Block heaters
 

I have a 1984 123. On Sunday we had cold weather so I plugged in the block heater. Its dead, well after 7 years what can I expect. Instead of replacing the block heater I am considering going to an in-line coolant heater that circulates warm coolant through out the block, head and heater core. May I hear the wisdom and experience of this august group as to the advantages or disadvantages of a block heater vs. circulating heater.
T. Schooner

Generally, the cord goes bad with the block heaters. I have replaced two over the years, but i have never had a bad element.

The cord is rather cheap. Also, the block heater does the job.

Re: Block heaters
 

That's basically what the MB block heater does, though the circulation is natural rather than pump-forced. It's hard to beat the design of the stock MB unit.

Schooner
 

I have seen the in-line water jacket heaters that you talk about and I prefer the block mount heaters. Both work well but the block mounted or screw in style is less prone for leaks and it looks much better.

You would have to mount it some where, and find two places to tap into the water jacket.

Its just alot of hassle that is unnessassary.

The stock heater is ideal if you can just rewire it.

Otherwise, Proheat makes relatively inexpensive heaters that are a joke to install. Its almost like a heating pad. You simply stick it to the bottom of your oil pan, and run the cord out wherever you want. IT has adhesive on the back and you smear a little sealant around it , done. I think they are about $50.

You would want model 512.

http://www.engineheaters.com/

Intresting... I traveled for years and had a block heater.. Did replace the cord but never the heater... Was going thru boxes of stuff in the shop today... Came across a some what dirty unopened box.. Opened it and found an in line fuel heater..
A heat exchanger so to speak.. It has the fuel thru the center and the warm water from the engine on the out side.. Its a mercedes stock part.. Has all the instructions.. Ran those for years with the block heater to keep the fuel warm and after starting its warmed by the water going to the heater.. Worked great...... Sure have no use for it where I live.. Seldom goes below 0 here.. Have not heard about any one using those for some years..
Ken

I bought my 1998 E300 TurboDiesel used. How do I determine if the car has the block heater installed?

W210
 

SpannMan - the block heater was installed at the factory, but the cord was not. There was a coupon in the service book to have it installed free at the dealership. I did that even though I live in Florida and the car will never see serious cold as long as I own it. Anyway, check for the cord behind the door in the front bumper - right next to the passenger's side fog light.

However, these oil heaters are relatively useless, especially if you use synthetic oil. They're mostly useful where temps are in the -40 degree range. To start a diesel, you need warm cylinders, and the oil heaters will do little or nothing to heat up the cylinders. You need to heat the coolant for an effective start. That means an MB block heater, or similar. If you don't think the MB block heater is enough (I believe it is), Webasto makes an excellent coolant heater--MB will actually sell it to you for operations in the arctic.

I have the Proheat on my (gas) M104 engine. It's 250 watts and it heats the engine to the 40 deg c mark from 20 deg f in about four hours, surprisingly. I liked the ease of installation and the low wattage allows use of a standard lamp timer; their website convinced me that it would heat the entire engine by convection.

-Tom

Ken Downing
would you be interested in selling the inline fuel heater you dug out? I assume this goes under the hood before the IP? I am setting my car up to run on veg oil and need an inline heater as part of the design.
thanx
jb

in-line heaters
 

Just my 0.02 worth I'm not sure about the benz system but I do know that I tried to install an inline in a GM that had climate control and it didn't work! I've since found out that the gm system was vacuum controlled ( simalir to the benz ) and when you shut off the engine all the valves closed and the water would not circulate. It gets pretty cold up here and the OEM works just fine for starting :) I would check the cord as well. I just changed one last winter.

I was sure when I dropped that some one would catch it...

The part Number was 900 500 00 99 and I got several at a time and used them on other cars too.. It comes complete with instructions and was the the 123 4 and 5 cyl.. Diesel.. and the 116.. It showes the pre formed hoses to order.. Had some laying around but cut them up over time to use for other stuff.. Its straight forward to use.. warm water in.. cooler water out.. Fuel in .. Fuel out...

Photo attached.. I hope..

Ken

Chicken and the Egg Question....
 

I can see how an electric fuel line heater would help in cold climates....

However, If you turn off the engine and try to restart the next day... and don't have an electric block heater ... what would keep the fuel from gelling and preventing one from starting the engine in order to have the heat from the engine to get the fuel heated enough to flow ?

And if it will flow enough to start the engine it sounds like it is not needed in the first place...

Leathermang...

Think you are over looking two things... First the block heater will help heat the engine area.. So will also warm the fuel in the engine area and fuel injecton pump That will help it start... and because you have warm water in the engine it will help heat the fuel as soon as you start it....

And in extream cold you do not shut the engine down.. I have kept my engine running 24 hours a day for weeks because if you shut it down you could not get it restarted unless you drug the car into an area and got the whole system warm enough to start it again.. Block heaters and oil heaters just would not do the job enough to help... On large construction jobs in the north.. We had several laborers that spent the day in the parking lot just being sure all cars kept running all the time.. Shuting down cars, trucks or equipment was not some thing you did.. You just had people working to keep them running all the time..

If you read your books on Mercedes they will give you a mixture of gas or kerosene to mix with the diesel to keep them running in the cold..



Ken