Temps with Block Heater

Status
Not open for further replies.
Snagglefoot

Snagglefoot

Joined
Dec 31, 2017
Messages
20,461
Location
SE British Columbia, Canada
It's -2 F here this morning and dead calm. I plugged in my block heater last night and this morning I decided to take some temps of the engine with a laser pointed infrared temp gun. Here are the results:

Oil filter 54 F
Oil Pan 12 F
Valve Cover 43 F
Trans case 49 F
Temp sensor on manifold 46 F
Rad 23 F
Battery 30 F
At freeze plug with factory block heater 78 F

There was no wind, so even the battery was able to warm up some. The start was way smoother than yesterday even with 5w20 synthetic in the crankcase. The car is a 2005 Taurus. Not sure of the amperage. Enjoy.
smile.gif
 
Last edited:
Reminds me why I use an oil pan heater, a battery charger, and a block heater together. 3 hours on a timer & it starts like its summer! 12F is still pretty cold oil (although not for 5W20 synthetic).
 
Looks good.

My Impala's block heater is dead, but even when it works GM's diddling with the plug won't allow the heater to work above -16°C, and if the plug thermostat is defeated the engine computer puts the car in limp mode - if it even starts without clearing the code.

That's why I didn't get the block heater fixed. I thought it unlikely the temp would drop below -16 by now. How wrong I was. The car starts, but I want those numbers.
 
Originally Posted by Snagglefoot
It's -2 F here this morning and dead calm. I plugged in my block heater last night and this morning I decided to take some temps of the engine with a laser pointed infrared temp gun. Here are the results:

Oil filter 54 F
Oil Pan 12 F
Valve Cover 43 F
Trans case 49 F
Temp sensor on manifold 46 F
Rad 23 F
Battery 30 F
At freeze plug with factory block heater 78 F

There was no wind, so even the battery was able to warm up some. The start was way smoother than yesterday even with 5w20 synthetic in the crankcase. The car is a 2005 Taurus. Not sure of the amperage. Enjoy.
smile.gif


That's great. I assumed my block heater had a partial warming effect under the hood but never really took the time to measure it. This is quite interesting.
 
Block heater is good, but I installed the following for "guaranteed starts" in a commercial fleet.

-Battery trickle charger - Battery Tender
-Oil pan heater - Wolverine 200W iirc with a 7 liter sump
-Block heater - OEM

These were all unified to a single marine type plug by the driver's door on the front corner of the box of the truck.

I say "guaranteed" because the driver would have to make sure hey plugged in to a working 120v outlet. (We used cords with the lit ends.)
Used diesel conditioner, and brought truck in for scheduled service.
Yes, service compliance was tracked and followed up.

There's always the human factor in play.
 
Originally Posted by Snagglefoot
Dang. My coffee froze and cracked my cup!


It's not necessarily that cold around here, but I'm kind of cheap and don't want to pay for heat. Didn't end up with frozen coffee, but one time I didn't warm up a glass mug gently. As soon as I poured the hot coffee in the mug it went crack. Nothing quite like thermal shock.
 
Interesting, and timely (-30 deg or colder last few mornings). I thought underhood temps would be something like you have shown, but was a bit disappointed to see the oil pan doesn't warm up all that much.
 
I use an oil pan heater, and on a 0F day I get the coolant temp to 50F or hotter by plugging in the oil pan heater. What I like about an oil pan heater is it is mounted on the lowest part of the engine, heating the oil first then the coolant, making the oil even warmer than the coolant. Great for cold starts, better imo than a block heater.
 
Originally Posted by demarpaint
I use an oil pan heater, and on a 0F day I get the coolant temp to 50F or hotter by plugging in the oil pan heater. What I like about an oil pan heater is it is mounted on the lowest part of the engine, heating the oil first then the coolant, making the oil even warmer than the coolant. Great for cold starts, better imo than a block heater.
When the engine is an old IDI diesel, and cranking fast=starting, cranking slow=not starting, you need all the help you can get!
 
Originally Posted by bullwinkle
Originally Posted by demarpaint
I use an oil pan heater, and on a 0F day I get the coolant temp to 50F or hotter by plugging in the oil pan heater. What I like about an oil pan heater is it is mounted on the lowest part of the engine, heating the oil first then the coolant, making the oil even warmer than the coolant. Great for cold starts, better imo than a block heater.
When the engine is an old IDI diesel, and cranking fast=starting, cranking slow=not starting, you need all the help you can get!

Yes, and an oil pan heater is the way to go. The oil temp was hotter than the coolant, I don't recall what the oil temp was though.
 
Originally Posted by Snagglefoot
I looked up some oil pan heaters and they seem to use 3M tape or some kind of adhesive to adhere to the pan. Is this working out in the long run in terms of it not falling off?


I have installed maybe 700 Wolverines on oil pans on the commercial fleet I ran. Have one on a car here at home.

Never had a delamination that I heard of.

They have a 2 step attachment.
The pad has a covering that when removed exposes the sticky surface that gets applied to a clean oil pan.
Also included is a tube of RTV sealant that you apply around the edges and where the cord feeds into the pad.
Works well.
 
Originally Posted by Danno
Block heater is good, but I installed the following for "guaranteed starts" in a commercial fleet.

-Battery trickle charger - Battery Tender
-Oil pan heater - Wolverine 200W iirc with a 7 liter sump
-Block heater - OEM

These were all unified to a single marine type plug by the driver's door on the front corner of the box of the truck.

I say "guaranteed" because the driver would have to make sure hey plugged in to a working 120v outlet. (We used cords with the lit ends.)
Used diesel conditioner, and brought truck in for scheduled service.
Yes, service compliance was tracked and followed up.

There's always the human factor in play.


I wonder if the Wolverines were 20 or 25 W...(I know u said IIRC). Strikes me that 200 W in contact with a viscous fluid like oil could coke the oil...???
 
I doubt 20 - 25 watts would be enough to ever know it is working ? 200 watt sounds more reasonable ( or more ) .

As to coking the oil , it would all depend on how hot it got , ambient temperature , how fast heat is transmitted to the rest of the engine and the surrounding air . Also , what is normal operating temperature of engine oil ? 200F - 300F ?
 
Originally Posted by Snagglefoot
It's -2 F here this morning and dead calm. I plugged in my block heater last night and this morning I decided to take some temps of the engine with a laser pointed infrared temp gun. Here are the results:

Oil filter 54 F
Oil Pan 12 F
Valve Cover 43 F
Trans case 49 F
Temp sensor on manifold 46 F
Rad 23 F
Battery 30 F
At freeze plug with factory block heater 78 F

There was no wind, so even the battery was able to warm up some. The start was way smoother than yesterday even with 5w20 synthetic in the crankcase. The car is a 2005 Taurus. Not sure of the amperage. Enjoy.
smile.gif




Oil pan heater might be beneficial too . And , as was mentioned , a trickle charger / maintainer ?

Would be nice if it got warm enough for the heater / defroster to blow warm air , on start up ! :-)

It normally does not get that cold , around here . Not normally essential on a gasoline engine . Thank God !
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

J
Block heater question - temp? time?
2
Replies
24
Views
1K
Highboy
Klutch9
Installed oil temp sensor - very low temp readings?
Replies
7
Views
526
PMT133
BobsArmory
At what temps do you plug in your block heater?
2
Replies
21
Views
6K
North to Alaska
2
Block heater for a Natural Gas Standby Generator (38 kW Kohler)
2
Replies
27
Views
2K
YB1111
C
New to Real Winters; One Badly Ticking Lifter on Jeep 4.0L Startup/Don’t Drive Enough For 2x/Year OCI
2 3
Replies
45
Views
5K
CleanSump
Back
Top Bottom