Enigine oil pre-heater

[DanCat]

Has any one fitted one of these glue on pads to the sump or oil tank?
I'm thinking of fitting at least 1 to my sump, posible 1 on the oil tank aswell. I dont have power in my garage so i was thinking two 12v pads could be run from a leasure battery.
Does anyone knoe the capacity of the sump and oil tank? Cheers

Dan

[-Jamie-]

roughly 4 - 4.5litres in the tank i think?

[packman10_4]

We run something called a Kim hotstart in our sumps esp in Canada , Russia ect ect it heats the oil from down from - 50 to + 60 degrees in about 2 hours that nearly 60 gallons per sump. For anything thats got to pre heat it draws a lot of currant. Good luck.

[Mattt]

IIRC Lensey fitted one.

[330p4]

with the speed six being dry sumped whilst there is some drain back to the sump not all the oil will be in the sump
Ian

[supercrispy]

I fitted one to the oil tank, they need a smooth surface to transfer the heat effectively. I give it about 2hrs preheat which raises tank temp to about 60 deg. But this is mains powered, bought from Canada. I'd be suprised if you get enough power from 12v/battery.

[duff-man]

It's been done before, see here:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=629...

and here: (pics of unit installed here)

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=3&a...

[tail slide]

Here you go, c.£50 delivered from Canada, worked well on my T350's dry sump tank all through last year

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[Lensey]

Yes, I fitted one after recommendation from Paul, they are great, have it on a timer for a couple of hours in the morning, even the next door neighbour said the car sounds better when I start it up in the mornings. I know it's a dry sump but the heat transfers and gives the engine a little bit of temp before I fire her up, best £50 I've spent on the car

[tail slide]

Glad you liked it Lensey, always a little nervous making recommendations!

I've just ordered one for my other car too, it's jealous

[fatjon]

My maths may be wrong but here goes.


3Kg oil of SHC 1.6 kj/kg/c

requires 60 * 1.6 * 3 KJ of heat to get it from 0-60c = 288Kj



150KG of aluminium and steel through 2c


requires 150 *2 *.91 KJ = 273KJ

If my sums are right heating the oil in the sump or anywhere else is a real waste of time, money and energy as by the time it's passed through the pipes, pump, oil cooler, block galleries etc to where you want it it will be clock cold. The bottom line is that once it has passed through the cold engine, which for the entire contents of the oil system is a matter of seconds, it will all be pretty much back to ambient temperature and the block will have gone from zero degrees to a heady 2 degrees. Well actually less than that as not all the heat goes from the oil to the block, it retains some of the heat itself. I would be more inlcined to spend the money on a pre oiler kit than warm snake oil.

edited for spelling

Edited by fatjon on Monday 15th November 13:42

[tail slide]

I'm no mathematician, but am a believer in the saying that a little practice explodes a lot of theory.

So in practice.... certainly the oil temp drops rapidly once circulating, but during the first 5 minutes the temp in the tank falls from the heated 80C to only about 20C (and flowing much more freely from start-up through all the pipes & bearings 'cos it's hot rather than syrupy-cold) then climbs back up to full running temp. Without the pad, it just climbs slowly from 2C in this weather to about 10C in the same time.

I think where the sums fall down is that you're calculating the whole engine mass, but it's just the bearing surfaces and flow to them that most benefit and that's where the heat is transferred first. It would help if the pistons and rings were heated too but you'd need a full water heating system as well to start doing that.

It would also work even better if it was a conventional sump so the pad could be under the engine, when heat soak from the hot oil would warm the sides of the block as well. Have toyed with idea of buying the smallest version of the pad for the sump and it's tiny quantity of oil but decided not worth it. So it has a tubular heater under the sump on all night just to take the chill off the engine, but I realise that nearly all the convective heat from that is lost to the surrounding air.

Edited by tail slide on Tuesday 16th November 21:08

[fatjon]

I think that a water preheater would be more effective since it heats the entire engine mass. I was spending the money I would take that option and a pre oiler. Having spent many happy hours TIG welding ally I know from practical experience that it coducts heat away from hot areas very quickly.

[tail slide]

Pre-heating method, and if at all, is a matter of choice.

But Pre-oilers are totally unnecessary for a Speed Six.

There is no problem with oil lubrication to the top of the engine, that was a wild goosechase before we knew better, and had proof of it.


IMHO .. and the main respected S6 engine builders.

[Slinky]

Add an additional electric oil pump to the system and circulate the oil as you're heating it..

[Barkychoc]

Another option

http://www.kenlowe.com/pre-heaters/cars/index.html