My lease is up for my apartment and my apartment manager just told me that I'm no longer allowed to hang an extension cord from my porch to plug my car in in the winter

I said I had a diesel and my apartment manager would ask the property value manager if it was okay.

If they say no, I'm moving.

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green 85 300SD 200K miles "Das Schlepper Frog" With a OM603 TBO360 turbo ( To be intercooled someday )( Kalifornistani emissons )
white 79 300SD 200K'ish miles "Farfegnugen" (RIP - cracked crank)
desert storm primer 63 T-bird "The Undead" (long term hibernation)

http://ecomodder.com/forum/fe-graphs/sig692a.png

or get a diesel fired heater

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1981 300SD 512k OM603

they should build you a garage, bastards.

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Bogus

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1979 240D- 316K miles - VGT Turbo, Intercooler, Stick Shift, Many Other Mods - Daily Driver

1982 300SD - 232K miles - Wife's Daily Driver

1986 560SL - Wife's red speed machine

Get a green (or white - snow) colored cord so it's camoflaged...

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-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250

change your profile so we know where you live.....if you live in South Florida, you shouldn't need a block heater.

Shoot, if you have a strong engine, strong battery, and a proper valve adjustment, you shouldn't need a block heater in MOST places.

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daw_two
Germantown, TN

Links:
Sold last car --- 05/2012 1984 300D Light Ivory, Red interior
No longer selling Cluster Needles Paint
No longer selling New Old Stock (NOS) parts

Past:
3/2008 1986 300SDL "Coda"
04/2010 1965 190D(c) "Ben"
& many more

I would have casually suggest the alternative is to leave the engine idiling on really cold nights.

Bury the cord on a full moon.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Hmm... If you're desperate enough, you could you leave the key inside turned to ACC, lock the door with another key, use a cig lighter power inverter, and run the extension cord through the engine bay into the passenger compartment to plug it up at the cig lighter. Then, just get in, unplug the cord, start up, and go. Though, there's risk of draining your battery.

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'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

Innovative idea, BUT, if left overnight it would DEFINITELY drain the battery. A 750-1000 watt inverter is the miniumum that would be required to power a decent block heater, and running at full load an inverter that size will draw 7-10 amps. Your battery won't drive that load for too many hours without going dead.

HOWEVER, if you got a heavy-duty timer that will handle a 10 amp load, then you probably could run the inverter powering the block heater for an hour or two right before you have to start it up in the morning and still have plenty of juice to cycle the glow plugs and crank the engine. Of course then your alternator will be working pretty hard to recharge the battery and you'll have ot be sure you drive far enough to get it back up to full charge before its time to run the block heater again to start it up again the next morning...

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1984 300 Coupe TurboDiesel
Silver blue paint over navy blue interior
2nd owner & 2nd engine in an otherwise
99% original unmolested car
~210k miles on the clock

1986 Ford F250 4x4 Supercab
Charcoal & blue two tone paint over burgundy interior
Banks turbo, DRW, ZF-5 & SMF conversion
152k on the clock - actual mileage unknown

Wouldn't work.....a block heater would eat a 100A battery in no time, way less than a couple hours. And there'd be 0 power left to start the car.

Oh, and it'd destroy the battery completely after a few cycles. Its not a marine battery!

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Yeah, I did the AC amps calculation and came up with 10 amps to power a 1000 watt heater with a 1000 watt inverter that's about 90% efficient. What I forgot to do was the DC half of the equation. To convert 1000 watts at 12v DC up to 1000 watts at 110AC takes about 90 amps DC current (stepping the voltage up on the AC side by a factor of almost 10 requires stepping up the current on the DC side by a factor of 10 as well).
Maybe a second battery - a BIG marine battery - hooked up in parallel with the car's starting battery is the answer. An 80 amp-hour battery will (theoretically) supply 80 amps for 1 hour. If a 1000 watt block heater for 1 hour will do the trick, then it would work. Maybe a 500 watt heater run by a 500 watt inverter for an hour before starting it in the mornings would be a more reasonable plan.

Of course your 55 amp alternator would have to be running at its max output for about an hour and a half - with no other current loads so it all went back into the battery - to fully recharge the marine battery with the 1000 watt setup. With the 500 watt setup it would only take about half as long to recharge, or half as much current from the alternator.

And just think, an 80 amp hour marine battery can be had for ONLY $200-$300...

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1984 300 Coupe TurboDiesel
Silver blue paint over navy blue interior
2nd owner & 2nd engine in an otherwise
99% original unmolested car
~210k miles on the clock

1986 Ford F250 4x4 Supercab
Charcoal & blue two tone paint over burgundy interior
Banks turbo, DRW, ZF-5 & SMF conversion
152k on the clock - actual mileage unknown

Rent a condo or house from my uncle, his have garage's. I'll smooth over the diesel MB thing, he likes Mercedes.

I *think* he might have 2 condo's open in one of his buildings with garage's for $1,500 a month. Not sure I don't really pay close attention to the rental side.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Stick a power generator out there running all night and wait for the *complaints* to start pouring into the office...

Maybe they'll just see it your way!?

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Dale

Interesting idea --- there is also the risk of totally forgeting what the heck you're supposed to do first, after getting in the car...or at least, I would see that as my problem.......

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71Inka02

62 W121 190DB - Original CA/AZ Car - Excellent Example
99 E300 Turbo Diesel - 362,000...Awesome Daily Driver
01 E320 Wagon - 297,xxx (wife's work car)
01 E320 Wagon - 131,000
02 Land Rover Disco SE- 110,000
87 BMW 325is (E30) Full Restore - Son's
06 Mini Cooper 'S' - Son's
87 Toyota FJ60 Land Cruiser - Showroom Condition - 152,000

84 300D - 142,xxx :cool - "Sold"
83 300D-"Sold" - 211,456
85 300SD-"Sold" - 213,789