In-Line Coolant Heater Location?

[JD4044M]

Where are you guys putting a in-line Coolant Winter Heater on the 3116 Engine? I want to try and not use either to start but warm up the engine. I did notice the engine does not want to start as nice at 28-30 degs then 70+ degs! I want to plug in my engine at home so it will start. I could heat the Oil thru the Pan also. Don't want to go thru a Freeze Plug opening to warm up the Coolant.

 

[coachgeo]

Where are you guys putting a in-line Coolant Winter Heater on the 3116 Engine? I want to try and not use either to start but warm up the engine. I did notice the engine does not want to start as nice at 28-30 degs then 70+ degs! I want to plug in my engine at home so it will start. I could heat the Oil thru the Pan also. Don't want to go thru a Freeze Plug opening to warm up the Coolant.

curious your reasons why you do not want to use glow plug coolant heater.? they sure are more effective. Now if your doing an alternative fueled heater.. makes since.

 

[JD4044M]

What is a Glow Plug Coolant Heater? Is it the type that goes in the Freeze Plug?

 

[coachgeo]

What is a Glow Plug Coolant Heater? Is it the type that goes in the Freeze Plug?

yes; sorry.... bad choice of description of a freeze plug coolant heater...... they are a heater element similar to what would be in a hot water heater.. just way smaller and shaped to fit into the coolant passage inside the block. real easy to install on these CATs

 

[Awesomeness]

The freeze plug heater is listed in my parts spreadsheet here in my signature.

 

[JD4044M]

OK You talked me into it there goes another $100.00 with shipping! 1,000 watt unit should do the job quick. I still need to change the Either Tank on it for those quick starts during winter. I just hope it dose not leak on me later and blow out.

 

[Green Mountain Boys]

I use a 500 watt engine block heater installed in the freeze plug. In cold winter weather I leave it plugged in when parked outside. It starts easily in temperatures as low as -26F. 500 watts is more than enough for my needs. The coldest I have ever seen at my house is -36F but that was before global warming was a thing. You do not need much heat to keep an engine warm enough to start. You could also do what I used to do when I was a kid. A 100 watt light bulb placed right under the oil pan and a heavy blanket thrown over the hood of your pickup truck before you go to bed.

 

[Ronmar]

The block heater is the easiest to get right.

Inline heaters, unless they have a built in pump require a little more thought to get them to thermo-siphon properly to get the heat thru the entire block/head. I usually install them between a block drain on one end of the block to a port on the head at the opposite end of the engine. The cat 3116 and 3126 drain is in the middle of the block so it is not ideal for even heat distribution...

 

[simp5782]

Military makes a diesel fired coolant heaters. So does webasto.

The tundra therm is top of the line in 12 or 24v.

 

[JD4044M]

I have a 300 watt Oil Pan Heater that magnetically sticks to the pan. I could do both for a couple hours before starting the engine when 32 and lower. Is this the engine block heater spot the freeze plug is removed? Just below the Exhaust Turbo?

 

[simp5782]

I have a 300 watt Oil Pan Heater that magnetically sticks to the pan. I could do both for a couple hours before starting the engine when 32 and lower. Is this the engine block heater spot the freeze plug is removed? Just below the Exhaust Turbo?View attachment 816682

Oil pan magnet won't do anything really.

I went to a thermostat type fuel filter head that prevents cfpp. Which really helps on cold starts

 

[Green Mountain Boys]

Yes, that is the location. Below the turbo.

 

[Green Mountain Boys]

Warming a cold engine is like thawing your Thanksgiving turkey, It ain't gonna happen fast.

 

[coachgeo]

think about distance of where you will be parked to where the outlet is and buy wire gauge extension cord accordingly.

1000w is about 8.5 amps.

https://understanding-air-compressors.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/wire-amperage-chart1.gif

 

[Awesomeness]

I have a 300 watt Oil Pan Heater that magnetically sticks to the pan. I could do both for a couple hours before starting the engine when 32 and lower.

You won't need to do both. I played around with it last winter, trying to see what it takes.

1. As a baseline, how hard is the engine to start with no heater, and no ether? Not terrible. A few 30-second cranking rounds and it should catch. It will lope and exhaust "smoke" (unburned atomized diesel) for another 30 seconds or so, and then be running fine. Idling, it will almost never really warm up to operating temperature (certainly not within a half hour).
2. With ether, it will catch and run much more quickly. Sometimes the ether burns off before the cylinder walls actually warm enough, and it will die off. Just go again. The ether helps quite a bit. (NOTE: The ether system has a thermometer that won't let it work above ~32°F, but there is no indicator to tell you whether it actually injected or not. That puzzled me at first, because I tried it on a "warmer" day and it didn't help, because it didn't inject, then on a colder day it helped much more, because it did inject.)
3. Leave the ZeroStart block heater plugged in overnight, and it will start right up. It still won't be warmed to operating temperatures, and thus also won't ever warm up just from idling.
4. Plug the block heater in for just a little bit (e.g. 30 minutes) before you need to start it, and it will also start up fairly quickly. It's warming very close to a couple of the cylinders, so even though it may "smoke" for a few seconds because the cold cylinders still aren't firing, the warmed ones are generally enough to keep it running until everything catches (e.g. 30 seconds).

This was in winter weather that got down to like -10°F at night, and 20°F in the day. Basically, once the engine could keep itself running, you were golden, so even just 30 minutes with the block heater on was enough to let it catch easily.

 

[Reworked LMTV]

I have the block heater that you are talking about. I ended up scrapping that idea because as mentioned, the 3116 does not lend itself well to it. Just use a freeze plug heater. Easy. 5 minutes if no coolant in engine.

 

[Reworked LMTV]

I have a preference for a freeze plug heater since the oil is at temp and flows better on start.

 

[Ronmar]

Heating the oil pan isn’t a bad idea, warm oil lifts and pumps easier. Any warm fuel in the head starts getting pumped away as soon as you start cranking the engine. heating the Secondary fuel filter will help keep the fuel Supply to the injectors warm for an easier initial start.

I don’t like heating continuously, it’s like leaving a window or door open I prefer using enough heat to warm in a short period and either control it manually or place it on a timer. A 3116/3126 block contains about 3 gal or 24 pounds of coolant. A 1KW heater Delivers 3400 BTU/hr. Factoring in losses a 1KW heater should be able to get a engine from 0F to around 70F in a little over 1/2 hour...

 

[Awesomeness]

I have a preference for a freeze plug heater since the oil is at temp and flows better on start.

Huh? A freeze plug heater doesn't heat the oil at all. The oil is sitting in the pan, and not touching the engine block, so it's basically at outdoor temp.

 

[Awesomeness]

Factoring in losses a 1KW heater should be able to get a engine from 0F to around 70F in a little over 1/2 hour...

I put my hand against the block after leaving the heater running all night, and it still felt ice cold. It started ok, so something inside was warm, but it's losing a ton of heat to the environment. It didn't seem to warm up any faster (and by that I mean that the gauge bottoms out at like 160°F, and it "never" reaches that while just idling).