Engine oil, transmission oil and differential oil heaters

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by TimV

1-alternator
You need to be carefull. The alternator cant put out a lot of power.

It's also the most inefficient power source, being powered by the combustion engine.
If it's running,use it to propel the car.

When using heaters, insulate the engine compartment or you'll be heating the environment.

[TimV]

Using the alternator as a power source does help warming up times. It put a load on the engine so it heats up faster. This is only benifetical if you do long trips. Otherwise it is running all the time and wont have time to pay it back.

[puddleglum]

I don't think using the alternator Is a good idea either. You are right that it puts a load on the engine and that is probably the biggest reason not to use it. If it is loading the engine then it is burning more fuel. The gas you are trying to save by warming the engine faster is being burnt up from the extra load on the engine. You may even get worse mileage, don't know. As for long trips, preheating the engine is only helping for the first 5-10 minutes of driving anyway, just until it gets to operating temp. Besides, wasting fuel to save fuel never pays in my mind.

[gumby79]

My 91 dodge d250 diesel worms faster with the defroster on. Noticeably faster ..
1 small load is not sufficient to add fuel at idle slows thw motor insted
2 heat from the condenser helps to worm the coolent in the radator
3 the added heat helps the thermal fans viscous fluid to sleng out and disengage (slow almost stops drawing in freezing air through the coolant)
4 ac condenser coil is in front of my intercooler. Heat is transferred to my intake air charge via the intercooler
The important things to remember
1turn fan speed down to 1 / low till wormed up
2 turn to plain heat to disengage the compressor
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As for transmission heating dodge released a tsb saying not ro use overdrive@ temps below 5°f because the atf will freeze in the air to liquid transmission cooler and burn up the transmission. So a 12 volt heater would se good in my application. It would alow me to run overdrive(higher gear trumps additional altanator1load )
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Add thermal isolator tape , sleeve, split loom, on all coolent hoses to reduce heat loss (ever try to hold on to a heater hose @ operating temperature? Wellits operating temperature!! ) my 2cents well spent