Put your baby to bed with a warm blanket - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

chasinthesun · #1 12-05-2006, 11:01 AM

Do any of you keep your motor warmed up thru the night with a block heater or other device.?Ive never seen a description of whats correct for block heaters in cold climates. I currently just plug mine in about 20 minutes before starting it up.

winmutt · #2 12-05-2006, 11:15 AM

I believe 20-30 is recommended.

vstech · #3 12-05-2006, 11:55 AM

30 minutes?
wow, it must not be very cold where you guys are, either that, or my block heater sucks. in 30 minutes my block just barely warms up above 30 degrees. and it's only 25 at night here... I usually either turn on the heater about two hours before starting, or leave it on all night.
John

stcbenz83 · #4 12-05-2006, 11:58 AM

same here, i just plug mine in when i come in for the night and leave it plugged in thrwewout the night. it makes for an easy start. to bad i forgot to do it last night.

VegiBenz · #5 12-05-2006, 02:24 PM

I too plug mine in overnight. Yesterday morning it was around 12 and the engine rolled over about half a turn and was running. After it sat all day at work with no heater, though, I cranked it about 20 seconds before it lit. I was getting worried. After 10 seconds it was smoking a little out the exhaust so I know it was going to light eventually so I just kept on cranking. I will probably glow it a little longer, it had glowed about 10 seconds when I tried.

pawoSD · #6 12-05-2006, 02:36 PM

It shouldn't take that long, have you done a valve adjustment recently? I've never had mine take more than 10-12 seconds even when it was like -5F outside....(no block heater on) Hopefully you're also running a thinner (5w40 etc...) oil.

winmutt · #7 12-05-2006, 02:38 PM

Its about 25 here at nights. I keep my warmer on a timer. 20 is on low side. I avg about 30-45min before starting it up. Its not really necessary, I have pencil type plugs and it starts on first turn every time. Wifes car is a different story but by the time she gets out of bed the sun has worked its goodness on the block.

BobK · #8 12-05-2006, 02:59 PM

I did some testing years ago with my 123 block heater (about 400 watts, I think). Tried running it for various times to see what length got the most heat. With temps in the 20s, reached max heat after about 2 hours. Continued use did not raise the temp any higher. I now have a heavy-duty grounded timer set up to come on two hours before the car is needed (5 am for daughter as she leaves at 7am). My car finally gets to stay in its nice garage bay and doesn't need heater anymore. If you are dealing with a difficult car or colder temps, a battery blanket is a great addition. They use about 50 watts and keep the battery close to 100% output.

vstech · #9 12-05-2006, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobK

If you are dealing with a difficult car or colder temps, a battery blanket is a great addition. They use about 50 watts and keep the battery close to 100% output.

ooohh yeah, a battery blanket. that makes sense. back in the day when I lived in frigid SD. if the battery and fuel tank did not sit ontop of the motor, it never would have started... -90F outside... gasoline gells I think. BBBRRRRRRR! anywhoo. mine is not starting now... even with the thing plugged in. time to pull the used GP's out and get some new ones. now if I could just find that big body pencil plug part #... on to the archives. or I could just pull mine out and read it...
John

babymog · #10 12-05-2006, 10:25 PM

Manual in my '87 603/300D says 2-3 hours is sufficient. Gotta be cold to need that much, but if outside in the wind it might lose a lot of the heat, that is likely on the high end.

I have mine come on on a timer 2hours before I leave.

Jadavis · #11 12-05-2006, 11:16 PM

I'm in a hotel for a couple of days. I remembered by 100ft extension cord, but forgot my time. I'm leaving it plugged in all night. I put a wool blanket over the engine (under the hood) and tied a rag to the steering wheel to remind me to take it out before I start the engine. I started smooooth this morning! The temperature guage read 60C once the water started moving around. That was nice...

-Jim

barkford · #12 12-08-2006, 02:44 PM

Just to add another experience regarding starting -
19 degrees farenheit here this morning - took 3 rounds of about 3-5 second
cranking (and waiting on the glow cycles) to get it cranked and keep it going.
First two tries, engine caught but died.

Never used the block heater (car new to me) and will plug it in tonight.
Don't have an owner's manual so I don't know what to expect. I suppose
it will crank good tomorrow (gonna be 15F here tonight)

bb

SUNRG · #13 12-08-2006, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barkford

Just to add another experience regarding starting -
19 degrees farenheit here this morning - took 3 rounds of about 3-5 second
cranking (and waiting on the glow cycles) to get it cranked and keep it going.
First two tries, engine caught but died.

it was 19 this morning in Roanoke and my '81 240D started right up. this is my first winter with a 25yr old MB, so i didn't know what to expect, but so far it seems to eagerly start down into the mid teens.

one MAJOR issue can be oil. check out this chart from the service manual for my 240D:

the most common diesel oil viscosity 15w-40 is only recommended when temps are consistently above +23F. so, if you have 15w-40 in your MB, or if you don't know, change the oil and filter and put a diesel rated 5w-40, 5w-30 or even 0w-30.

i'm using this in the winter: full synthetic ELF Full Tech 0w-30 MB229.5. oil consumption with this full synthetic 0w-30 on my 25yr old engine is nearly imperceivable.

and in the spring i'll probably opt for this: ELF Excellium LDX 5w-40 MB229.3

pawoSD mentioned valve adjustment, i did adjusted mine (they were all too tight) but that was just before it got cold so i can't say whether that's contributing to my good cold start performance.

i drive a 240D 4M in part to save fuel, and i replaced 25 incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents when i bought my new-to-me home this past April to save electricity. i hope i never have to plug-in the 500watt block heater overnight, or even for a couple of hours...

cheers!

Hatterasguy · #14 12-08-2006, 04:25 PM

3-4 hours seems to do the trick, any longer doesn't seem to gain you much.

joegolden · #15 12-08-2006, 10:28 PM

well it has hit the teens the past two nights here. No block heater for me

My 87 300d fired after one glow but it sounded like hell! Spit, sputter, clanging, shakin, SMOKE, you name it. I jumped right on the freeway before the temp gauge even moved and she hit 80mph and got nice and toasty in a mile or so

I guess all southern sold diesels were not equipped with heaters

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