Have you guys seen this yet?

[Xist]

Originally Posted by Ecky

@Xist, there are hot points in the engine that are already well above 200f. Cylinder walls? Around the valves in the head?

Notice mixing of units. 300f != 300c. 300c is almost 600f.

I imagine 250-300f shouldn't be too much of a problem if you're running a decent oil that doesn't start to burn until 450+.

I was just sharing comments, but I will update that post. Unfortunately, comments are closed for Business Insider. I just wanted to show that it could not return the investment in less than a month. Someone on Popular Mechanics did the math for his Accord and came up with similar numbers to mine.

Other comments from PM:

Perhaps better to heat the air intake

if something can't pay for itself, it's not using fewer resources which means it's not "saving the planet."

Someone commented that oil coolers are for the transmission.

Neighborhoods in Arizona usually have apartment-style mailboxes, where each block will have one or two clusters. It seems like absolutely everyone leaves their engine running and door open while they get their mail and they live an average of a quarter-block from the mailbox.

[darcane]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

I'd rather use a plug-in electric pan heater. Get the benefit from the first crank.

A passive system built into the car is more likely to be used.

Even those of us on this site trying to modify our cars to improve fuel economy rarely use oil pan heaters. I'd bet less than 10% of the active members here use an oil pan heater or even a block heater.

[Cobb]

Sounds like hes bring something NASCAR has known and practices for years to the consumer. Ever see a cart behind the car before a race starts? Its warmming the oil, coolant and keeping the battery topped off.

[oil pan 4]

Sorry, this idea is a failure. The exhaust on your engine runs about 1500 F. You want to heat your oil? Jacket the exhaust pipe with your oil pan. You want to thin your oil? Switch to 10W20. You want to shorten the life of your engine to save 20 cents a gallon? Do either one of the above.

I am leaning towards that.
Thinner oil has been proven to give a 2% to 3% boost at the expense of engine wear.

So these guys want to use exhaust heat to increase engine efficiency by reusing waste heat to run the engine more efficiently. Sounds familiar.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ler-29085.html

I recommend using exhaust heat to heat the engine coolant via a diesel EGR cooler then use the coolant to warm the desired system. I would be concerned that a exhaust to oil heat exchanger would scorch the oil.

Originally Posted by Cobb

Sounds like hes bring something NASCAR has known and practices for years to the consumer. Ever see a cart behind the car before a race starts? Its warmming the oil, coolant and keeping the battery topped off.

Yeah my suburban pretty much has that built into it.
Battery stays topped off with solar, the oil goes through a oil/coolant heat exchanger and the coolant can be preheated with a two 120volt, 600watt OEM style block heaters and/or a 240volt hot water heater element.

http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/63-...tml?highlight=

[spacemanspif]

Originally Posted by darcane

I'd bet less than 10% of the active members here use an oil pan heater or even a block heater.

I'm one of them; no aux heaters for me. Just doesn't seem worth it to me, but then again I park on the street and don't want the hassle of extension cords running all over the lawn and driveway.

Still not sure why this oil warmer is so fantastic, as others have said, switching to 0-20 oil seems cheaper and less prone to failure.

[elhigh]

The best French fries are cooked in horse fat. What do we cook in unicorn oil?

Seriously, $300 would be better spent chasing MUCH bigger improvements from aero mods, which wouldn't put your engine at risk of burnishing and galling itself to a big ugly lump of hard lessons learned.

[Xist]

Guys, I hardly use my heater! My friend is still using her air conditioning!

[Cobb]

Ive started to use my heater, but Ive slacked off on the ac. I drive to work in the early morning where its cool and work 3 stories underground in a 65 degree room full of computers. Ironically after 9 hours of that it feels good to drive with the windows cracked an inch in almost 100 degree weather.

Originally Posted by Xist

Guys, I hardly use my heater! My friend is still using her air conditioning!

[renault_megane_dci]

I might be wrong but oil thickness also shows its ability to handle "squashing" or somehow hold its clearance filling potential.

The thinner the oil, the worst it holds clearance between mechanical parts.
That's where you lose on reliability.

That's why it is advised not to use thin oils in older engines : oil pressure will suffer.

So putting specificated oils for your particular engine in optimum temperature viscosity wise is kind of the only reasonable way to lower its viscosity while retaining the "strength" of oil the engine has been designed with.

The main issue with playing with the limits is the ability to handle peaks.

Ever stopped your boiler as soon as water boils ?
Yes, it continues boiling despite you're not putting any more energy into it, the process has inertia.
It is the same in your engine and you can't even stop energy input at the flick of a buttton, the whole engine has heat inertia.

Basically we can play with temperature but if we get it wrong just once, the price is very high compared to the savings.

Lastly, your vehicule cooling potential is designed to handle a certain amount of kW. Bringing back some will strain and reduce that cooling potential, so you have to add some cooling potential back, adding weight and money or drastically reduce car 's flexibility.
"Can't use my car today, they forecast 70°F this afternoon ..."

[S Keith]

Originally Posted by Xist

Guys, I hardly use my heater! My friend is still using her air conditioning!

I'm not, but I get pretty sweaty on the way home from work!