lower heater hose would fail quickly. The freeze plug ones were the best but you had to buy good ones. Oil pan heaters and dip stick heaters were basically a joke.
 

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