Oil Pan Heater Mod

I've heard about coolant heaters but have never seen or installed one. I do know for a short time at the Minot AFB that they were banned due to engine fires when my parents were stationed there. The main culprit was poor installations and the stupid wattage ratings of the heaters. I'm sure improvements have been made over the years. With proper maintenance I'm sure coolant heaters will work for many years without issue.

 

Nice write-up. How many amps is the circuit that you're plugging the block heater and oil pan heater into? Looks like it'll be a substantial current draw. I'm thinking of doing the same thing (already have a block heater). Do you use a timer?

 

The oil pan heater only draws 1.1 amps according to the packaging, the block heater might be a little more but nothing that's going to overdraw from a standard 15 amp wall outlet. I don't use a timer, I could save a little money, I don't really want to add another appliance to the line.

Like is described in my review IF I had to do it over again for the 4 banger I'd purchase the smaller pad even though it doesn't provide the same output.

 

.

LOL ... Ditto

I use to travel to and work in Canada & Finland (both cold). ... I can remember -44 C regular temp. (without windchill).

Now, also living the "pussified life" in sunny Atlanta. I have to admit that So. Calif. (ie, Laguna Niguel) is even a little better.

SOS

.

 

This beats how we'd warm the oil in Alaska. either a space heater, or, we'd start a small fire under the oil pan and freeze while making sure it didn't spread. ;-)

I recall the days of -50f in Alaska. So freakin' cold. These things come in very handy. I recommend doing it for anyone who has anything below freezing. It'll take a lot of wear and tear off your engine.

 

Anyone done this on a V6? I'm thinkin about doing it. I don't see the temperature's you guys do, but average lows creep toward single digits certain months of the year, think it's worth it?

 

Definitely worth the hassle. Take some measurements of your V6 oil pan and purchase one of the heaters that will fit your size constraints. Shallow curves on the pan are OK but flat is the absolute best. Overnight lows in ND right now are low 30's, my wife has been plugging in the Honda Civic (same mod) for the last week. In combination with an engine block heater, the coolant temperature comes off the peg in the first 1/4 mile, with usable heat for the windshield defroster.

Even better make a template of the pan heater from a piece of paper and see how well it fits with the different shapes available.

 

Thanks, I'll be sure to post up the V6 version for people if I do this.

 

I'm not putting anything with the word 'wolverine' on my truck. Are there any other quality brands out there?

 

My first oil pan heater was purchased from www.engineheaters.com ProHeat, it's the same material only 4 versions to choose from. In the case of the Taco a smaller pad is best, due to mounting difficulties. If it makes you feel any better, the heaters are produced in part using 3M materials. I've used both and except for some labeling both heaters mount and look identical.

 

Lol, my first thought was, why would you do this? Than I remembered not everyone is gifted with 70 degree days in December.

I have to imagine the odor of running that on a 110 f summer day here.

 

I got a block heater, thats the same no?

 

No, the blocker heater and the oil pan heater are two separate parts. The blocker heater is a factory/dealer installed option, the oil pan heater is strictly aftermarket.

 

Lol I have to say this is probably not worth anyones time who lives even in the "northern" US. Southern Canada all along the border is bearable with just a Block heater. West coast gets nothing but rain anyways and I drove my sportbike till Dec 15th in southern Ontario two winters ago.

Now having been to cold places like Winnipeg and Thule Greenland I can say that block heaters are a must and if you experience anything like Thule temps you probably wont even turn off the engine cause it will never restart.

For those of you in the US excluding Alaska and Hawaii (the freak states) you should be just fine with a block heater, if even that. Defrost your windows before you drive.

Take this post with a grain of salt, have a great day!

 

Holy thread revival, Batman!

Have a question about this one.

Would it be a good idea to cover the entire pad with a bed liner or other such coating after installed? Or would that just cause more problems?

 

I lived up in Wisconsin for 24 year and believe me it gets real nasty cold up there. -30 or less with a wind chill I have seen -60. I remember times when I would forget to plug my truck in at night then go out to start it in the AM, boy that truck would make noise no vehicle should ever make if it was able to turn over. Well worth installing.

 

Reading this thread really has givin me a lot of knowledge that I had no idea about. Guess thats what I get for growing up in so-cal.......

Kinda reminds me of formula 1

 

just a block heater is enough to -40 to -50 C

my 4.3 vortec would still fire up at near -50 not plugged in with a red top, but it shook like a you know what lol

 

I have no need for this in SoCal, but for those that need it, i just had an AMAZING IDEA!!!

For those without remote start sytems and that dont care to get one, You can purchase a remote start only setup for fairly cheap, but instead of having the RS module start the engine, have it turn on an on-board power inverter that your heaters will be constantly plugged into. Then it can be a complete hide-a-way system controlled by your remote, and it wont be running long enough to hurt your battery either

For those with remote start alarms, DEI (viper, clifford, python, etc) all their new alarms have the option for your single remote to control 2 different cars... With that being said, you can have car 1 being your already installed remote start with security, and then purchase a seperate RS only module (no alarm) and have that programmed as car 2 on your remote. now you can turn on your heater, then after xxx minutes, remote start the truck with your heater on, and all from 1 remote.

GENIUS! I would so love to design this for someone!!

EDIT: you might even be able to have just 1 single remote start system installed and use an auxillary channel on the alarm to turn on your inverter. You could figure out a way to trigger the aux output without actually starting the truck. Then to take it a step furhter, you can get the SmartStart module and have all this controlled from anywhere in the world using your cell phone and the DEI app. WOW I just blew my own mind. I wanna move to alaska just to do this now haha

 

u guys do know what convection is right? the coolant with circulate due to this using a standard block heater. never had a problem on any of my vehicles right down to -55C and yes my underinflated tires felt like i was driving on squares