Anybody running an oil pan heater that can make a recommendation. I hate starting the truck when the oil temp shows 0 degrees and it's only going to get colder this winter.

 

why not use the block heater?

 

You are going to get a lot more bang for your buck just using the block heater. Sure, an oil pan heater will heat the oil in the pan but that's about it, it's not going to really travel that much further up anything whereas the block heater is going to cover more surface area, not to mention warm the oil anywhere it sits near a coolant passage.

I did an experiment with a oil pan heater with one of our stand by gensets at work, with a 400 horse Deere engine as the prime mover. This was the largest magnetic one from Kat's I could find, and after 24 hours the oil was finally warmed around 40* at the dipstick. Keep in mind most of these units use a heavy duty circulating style heater for the coolant, but they are starting up and going to full throttle. I have yet to anything from the factory with a oil pan heater. We have a brand new 400KW MTU ready for hook up for a building expansion, with a 600 horse V8 MTu engine, large enough to take a nap on top off, but not oil pan heater on it either. All of our gensets are running 15W40 for oil.
Do you run 5W40 synthetic?
You could certainly use both if you choose, just imagine a lot of 100W bulbs burning whenever it's plugged in. $$$$$

 

Thanks for the feedback guys. Yeah I'm running Rotella T6 5w-40 and have Schaeffer's 5w-40 waiting for the next change here soon. I'll save the bucks and maybe do battery heaters instead if those are beneficial. Already using the block heater when I can and going to put it on a timer and thermo cube. -15 forecasted for the weekend here.

 

You're not going to have any problems with low temp oil flow using any synthetic 5W-40 even if you don't use a block heater. (the whole point of using synthetic 0W-30, 5W-30, 0W-40, 5W-40 etc)

When I parked my truck outside, I used a high power timer. I connected it to the block heater and a small space heater in the cab so it would come on about 3 or 4 hours prior to my going to work.

It worked great having the engine and cab all warmed up before I got in to drive it! If there was snow or ice, the cab heat would clear the windows completely!

Cheers,


Rick

 

Block heater and synthetic is the way to go.
We have some rotary UPS at the sites - 500 horse I-6 that start up and provide stable power within 5 seconds. They pump heated coolant round the block. When I was a site engineer we would switch off the commercial power once a month to test the system - big cloud of smoke, lots of noise, very impressive

 

I've a 2007 6.0L. It's my first diesel, so when it wouldn't start a couple weeks ago I recalled fast hearing about cold diesel engine performance. I had to find a cord, for I got bought the truck used and though it had a block heater, no cord existed. The block heater works good, but below 20 and it takes 4+hrs to get up to about 70 for an ok start. At 80 it idles a little better then at 90 it calms down and gets smooth.
i'm actually wanting an Oil Pan heater in addition to my block heater, so surprised to read the negative talk of one. Even when I start the truck with the block heater warming it up, that's one small part near the thermostat. When it starts to cycle oil my Bully Dog Tuner monitors the temp and I'll watch it drop 6-10 degrees before it evens out, because it's cycling the cold/yet to be heated oil around. This morning it was borderline, the truck started, the temp dropped 8 degrees, it died and wouldn't restart.
If my Oil Pan had pre-heated oil inside of it ALSO, then I'd get to a smooth idle much sooner, and even probably to Starting Temp sooner I'd be wiling to bet.

 

Well you might look at the magnetic blanket types. I don't think you want
one of the stick down the dipstick tube types do the length. There used to
be a magnet stick-on thing that was like a small brick that you can put on the pan.

One thing you could do to see if you really need to add one would be to watch
the EOT on a digital readout when using the block heater. I think your going to
find that the oil has warmed up. The only place that might benefit from added
heating would be the trans pan.



Sean


6.0L Tech Folder

 

Plug the truck in earlier, like all night. I plug mine in before bed, it's 130° at start up in the morning when it 32° out.
It drops to 125° and cost a few cents to run it all night long.

If your trucks not restarting with 70° coolant and oil and running rough... you've got other issues. Switch to full synthetic oil, Delo 5w-40 and find out when your HPOP leak is at.

 

I remember watching a program on TV that covered preparing a truck for the real cold. The shop would mount a 4 gang plug outlet under the hood of the truck. One pigtail with a 120v male plug came out of it and hung out of the grill. In the 4 sockets were all heating elements plugged in. A water jacket block heater, a pad on the oil pan, a pad on the Trans pan, and the last 2 were pads for each batteries. The mechanic claimed that's what was needed. I guess when it's -30 and lower outside maybe it is.

 

Fix the cause of your crappy starts rather than band-aiding it with a oil pan heater that isn't needed

 

This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Did a little test with son Tuesday morning, when we had a low of -5.
We left the truck outside, not plugged in. He did cycle the GP's once, however she fired off just as quick as it would have plugged in.
Did she buck and snort/smoke(Atlas 40 dumping extra fuel) a little for an extra five seconds? Sure did, but after that smoothed out and the turbo did it's thing just as normal. Took a lot longer to warm up yes, but the point being as Chris mentioned you are better off switching a few things up/addressing the issue instead of masking what sounds to me like stiction. As Randy added, if you have not already get some 5W40 synthetic diesel swapped out.