Quote:
Originally Posted by GRU
I belive that the oil pan heater will actualy heat the whole engine but the coolant will not be at warm as with a block heater.
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I thought the same, but the jury's still out on the CARDIS. I ran an experiment in early Fall using a 300W magnetic oil pan heater (Kat's Magnum). It definitely did the trick for the oil but didn't seem to have much effect on the engine block or coolant temperatures:
Code:
Time On Time Ambient Block Coolant Δ A:B Δ A:C Δ A:B Adj Δ A:C Adj
8:54 AM 0:00 56.0 63.6 62.6 7.6 6.6 0.0 0.0
10:00 AM 1:06 55.6 63.1 62.6 7.5 7.0 -0.1 0.4
11:00 AM 2:06 57.4 64.3 64.4 6.9 7.0 -0.7 0.4
12:30 PM 3:36 59.4 66.7 66.2 7.3 6.8 -0.3 0.2
7:00 PM 10:06 57.9 70.2 69.8 12.3 11.9 4.7 5.3
10:30 PM 13:36 53.1 68.2 68.0 15.1 14.9 7.5 8.3
9:00 AM 24:00 48.7 63.2 62.6 14.5 13.9 6.9 7.3
"Block" ("B") is the external block temperature measured with a thermocouple under a snugged bolt head near the top of the engine. "Coolant" ("C") is the temperature reported by my Ultragauge; I haven't yet looked into where that sensor lives. Because of the offset between the ambient temperature and the other readings, the last two columns are adjusted to remove the offset. (I didn't concern myself over where the offset originated as the relative values were the ones of interest.)
I literally ran this test for 24 hours, to give the oil pan heater every opportunity to show its stuff. As you can see, the heater apparently didn't do much in the way of raising engine temperatures (though it DID seem to hold onto some gains as the ambient temperature dropped overnight).
I want to do another more controlled test once the weather's significantly colder, but my current impression -- for the heater I used, where I put it, on my car -- is that I'd need a block or coolant heater if I want to warm more than the oil.
(Also still pending are actual operational tests... e.g., looking for a difference in warmup profiles with and without the oil pan heater in roughly equivalent temperatures. I'm thinking whatever heat is in the oil will be transferred to the block once the engine's started, but I question if it will make a significant or even detectable difference.)
Comments invited.
Rick