Ha, I wonder what campus patrol would do if they saw me plugging my car in like that :D

Two batteries would definitely help winter starting. Mounting the 2nd battery in a marine box in the truck with heavy cable, like 00 welding cable for the + going forward and a good solid ground cable of at least 4gauge. Inspecting/replacing and/or increasing the battery cable diameter is a overlooked area. Poor cable condition will not allow enough juice to the starter and result in slow cranking. I have custom cables on the truck and the Jetta that doubled the cable size. The difference was noticeable. Another overlooked area is the engine ground. Increasing cable size or battery capacity ain't worth a hill of beans if the juice can't get through. Inspect and replace the engine ground as well. I have (2) 2gauge grounds on the truck. Lastly, you may be better served by a fuel-fired engine heater. They are small and pricey but they can be moved from vehicle to vehicle so it should serve you a long time. Check out: http://www.espar.com/htm/Specs/water/D4Wspec.htm
http://www.lubricationspecialistllc.com/index.php?cPath=8&html=espar.htm&osCsid=8968ff3a8dc7e8a7f8afe2cd1418d460

RT

Those are a bit expensive :eek: If I can't get my hands on an outlet then I'll just get a generator, they're way cheap on ebay. I am fairly confident I'd be able to find an outlet though, its so cold up there, they'd have to be a bit lenient in letting me use one for that.

Dueling battery syndrome I believe it's called...

Would an isolater alleviate this problem? I believe Painless wiring has one...

You must use a Isolator to employ two batteries with one charger, just hard wiring them in parallel is inviting disaster. Cadillac used 2 batteries in parallel on the diesel Biarritz, I had a friend that experienced an explosion in one when one of the batteries shorted and blew its guts, I believe they were in the trunk space. A proper isolator charges each battery independently. If one battery has a shorted cell, it must be isolated from the other battery by the diodes in the isolator, to preventing excessive current discharge that may occur.

Out of pure curiosity, is it possible to put two of the standard block heaters on one engine? Or is there only one spot for them, I just placed an order at fastlane for a set of all new (rubber) brake lines, a couple liters of brake fluid, an extra caliper mounting bolt, and a Block Heater Kit. If its possible to install two block heaters I would do it, when I am up north I'll need all the heat I can get! :D

Do you plan on being the first Benz to drive to the north pole?

Don't think there are any outlets there to plug into.

Santa has outlets on the outside of his workshop for sleigh heaters, so he'll just let me use one of those, he's a giving guy anyways. :D ;)

On the North Slope there are a lot of diesels, including pick-up trucks,
 

but they just never shut them off unless they take them inside a heated building for service. The service shops have heated concrete floors, too. Diesels can be cozy in the Arctic, but it requires extreme measures.

Brain Fart!
 

How about this....

I'm going to add an intake air heater from a 5.9 cummins to the 240D when all is said and done by welding a mounting flange to the intake (Lucky I know somebody that can weld aluminium :D ).

Insted of another 850cca+ battery, would a small 200-350cca (Think lawn tractor) battery connected ONLY to the glowplugs and IAH work? With an isolator and proper cabels...

That would be 80A + another 80A(?) at once that the cranking battery at 5*f would not have to give up.

Everyone has forgotten to address his issue of glow plugs
 

I don't think his glow plugs are going to get any hotter....

Right now I just need help in how to remove the oil cooler lines from the oil filter housing.....tips in doing this would be great.....


As for the glow plugs, I'd think they'd work better with twice the powersupply since the load of the other plugs on the single battery is cut in half, thus making more voltage/amps available to each glow plug, so how would they not get any hotter?

The heat the glow plugs radiate is determined by
 

the current flow thru the filament. The current flow is determined by the resistance of the filament and the voldage applied to it. In the case of two batteries connected in parallel, the voltage to the filament remains the same, so also does the current thru said filament.

Now, is you really want to heat things up then connect the two batteries in series - - - 'course you will immediately burn out at least one glow plug and any other 12v device that happened to be hooked up/turned on at time(since there would be 24v. applied rather than 12v....

I do agree with the other folks that your starter will rotate faster and longer with them hooked in parallel. :)

What is all the hoopla about 2 batteries. I have had 2 GMC 6.2 lt. Diesel trucks. Both have 2 batteries, neither has any sort of isolation switch, and the system seems to work well.

Instead of getting 1000 CCA batteries it is better to get as large as possible a battery that will fit into your battery box but with about 650CCA. Lower CCA batteries last longer, esp in the heat of summer.

My 107 450slc (which is the same chasis as my 115/300D) has the battery in the trunk and it works well. The 115 has the battery in the engine compt. but I see no reason why a second one couldn't be added in the trunk. Both battery cables could be attached at the starter solinoid.

I installed my battery in the trunk of the 220 (W115) when I needed room for the Crane Ignition modules (CD ign). It was fun, running the hot lead (2 GA?) in a liquitite conduit along the bottom of the car. Second photo shows the air storage tank and compressor. The sound system is next.