Block heaters? Battery warmers? Oil pan heaters?

[hawaii]

I'm also up in the Northern parts of Canada, like grecy, but over in Northwest Territories. Starting my Jeep at anything colder than -30 causes me to wince. I'd rather layer up and walk.

You definitely want to get all 3 heaters for a passenger vehicle if you at all care about your engine (and/or safety). A re-circulating coolant heater is nice, but not really needed. Some people also have issues with power steering lines -- they plug in the night before, startup in the morning, and immediately crank their wheels and drive away. Nope. Let your diffs, transmission, tcase, power steering, all get up to temp.

Dual batteries can also be a consideration if you're parking in the wilderness for a few days.

If you don't have a block heater, battery warmer, or oil pan heater, I'd say an oil pan heater should be your first priority. It's easy to install, cheap, and makes a huge difference.

 

[Jerry Ward]

Thanks for the continued advice and personal testimonies. My vehicle is a 2014 Jeep JKU, so don't have to worry about any of the diesel-related concerns. I opted for the 6-speed manual transmission. I had a MOPAR block heater installed last week and am in the process of researching battery mats and oil pan heaters. Any recommendations on brands or are they all similar quality-wise?
That YouTube video was really eye-opening- thanks for posting! I knew lubricants got thick, but seeing is believing. I usually run a blend of conventional and synthetic engine oil, but think I'll go full synthetic from now on. Thanks in advance...Jerry

 

[LR Max]

Look at getting just a generic engine blanket. And by blanket, I mean an electrically heated one, not like, a blanket-blanket. Google yields the power blanket. Seems like a good solution.

Seems to work pretty good for general use. Also after you crank it up, you can put your transmission in gear and leave your transfer case in neutral. Get the fluid in the trans and transfer case moving while you warm up.

Yeah I'd run synthetic gear oil for sure.

 

[pugslyyy]

Look at getting just a generic engine blanket. And by blanket, I mean an electrically heated one, not like, a blanket-blanket. Google yields the power blanket. Seems like a good solution.

Seems to work pretty good for general use. Also after you crank it up, you can put your transmission in gear and leave your transfer case in neutral. Get the fluid in the trans and transfer case moving while you warm up.

Yeah I'd run synthetic gear oil for sure.

When I lived up north I had to do that sometimes - was driving a 1975 K-5 Blazer and that transmission did not like the cold. The only way to get it to work was put the transfer case in neutral as you say.

 

[DanCooper]

With respect, you do not need a blanket of any sort. The last time I saw a guy use a blanket was in Magadan in Siberia. He forgot he had it on, we jumped in and took off, and maybe 30 kilometers later, it was on fire. Good times. Russian fire drill on the side of the road on a cliff in a pass at midnight.

I spent 17 winters in Fairbanks, one in Kenai, and am into my 20th here in Anchorage (I moved south to warm up). All you need is the block heater you have, the battery pad, and a pad to silicone on the oil pan. That is it. If you care about the environment, your own health, your kids health, etc., plug in at 20 degrees (that's 20 above). If you care about your engine, plug in at 10 above. The Municipality of Anchorage recommends plugging in at 20 based on some science, but a lot of people don't agree with science anymore.

I know that there are lots of people with different opinions. I'm just relating my 38 years of experience here in Alaska.

As for quality, I always buy heating pads in Fairbanks at Brown's. But they are a NAPA dealer, so I imagine your local auto parts store in Kasilof will have what you need.

Nice day today here in Anchorage. Twenty degrees or so with a nice breeze to cool it off some more, plus enough slippery ice to make life interesting.

Best wishes, and have a ton of fun with that Jeep!

 

[sargeek]

Auxiliary Engine Heaters are nice way to save wear and tear on engines when starting in cold weather. If you sell/trade a modern vehicle before 150K; you might not see the benefit of installing one. If you want to keep your vehicle for 250K+ then they may have some benefit. I would go look at the weather almanac for the area you are going to live in and see how many nights its going to get below 0. If its more than a dozen nights, might be worth it. Freeze plug heaters are $30.00 - buy it and try it.

Positive - Less wear & tear on the engine, engine provides heat to the passenger compartment quicker, helps compensate for other weakness in a vehicle (weak battery, bad glow plugs, miss tuned engine)

Negative - Increased electric bill: hides potential problems like a weak battery, investment of time and money. This shows up when you don't follow your normal routine, and have to park without AC current and the engine gets cold - especially bad when in a remote area.

Living in Denver CO - Not worth it on a gas engine, but I would use one on a Diesel; Granby, Colorado: I would install them on both gas and diesel engines. They are kind of like tire chains, when you need them there is no substitute. In Canada - I would install it and use when needed.

FYI - Spent the summer at the South Pole (Highest temp during my deployment -16; coldest temp -57 w/o wind chill). They had a Ford E-350 w/ 44" Tires. The van had a left freeze plug heater, right freeze plug heater, tank heater for the radiator, immersion heater in the oil pan, immersion heater in the ATF pan. They had two fourplex outlets under the hood to plug everything into, that went to a giant cord out the front. On some days with all that heat - the truck would not start. We would have to throw a trap over the van and use a Herman Nelson heater and blow hot air on the truck. Most likely cause were relays manufactured in a hot humid climate that would get water drops to condensate and freeze inside the relays.

The also used to make for Diesel Engines a add on box that would alternate the engine from High RPM Idle to Low RPM Idle to reduce the engine wear when idling for long periods.

 

[1stDeuce]

FYI - Spent the summer at the South Pole (Highest temp during my deployment -16; coldest temp -57 w/o wind chill). They had a Ford E-350 w/ 44" Tires. The van had a left freeze plug heater, right freeze plug heater, tank heater for the radiator, immersion heater in the oil pan, immersion heater in the ATF pan. They had two fourplex outlets under the hood to plug everything into, that went to a giant cord out the front. On some days with all that heat - the truck would not start. We would have to throw a trap over the van and use a Herman Nelson heater and blow hot air on the truck. Most likely cause were relays manufactured in a hot humid climate that would get water drops to condensate and freeze inside the relays.

I recently watched a documentary on the Antarctica and was surprised that their vehicle fleet was largely Ford trucks and vans... I guess if you leave stuff plugged in all the time, anything should start, but my experience with cold starting (a lot of) diesels is that a GM diesel (6.5L or Duramax) will always start if most of the glow plugs are working, a Cummins (at least up to about 2010) will eventually start if you cycle the heater grid enough, and if you didn't plug your Ford in, you're pretty much screwed. ( I think they finally got with the program with the latest "Scorpion" diesel, which is supposed to start much better than previous versions.)

I started my old 250ci six cylinder Chevy once when it was below -30F overnight... It was the only vehicle at our house that started, and the rest were fuel injected!! After it was running, even the normal screaming high idle was very low, and oil pressure was zero for about 60 seconds... Once the oil pressure and idle came up to a reasonable level, I let out the clutch, and stalled it! It was in N!! Had to let the clutch out VERY slowly and then listen to the trans making a horrible noise for a while... I'm sure the 90wt was about about the consistency of frozen peanut butter... None of the fluids were synthetic, since I was a starving college student...

I had a Deuce in the UP for winters a while back... I put two 600w freeze plug heaters and a 250w oil pan patch on it, plugged into a 3-way. It was pretty hard to start below about 25F without them, but even just an hour of being plugged in and it would rip right to life, even at -20F.

If I was going to cold start a daily driver someplace frigid, I would put a 250w pad on both the auto trans and engine oil pans, and a 600w (For gas, ~1000W for diesel) block heater, and use a HD timer that came on two or so hours before my departure time. (No need to plug in all night unless it's REALLY cold out, or very windy, or you have a tiny block heater...) A good battery should have no trouble starting an engine that's been plugged in, even at -40F.

When I was in northern Sweden, I was surprised that lots of people had small ceramic heaters inside the car that were plugged in all night, but fewer actually used any sort of block heater, other than on older diesel models... They weren't worried about the car, they just wanted it warm inside when they got in. (-10to -20F overnight) Of course, they were also fined for letting a car run for more than 30 seconds to "warm up" in the morning or at any time, so they just fired them up and took off, gas or diesel. If using the timer option, that might be a good way to go as well... Take the frost off the interior at least.

Do what works for you I guess.