DIY sump/ oil pan heater

[tolsen]

I know what in rush current is. Had to fit a NTC device to prevent a transformer blowing its fuse.

[mottofreee]

Being a electronic device (heating element) fuse is Ultrafast or Superfast (with semiconductor).
Also, the heating element should be equipped with the safety optical indicator (a LED).
I say this because I worked in the maintenance of construction equipment (from Caterpillar ), now with locomotives equipped Cat .
However, purely mechanical devices are more reliable but more accurate electronic equipment .

[tolsen]

Got the heater fitted to sump and sump bolted to engine. Heater works fine. The oil gets warm but not too warm. Will leave it on for about four hours and then measure oil temperature.

I used PU40 polyurethane sealant between sump and engine block. Used same sealant for timing case. Had that off to inspect timing chain, oil pump chain and all sprockets. Turned timing chain around when refitting.

[tolsen]

I never got around to measuring oil temperature. Main reason is the oil will blacken woven insulation case on my thermocouple cable.

The sump heater still works fine and vibration does not appear to be a problem.

This evening I tried powering the heater by car battery and a 150 watt continuous rated inverter.
The inverter has battery discharge protection and sounded the alarm and cut off power after less than ten seconds.

[mottofreee]

An glow plug absorbs 15A @ 12V. That is 180W .
OM660 are 3 pcs. So the consumption on spark plugs is 3 * 15 * 12 = 540W. The intensity decreases as they get warm.
It only works 7 seconds and the 540W drops to 300W.
At an electrical resistance the power decreases with the voltage; an inverter accepts a range of input voltages for the same output voltage.
Check the battery - on my Smart battery, I need to hold 6 times on the glow plugs to 'finish' the battery. It can also be incorrectly regulated UVLO - voltage treshold is too hight .

[tolsen]

I measured the amps. 0.65A for less than 10 seconds. My starter battery is one I got for free from a local garage about four years ago. Its voltage is normal but voltage drops below inverter alarm threshold. Ambient temperature was minus 2C. Perhaps Primus is best solution to heat oil pan. Mine is very reliable. Same model as Amundsen brought to the South Pole. Proven technology and no electronics.

[tolsen]

Use alcohol gel can to heat sump if you do not possess the skills to light a Primus stove.

[mottofreee]

That value (15A) results from the catalog data of the glow plug.
The glow plug system is implemented by the factory on the OM660 engine.

There were cars that did not have a spark plug system.
They started with a torch. One model was the Mercedes 408 (?) With a diesel engine of 3800cmc and the other was ARO with a D-127 engine of 3100cmc. At ARO, if you do not freeze the oil in the pan, you would start with the torch on any cold .
If you were alone, you were making a fire under the car. Now I do not want to go back to those times.

[tolsen]

My OM314 engine did not have any glow plugs. This was a 3.8 litre directly injected diesel engine with only 85 HP but plenty of torque. Had 24 volt starter and usually no problem starting engine down to minus 15 Centigrade provided batteries were good. I used Primus a lot to heat this engine throughout the cold winters.

[mottofreee]

An example of starting autumn (Aro) :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vznaHeeKv6w

For OM314 the same procedure.

[Thrumbleux]

What viscosity grade is your engine oil mottofree?

[mottofreee]

0W40 Mobil1 Turbo Diesel MB-Approval 229.3 MB-Approval 229.5 https://www.mobil.com/english-gb/passenger-vehicle-lube/pds/euxxmobil-1-turbo-diesel-0w40
Last winter with this type of oil I walked.
Now it's 10,000 km old and I'm going to exchange it with Liqui Moly 5W30 Special TecLL MB-Approval 229.5 https://products.liqui-moly.com/oils...l-5w-30-1.html
Mobil 1 has viscosity too high (75cSt @ 40C) for OM660.
LM 5W30 LL is for opel engines; for ford engines the oils are even thinner.


We knew this from motorcycle - Castrol oils with the right weight class even gave detonations. From Yacco oils than the beats of the distribution, with Motul / BelRay so and so, Mobil 1 was the best. Repsol give critical result .
Motorex oil was a super-trooper for suspensions.

At the M160 when I changed the 5W30 oil (with a 10W30) it felt dynamic. That car goes but it's lazy now(0.6 petrol @ 40kW).
Why does the OM660 do the same? The more viscous (number in cSt), the more smooth the engine, the lower the dynamic performance.

[Thrumbleux]

Mobil 1 has viscosity too high (75cSt @ 40C) for OM660.
.

I see at 40C the LiqiMoly has a lower viscosity grade but it is temperatures lower than that that are a concern to you. More data available?
Remember though that a multigrade oil only has oil as viscous as denoted by the W number. The higher second number is achieved using viscosity improvers (long chain polymers that behave differently at different temperatures,increasing viscosity with increasing temperature).

[mottofreee]

https://pim.liqui-moly.de/pidoc/P000314/1192-SpecialTecLL5W-30-29.0-en.pdf

[tolsen]

Another way to preheat engine:

A) Suck out oil whilst engine is warm using a Pela or similar tool.
B) Store oil inside at a warm place. Heat oil if necessary.
C) Pour oil into engine before starting.

Kindly note step C is a rather important for engine longevity.