Wolverine oil pan heater.. Anyone tried these?

[Givinup]

Saw it on Amazon while ordering synthetic gear oil. Put it in my cart but haven't ordered yet. Any thoughts?

Eventually I'd like to get a hotstart or Espar system for air and engine heat, but that's a long way off (hopefully not more than a year though).

This seems like an easy solution to prevent cold starts during winter work on the vehicle.

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[Awesomeness]

I haven't used that one specifically, but I've used magnetic oil pan heater on other vehicles. They work ok, but not as good as a block heater. The problem is that they only heat the oil sitting in the pan (not touching anything), so the engine is still cold (including the coolant), and the only "warming" you get is when you go to start it and the warm oil gets pumped into the engine helping take the chill off it. I don't know how much that raises the temperature, but you've got a thousand pounds of cold metal and coolant versus 100 pounds of warm oil... my guess is that it gives it like a 20-degree boost.

I have the ZeroStart block heater in mine. ~$80 Works great, and easy to install. Drain the coolant (~15 minutes), pop the freeze plug out (easy to reach, near the turbo), insert the block heater and tighten it with a hex key, pour the coolant back in. 1500W heater right in the block, so when it's running the entire engine block and all the coolant in the engine (about 1/3 of the total system) is maybe 40-degrees warmer.

 

[lindsey97]

I agree with Awesomeness. I have coolant heaters in all 3 of my M923. They work wonders, the engine literally doesn't make 3 revolutions and the truck starts. No ether needed. Also save wear and tear on your starter and batteries. When you plug a truck in, within 15 seconds you can hear the coolant start to sizzle, and you know the coolant heater is working.

I believe why they work so well, is that the coolant is in the head, and heat goes up. So the coolant gets warm, then the iron head gets warm and retains heat. The injectors are mounted in the head, and have fuel in them, so the fuel gets warmed as well.

I have seen my coolant heater melt the snow off of the truck hood at 20 degrees F.

I think an oil pan heater would be used in addition to a coolant heater, for more hostile extreme environments.

 

[coachgeo]

I agree with Awesomeness. ...I think an oil pan heater would be used in addition to a coolant heater, for more hostile extreme environments.

in same agreement. Oil pan heaters as Lindsey mentions is great for thinning the oil in VERY cold climates. Distributes little better on start up.

 

[lindsey97]

I would like to try an oil pan heater on my transmission, since you have to let the truck idle for 20-30 minutes warming the trans oil on a M939 series.
Be sure to have the correct weight of oil in the trans, as cold temperatures affect the oil thickness and trans life expectancy greatly.

 

[FMTV Truck Sales]

Block heater MUCH better than oil pan heater

 

[simp5782]

You are better off using a pad heater to put under your batteries to plug in versus putting one on the oil pan. Getting your batteries warm makes starting very easy. It is a better idea over the oil pan heater.

As far as warming your oil. Just switch to synthetic in the winter months. Easier on startups.

 

[Givinup]

I would like to try an oil pan heater on my transmission, since you have to let the truck idle for 20-30 minutes warming the trans oil on a M939 series.
Be sure to have the correct weight of oil in the trans, as cold temperatures affect the oil thickness and trans life expectancy greatly.

Where would you place the heater for the transmission? This would be nice to have fluid thin out a bit with the heat more quickly. Especially since I haven't switched to atf yet.



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[simp5782]

Where would you place the heater for the transmission? This would be nice to have fluid thin out a bit with the heat more quickly. Especially since I haven't switched to atf yet.



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Transmission has a heat exchanger on it. Meaning that your engine coolant will keep it warm and bring it up to temp alot quicker if your block heater is plugged in.

 

[Rebuilder]

Block heater MUCH better than oil pan heater

And the block heater costs about the same as that pan heater.

 

[jasonjc]

Why do you need block heat and stuff like that in Oklahoma??? Am I missing something??

 

[Givinup]

Why do you need block heat and stuff like that in Oklahoma??? Am I missing something??

Not a necessity by any means, but would like to not idle in a closed shop for 20 minutes before the engine and tranny is warm to drive.

Also, I don't plan in using the vehicle in Oklahoma long term, plan on moving it up to Montana.

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[simp5782]

Not a necessity by any means, but would like to not idle in a closed shop for 20 minutes before the engine and tranny is warm to drive.

Also, I don't plan in using the vehicle in Oklahoma long term, plan on moving it up to Montana.

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The truck will need to idle that long to properly warm up regardless of a block heater or any other heater. It gives you the time to do a safety and maintenance check on everything. Especially in Montana with the air system. At 0 and below. It takes awhile to do all that. Especially with your air system. I used to let my 818 and m62 idle over night if i was only going to be in bed a few hours.

One thing I did invest in when i lived in Montana was a small baseboard electric heater and mounted it in the cab. Was a small forced fan unit that used a wall outlet. I would plug it in when I did my block heater a few hours before I planned to go somewhere in any of my vehicles. The cab would be about 45 degrees in the cab when it was -10 below outside. At those cold temp gauges and electronics go on the fritz.

https://www.riverbendhome.com/rbhit...RVuGZiLSUOuo859CO9BB4AHZOtNgVp1BoCWNwQAvD_BwE

 

[Special T]

Arnt those made and sold by a guy in Yakima Wa?

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[Givinup]

I suppose I should have edited my previous post, I don't plan on being in Montana in the dead of Winter but in the fringe months during transition.

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