Has anyone had any luck with the "DIPSTICK" type heater ?

My father used to use one, it seemed to work pretty good. Except he kept loosing the dipstick

Better would be one of the heaters that permanently attach to the oil pan. I used to use a halogen type shop light right up against the pan to warm it up a bit. That worked too but a real PITA to setup in the snow.

I had a dipstick heater on a 200D years ago when I lived up north. It was completely worthless, probably only about 40 watts or so. A lower radiator hose heater worked MUCH better.

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Palangi

2004 C240 Wagon 203.261 Baby Benz
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The dipstick heaters just heat up the oil. For a diesel, you need to heat up the coolant around the cylinders so that the diesel will fire.

The dipstick heaters were mostly useful in the olden days, when oil turned into syrup when it got cold. With modern oils, especially synthetics, those heaters are pretty useless.

Not only do they just heat up the oil, they can cause the oil to coke on the heater itself. A coolant heater is a better idea than an oil heater for our purposes.

We tried one and it did make things "better" but the ultimate cheapy solution for us was a tractor heater. It has a big magnet and sticks to the oil pan. We did put a strap on it so that it wouldn't drag along on the road under the car if it were to come off of the pan, but I don't think that it ever did. That was just as effective in N. VA winters as the block heater was on the other 240D and the 300TD. The 300Dt would start here even if it wasn't plugged in, although we did use the block heater to lessen the strain on the battery.

-Tad

A block heater is the best option but try one of these: http://www.dieselproducts.com/proheat/proheat.html if you need something thats quick and easy to install. RT

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Tried one but not terribly impressed I'd try something else

tried it and it does work down to a point. make sure u don't drive with the thing in it tho. i learned a very hard way how that was a bad idea.

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1989 300TE 285K - traded in '12
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1978 300SD 330K - Died in 05