got my oil pan heaters

[Wallythacker]

My $22/pair oil pan stick on heaters arrived. They seem decent enough quality. About a 6' cord. They are supposed to be thermostatically controlled to 194F within a minute of power being applied. With 150w they should heat up the oil like mad. Much faster IMO than 400w cartridge heater trying to heat coolant via air convection through the aluminum to the coolant.

I plan, when installed, to record the heat the engine has when the oil has been heated for 30 minutes, 1 hour, 90 minutes and so on. I suspect strongly that it will take no more than 30 minutes at -30C to heat all the oil to 194F. If I can heat 2l of water in my kettle to 212F within 2 minutes at 70F ambient heating the oil should be as efficient and fast.

Bonus!! The silicone pads will make an ideal heater for my build plate of my 3d printer when I'm working with material that requires constant hi temps not to crack or warp. One material I have in mind wants a build plate temp of 200f. Perfect.

[Wallythacker]

I must have screwed up along the way.

I applied the heater my oil pan after cleaning degreasing with Simple 9. The pan looked clean when I applied the pad. I made sure the engine was warm, but not really hot. Then I let the engine cool down to ambient. Well, the last couple of days have not been winter like. Highs in the low 40's or 7-8C or so.

Here's how it played out. Starting ambient temp 43F.
15m. of power, pad @193F, oil pan @73F
15m. more power, pad @193F, oil pan now 102F
15m. more power, pad @194F, oil pan now 131F.

As I had an errand I started the car,
30s Scangauge reported coolant 101F.
2 min of driving, Scangauge reported coolant 127F.
3 min of driving, Scangauge reported coolant 155F.

Plenty of heat was blasting from the vents
I have to run this test with both more time and real winter temps. I also need to glue down the edges of the pad. I read siliconeRTV would work. I wish I had done this before I began testing/driving.

[cleadus_fetus]

This is really interesting. Keep us posted.

[Wallythacker]

I will. Just give me some real winter temps, at least down to -10C and hopefully I'll have a more complete picture. I'll go out on a limb now and predict that heating the oil with 150W is going to be 2-3x more effective than heating the aluminum block with 400W.

with the silicone heaters the other bonus is using multiple numbers of them, 2 on the oil pan and 1 on the CVT (if I had a CVT) in extreme climates and still only consuming the same energy as the Katts cartridge. I imagine if a guy did all 3, Katts, oil pan & CVT the Mirage would be as heated and ready to go as if you'd been driving it for 15 minutes.

I wonder how much less strain is on the CVT when the fluids are warm and flow easily?

[PityOnU]

The engine block heater preheats your engine block, the oil pan heaters preheat your oil. These are two different things.

There's a lot that goes into determining which is "better," (the first bit of which would be to determine what "better" means) but for minimizing engine wear at cold start you are probably better off with the block heater. It's probably easier to install, as well.

But if cost is a factor, then yeah those pads seem like the way to go - they're at least an improvement over nothing. I did a quick search for the block heater part the other day and, at least here in the USA, you can't even find one of the things OEM. And I certainly wouldn't pay dealership prices.

[Mark]

The engine block heater preheats your engine block, the oil pan heaters preheat your oil. These are two different things.

There's a lot that goes into determining which is "better," (the first bit of which would be to determine what "better" means) but for minimizing engine wear at cold start you are probably better off with the block heater. It's probably easier to install, as well.

But if cost is a factor, then yeah those pads seem like the way to go - they're at least an improvement over nothing. I did a quick search for the block heater part the other day and, at least here in the USA, you can't even find one of the things OEM. And I certainly wouldn't pay dealership prices.

It's an easy install if your engine is clean (hole it slips into is not dirty). I wouldn't be concerned about getting an OEM one. It's probably made by Kats or someone else anyways. It's something you can buy from most any auto parts store.

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/...812/11124809-P

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/KAT11812

https://www.autozone.com/external-en...11812/4216_0_0

https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/c...ter/kat0/11812

The engine block heater has taken a jump in price. I went back & looked at what I posted about my purchase of one in 2019. "I ordered one from Advance Auto @ a total cost of $27.79 shipped to my home."

[Wallythacker]

The engine block heater preheats your engine block, the oil pan heaters preheat your oil. These are two different things.

There's a lot that goes into determining which is "better," (the first bit of which would be to determine what "better" means) but for minimizing engine wear at cold start you are probably better off with the block heater. It's probably easier to install, as well.

But if cost is a factor, then yeah those pads seem like the way to go - they're at least an improvement over nothing. I did a quick search for the block heater part the other day and, at least here in the USA, you can't even find one of the things OEM. And I certainly wouldn't pay dealership prices.

Amazon had the Katts model, not any more. I think Eggman used a different part # from Amazon which is reported as not fitting the Mirage. Go figure.

Installation ease is subjective, I laid on my back, scrubbed the pan with scotchbrite for 30 seconds, wiped it down with simple green and applied the heater. It took more time to route the wire and zip tie it. The cartridge looks easy enough to install, if you have the dielectric. I "discovered" two new Katts in my stock that I'll sell as if they weren't needed in the last 3 years, chances are I'll not need them in the future. Where I live now is not a frigid winter clime but I'm trying to minimize short trip damage as most of my driving now is city.

As for the best heater that would be a circulating coolant heater. The entire engine is nicely heated. I might look into them next year if I feel the oil pan heaters are falling short.