I bought this one used, but many types are easy to find on eBay and elsewhere. This one doesn't require adhesive due to the powerful magnets that are built in. The idea is to stick it on a steel area, like the oil pan cover, and have it on for about an hour prior to driving in the winter. That heats the engine's oil supply prior to driving, minimizing emissions and engine wear at start up.

If this technique works, it will be nice to have the XKR warmed up and ready for sporty driving prior to getting 1/2 way to work. I can route the power cord to come up and rest by the base of the driver's side windshield wiper for easy access/use. Powered by an electric cord in the garage that is controlled by an affordable plug-in timer, it should be low hassle (we'll see).

Has anyone else used a block heater for this purpose?

 

Jaguar list a Cylinder Block Heater:



It replaces the Block Drain Plug.

Rumoured to be OE fitting for the colder parts of Canada.............?

Graham

 

I don't think this is going to do what you want Jeff, the idea of this is to warm the oil in extremely cold climates to aid circulation on start up. (Tuscon doesn't qualify)
You still need to warm the engine up before nailing it.

 

Umm... isnt' the pan aluminum?

The high miler crowd is real big on oil preheat because it gets the engine into closed loop faster.

An additional concern not addressed by a block heater is warmup of the differential. It does not matter how long an engine idles, the differential won't start to warm up until it is moving. Very sad if the path to the road is uphill

 

Tucson? Seriously? I've been there, and spontaneous combustion seemed a real possibility, not needing a block heater.

I'd be more worried that all of the metal components are up to temp, not the oil. The valve clearances and piston to cylinder wall gaps need to be stabilized before applying lots of power. Heating the oil is not a bad idea, but it's usually not done unitil temps well below freezing.

 

In the distant past I used a dipstick heater on my Alfa's to heat the engine enough to turn over. With the massive battery and better electrical components of today's cars that does not seem necessary, except in the extreme cold of Canada and the border states.

 

This oil heater works INCREDIBLY WELL.

For those that haven't read about it, I will be installing an AVos twin screw supercharger kit at some point between mid December and January, depending on when the kit arrives.

My engine has a knocking sound if I apply more than half throttle prior to the engine being warmed, which typically takes about 10 minutes of driving, or half way to my factory. That condition, and a minor oil leak from a reservoir that is behind the radiator, will be fixed immediately prior to the supercharger kit being installed. The engine runs strong and 'knock/sound free' after it has warmed.

Here's the scoop... I used the oil/block heater this morning for the first time. I turned it on about one hour prior to driving (turning on the power switch after waking). I unplugged the cord, then hopped in the XKR to drive my step-son to school. Knowing that this was a test to see if the oil heater worked, after driving only about one mile, with the temperature gauge still showing a cold condition, I hit the throttle. There were no sounds or knocks whatsoever and the engine screamed with lots of power due to the cold engine block. I then applied heavy short bursts of throttle a few more times while the engine was still cold. Not one single bad sound was heard (except for a spinning rear tire).

I will confirm that this remains to be beneficial, then switch to a permanent block heater during the supercharger install.



The plug-in for the heater is up by the base of the driver side windshield arm. Temperature this morning: 55 degrees F.

 

I'll bet it did.

This is really a bad idea. Please stop, poor car. The fact that the engine still showed as being cold when you started out indicates that the oil heater had little effect on warming the engine, never mind the transmission, differential (as plums mentioned) or any part of the drivetrain.

If there's something sufficiently wrong with the engine that it has a bad knock when cold, see to that immediately rather than the false economies of this widget.

 

Hello Jeff, hope all is well.

Here is another thought, sorry but I tend to agree with the others about Tucson not being cold enough to actually need a oil pan heater but if that makes you feel better about driving in the morning, as you said before your name is on the title.

But there is a better way to accomplish everything you want and much more and even easier than going outside in the cold to plug in your heater.

Get a viper alarm system that will do a remote start.

You get extra protection for your car, the remote start feature you just push the buttom on the FOB and your car starts, do this 5-10 minutes before you want to leave and your car's engine, engine oil and interior of car is nice and toasty (leave the cabin heater in "on" position and it will come on when you remote start) the best thing is in the summer when it is 115 degrees you can do the same with A/C on and the car will be cool when you get in.
Also I do not know if you garage the car over night or not but even if the it is 40 degrees in morning your car should be 65- 70 in the garage.
But the absolute best way to solve all the problem is the remote start alarm and if you don't want the alarm part I think you can get just plain remote start system.
I have viper and it is a good one but I am sure other manufactures make remote start, the better units say they have a one mile reception, but it is really like 1/4 mile. All depends on line of sight. Also the car unit and FOB communicates back and forth so if someone tries to break in or hits your car it notifies you and even gives a picture of where the car was entered or hit and since you seem like a gadget guy the new units will also work with smart phones and you can do all features thru the smart phone system and satellites then everything works from a very long distance, you can unlock or start your car from the east coast now for sure your car will be warmed up by the time your flight arrives.

Best wishes for you and your family for the up coming Holiday season, who knows Santa may drop a remote start unit down your chimney!
Just make sure your wife and stepson are able to read this, make a copy and accidently leave a copy on the breakfast table... ! LOL

Happy Motoring...

 

The information about the noise existing while the engine is cold is not normal and only occurs if I apply a heavy amount of throttle. That is the case even if I allow the engine to warm up for about 15 minutes sitting in the driveway prior to driving. Prior to the engine block heater experiment, the knock would still occur after running the engine in the driveway until I drove it another 10 minutes.

Without the engine block heater, the knocking sound does not occur at all if minor throttle is used or if the RPM are brought up gradually to a higher level. Load is what causes the sound.

We know that my engine needs a repair of some sort since this knocking sound is abnormal. The knocking only occurs if I apply a slightly heavy throttle while the engine is cold; needless to say, I avoid that situation. After the engine warms, there never is a knock or bad sound of any kind.

The block heater seems to have shown that there is a delayed oil delivery to something in the engine, possibly valve related (or near). This is scheduled to be repaired prior to the supercharger install which is coming up soon. I don't want to put the car into the repair shop, have it fixed, put back together, then worked on again for the supercharger install, if the car runs fine while avoiding the conditions that allow the knock to occur.

It also makes sense to investigate a cheap solution, like this used engine block heater, to see if the situation can be improved until the engine repair is performed.

It seems that I was correct... I may have accomplished oil delivery to whatever needed it. There no longer is a knocking sound at any level of throttle at any time. This doesn't mean that I'm going to go around hammering on my car immediately after starting it all the time. This is experimentation that has seemingly been successful as a temporary improvement.

After the engine is opened up and the actual cause of the throttle knocking is discovered, we may see that the noise comes from the top of the engine. If that is the case, it could be that using an engine/oil heater more frequently, even in a perfectly good/new engine even on moderately cool days, may prolong the life of the motor.

 

I would say almost every single car up here comes with a block heater. Though I've never used it, Vancouver doesn't get that cold, I usually just let it idle before a drive.

Having once visited Saskatchewan in January on the other hand, EVERYONE has a big orange cord in their driveway!

 

Brutal has mentioned that the knock sensors are torque sensitive. So .. maybe the bolt tension is not quite right and there is a differing coefficient of thermal expansion between the fastener and the sensor. They are exposed during the Twin Screw installation. This is known as a WAG

You will find that the block heater is very expensive *and* a dealer only item. The reason the manufacturer catalog points you at the dealer is the cord at the block heater. It is thermally insulated with a heavy metallic foil heat shield. The cord routing is also torturous.

However, the Lincoln LS and Thunderbird 3.9L engines have a listing. The other possibilities are the Nissan block heaters. Those are the only 30 mm diameter block heaters in the book. Check the Temro/Zerostart catalogs.

Some people in really cold climates run twin block heaters and the Jaguar V8 block can do that using the frost plugs on both side.

Another alternative is a circulating heater installed in the bottom radiator hose. They are very effective.

Most of the hypermilers use timers to control their heaters, setting them to 3 hours of preheat which is also the recommended time in the Temro catalog.

 

No need to guess .. the API has published research papers documenting that fact at least implicitly given the recommended operating temperature range of engine lubricating oil.

 

This is second day that I have driven, having used the block heater for one hour prior to driving.

This 'widget' is awesome!

The engine fires right up and runs smooth as silk from the instant that I turn on the engine... it is smooth as velvet.

The engine just seems happy to be running. It's hard to describe... the difference in the drive is instant, immediately after starting the engine. The car seems to say to you, "OK, already... let's go!"

 

You should also see your overall fuel consumption go down because you are getting into closed loop faster.

They hypermilers calculate the cost of running the preheat and the savings in fuel ... and running the preheat gives them an overall lower cost of ownership.

 

Check in the diesel section Jeff.......I believe Leedsman also played around with something similar on his diesel S type iirc

 

Not to change the subject, but if you used a oiling system and heated the coolant, that would work much better than heating the oil. Critical parts would have lube before starting and the coolant temp controls closed loop, not oil temp, though getting the oil temp up will help.

Also, where you have the heater is a really bad spot, one bad dip in the road and it is gone. Be careful how you drive, dont want you to damage your car.

 

The heater that I'm using is between the front wheels, so it's not TOO bad for a location. It has been clearing all of the speed bumps and drive entrances.

Now that I see the benefits of using the heater, I will be installing a permanent one in about 2 months when the supercharger is installed. That will relieve the vehicle of having that big block hanging there.

 

Am using myself the Jaguar block heater, works good if you start it well in advance. Only use it when it's below 5C.

 

OK, this is weird...

I removed the heater as I grew concerned that it might come loose during spirited driving, etc.

The engine no longer has the knocking sound if I apply a heavier amount of throttle while the engine is cold.

???????

Is it possible that some sort of blockage (carbon) has been removed/melted, allowing the knock to go away?!