Engine and Oil Heater Reduces Wear

[amateurbob]

TLDW:
Warming the engine block and oil prior to starting greatly reduces wear. GM released this info over 20 years ago.

I don't think this is practical for most people but it is interesting to think about.



Any BITGOER's do this year round?

 

[rstsco]

Dang! I live in central Texas and it makes me want to do this! Thank you for linking the video.

 

[Pablo]

Almost like using an oil with better cold flow properties is better

 

[50yr Street Mech]

TLDW:
Warming the engine block and oil prior to starting greatly reduces wear. GM released this info over 20 years ago.

I don't think this is practical for most people but it is interesting to think about.



Any BITGOER's do this year round?

No. My N/A gasoline engines in my cars have no factory block heaters. It gets quite cold in NY in the winter months. My 23 yr old Toyota with the inline 4 cylinder has been cold started since new, along with the 06' Toyota & 13' CRV. None burn oil. I do believe pre-heating the block is a good idea to reduce wear, but, it's just not practical IMO. They do get warmed up for a few minutes when temps are extremely low, as in 0 degrees or less. Interesting video though. Thanks for posting it.

 

[amateurbob]

@50yr Street Mech I believe the main argument is keeping the car at operating temperature for as long as possible is the key to extremely high miles and wear reduction... Say like driving a CRV over 60,000 miles a year .
The next best is keeping the engine artificially warm... But again very impractical for many.

 

[rstsco]

Almost like using an oil with better cold flow properties is better

What was interesting about this was the viscosity had little effect. He said in a conversation with LSJR, this may very well be due to additives designed to work optimally at normal operating temperature.

 

[4wd]

I read all of this …
heading back to hot or cold drain series no. 217

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Of course warming the block reduces wear, but it's not the same as warming the oil to reduce wear.

 

[fantastic]

Frequent Cold Engine starts = More fuel = Higher wear
Infrequent Warmer Engine starts = Less fuel = Lower wear

You can see the fuel dilution on the results with the block heater use having the least fuel dilution.

I'm sure the expansion effects of a warm engine helps the seal between rings and cylinder walls unlike a cold engine that may not. Good video OP.

 

[Patman]

Of course warming the block reduces wear, but it's not the same as warming the oil to reduce wear.

It has to help the oil warm up a little bit quicker than it otherwise would though.

When I bought my first brand new car in 1988 (a Dodge Shadow ES Turbo) I was thinking that I was going to keep it for a very long time and I was obsessed with doing everything that I could to make the engine last forever. So I plugged in the factory block heater every single night (hooked up to a timer) I did this even though the car was parked in the garage and I plugged it in during the summer months too! I figured that the faster I could get the engine up to temperature then the lower the engine wear would be. It didn’t have an oil temperature gauge but just going by the coolant temperature gauge I could see that it was getting up to temperature very fast (and therefore it would have to help transfer some of that heat into the oil quicker than it would otherwise)

I do remember thinking back then that it would be even more ideal if I had a way to warm up the oil as well.

In a perfect world I would love to have a system that would allow every car I own to make my oil and coolant start off every morning with both warmed up to 180 degrees

 

[Pablo]

What was interesting about this was the viscosity had little effect. He said in a conversation with LSJR, this may very well be due to additives designed to work optimally at normal operating temperature.

I can’t watch the full video but I agree on the additives to a point but viscosity definitely has impact- think 0W vs 20W, and a bunch of other variables as well as experimental error and such

 

[4wd]

I can’t watch the full video but I agree on the additives to a point but viscosity definitely has impact- think 0W vs 20W, and a bunch of other variables as well as experimental error and such

Yeah, things starting with 20W can be a mono …
Mercury Marine liked that so long WOT runs did not shear …

 

[IndyFan]

I have a block or coolant heater in my 2018 Jeep. Not sure which, but it results in oil and coolant warming to 60 degrees on the coldest mornings (-10 was the coldest temp I´ve seen with it). I think it shuts off at 60 or is set to maintain 60 because in warmer temps, that is still the highest it gets. Anyway, I don´t live in Montana, so I don´t really need it, but since my Jeep was factory equipped with it, why not use it? It makes thos super cold mornings certainly more bearable. That Jeep heats up VERY quickly anyway, and this just accelerates it.

 

[Snagglefoot]

I plug in at -20 C ( about -4 F) if parked outside. I have known owners of brand new 3/4 tons with diesel engines plug in all winter no matter how mild the weather was. This is more of a case about being anal retentive after shelling out $70,000 for a new diesel truck. I can’t blame them.

 

[drugrep]

I was just about to post this video and found your post. If you read the comments, Lake actually replied to the video.

 

[Snagglefoot]

I generally liked the video but it totally ignored the other modes of failure such as lifters, chain tensioners, cams, valves, connecting rods etc. Or did he just assume pre-heating would help with all that as well.

 

[Snagglefoot]

It took me 18 years to get 280,000 miles. What sort of fantasy it out there to drive your vehicle 1,000,000 miles? Most folks won’t be caught dead driving a vehicle over 10 years old. And I’m talking mostly about non-Bitoggers.

 

[IndyFan]

I generally liked the video but it totally ignored the other modes of failure such as lifters, chain tensioners, cams, valves, connecting rods etc. Or did he just assume pre-heating would help with all that as well.

I would assume it until I saw another study.

 

[IndyFan]

It took me 18 years to get 280,000 miles. What sort of fantasy it out there to drive your vehicle 1,000,000 miles? Most folks won’t be caught dead driving a vehicle over 10 years old. And I’m talking mostly about non-Bitoggers.

So true. 17 to get to 196,000 in my old 2008 Jeep. My 2018 will get there more quickly, but still. I won´t live long enough...even if the Jeep did.

There was a guy on a Gladiator forum that had a Jeep Gladiator where he put over 100k on it in just over 6 months, but he was a chase vehicle for super wide loads. That´ll do it.

 

[Roberts9156]

Obviously avoiding all cold starts is not practical. I think the interesting question this video raises is for people that have vehicles with engine block heaters, and frequently do short trips, is the threshold for when to use maybe lower than we used to think? For example, would powering the heater for 2 hours before a short morning commute when it’s in the 40s F be reasonable?? It’s pretty easy these days with smart plug apps like Kasa.