I purchased a "Kat's" circulation tank heater for my 1995 Mercedes E300.
The instructions say to mount the heater near the lowest point of the engine, put a tee in the lower radiator hose and run a hose from the tee to the bottom inlet on the heater, then run a hose from the top outlet of the heater to another tee in one of the heater hoses at the top of the engine.
I have one of these heaters on my tractor and another on my skidsteer and they
work great.
My question is I am not sure where to tee in near the top of the engine on my Mercedes.

Thanks for any help.

Normally where the heater hose comes out of the head, possibly on the left side of the engine, but I'm not familiar with the 606
That way you can leave the cabin heater on and the block heater will do both engine and cabin.

__________________
1978 300D, 373,000km 617.912, 711.113 5 speed, 7.5mm superpump, HX30W turbo...many, many years in the making....
1977 280> 300D - 500,000km+ (to be sold...)
1984 240TD>300TD 121,000 miles, *gone*
1977 250 parts car
1988 Toyota Corona 2.0D *gone*
1975 FJ45>HJ45
1981 200>240D (to be sold...)
1999 Hyundai Lantra 1.6 *gone*
1980s Lansing Bagnall FOER 5.2 Forklift (the Mk2 engine hoist)
2001 Holden Rodeo 4JB1T 2WD

In a US spec 124.131 that hose snakes around the oil filter housing then through the bulkhead to ththe heater core. A peculiarity of that car is there's a bypass from that hose to the monovalve. I don't know what it does and how it might affect what the OP has in mind.

Sixto
83 300SD

Sounds good, yes block to heater pipe on OM606 is the same as per sixto says on w124, by oil filter housing, but it's a steel pipe on 606, you would have to cut it down and replace with rubber to tee it. Or get the 604/605 pipe which is shorter.

Good idea leaving the cabin heater on so the block heater heats up the interior!

Got pics?

Beers, H

my concern is that the cabin heater may open via vacuum and the heated coolant would not be able to circulate but I don't know that for sure.
Are you saying to place the tee where the coolant pipe comes out of the head near the oil filter housing?


Thanks

The cabin heater valve is wide open with no power or signal to the monovalve. Coolant isn't circulating though. I don't know what Kat's circulation tank is or what you're trying to accomplish so I can't advise you where to tap for what. Jeremy simulated the Euro REST feature in his '95 E300. I believe it circulates coolant to keep the cabin warm if you're returning to the car shortly.

Sixto
83 300SD

Sixto,The Kat's (brand name) tank type engine heater is about the same size and shape as a soda can. it has a heating element inside of it just like an engine block heater that gets mounted into a freeze plug hole. it has a inlet pipe nipple on the bottom and an outlet pipe nipple on the top. The heater gets positioned near the lower radiator hose, then you tee from the lower radiator hose and plumb to the bottom inlet on the heater. the top outlet gets plumbed to s coolant hose nearest the top of the engine. When the heater is plugged into an electrical outlet the heater warms the coolant causing it to rise and circulate thru the engine.
I hope this gives you a better understanding of what I am trying to accomplish.


Thank you for your time and help on this.

I use this style of heater on back up gensets & equipment that I maintain. I have not put one on a Benz, but there is no reason not to. The trick is to install it between hoses so that the heated coolant circulates through the block. The bigger units have a pump, the smaller units act like a percolator moving the heated coolant up into the block. I don't use the lower radiator hose as a source, rather, I tap into the block. There is no reason not to use the lower rad hose, though it may be slightly less efficient. In any event, the return line (heated coolant from the top of the Kat's htr) should be routed into the block via the heater return line, ie: tee into the heater return line close to the block. I use insulated (red) heater hose for my runs to & from the heater (less thermal loss). These a good, relatively trouble free coolant heaters. I recently pulled a working heater off of an old 1945 jeep engine generator - it was over 40 years old & still working. BTW - which model Kat's are you installing? I have been thinking about adding one to a cold blooded '85 300SD.

Good luck!

Your vehicle if it is a 95 300d should already be equipped with a block heater according to the owners manual, just need to add the plug for 110v. Your post referenced E300 not sure if that only designates a regular gasoline model. The name Packerfan leads me to believe you are in the upper midwest, and could be looking for easier starts in a gasser model also.

True the '95 E300D has a factory block heater, but the cord was a (no cost) option. Many cars don't have the cord, even in the cold midwest.

The factory block heater is in a frost-plug hole toward the rear of the block, passenger/right side. Takes a standard plug-in cord, I buy them from NAPA for around $20, or you can buy them from Mercedes or as a Mercedes aftermarket part I believe PeachParts sells them. The correct one has an aluminum threaded-ring to lock and seal them to the heater. I had the same cord on a set of DD 8V-92TIA engines in a Hatteras, which is how I found them at NAPA.

The tank heaters work well also, had one on a CAT 3208, but I feel there's a lot more heat loss vs the block heaters in my Mercedes and in my skid-steer, I prefer the conductive/convective heating of the in-block heater over the convective flow in a tank heater, ... just a preference.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

Model #13150 (1500 Watt) I have one on my skidsteer and another on my tractor, they work great!

The car is a diesel and it has the factory installed block heater but it does not work. I plugged it in overnight and the next morning the engine was ice cold to the touch. I'm not sure if the heating element is burned out or what is wrong with it and I did read other posts where people said it was next to impossible to remove the old one to install a new one. This is my reason for attempting to install an external tank type heater.
Yes you are correct, I live in Green Bay (the frozen tundra) where temps are below zero 11 months of the year!

The car does have the factory block heater but it does not work. From what I understand removing the old block heater is next to impossible so this is my reason for the tank type heater.

Did you check for continuity across the prongs of the heater in place after light scuffing? The heater it self may be good just not making a good contact through the plug and contacts, or your existing plug itself may be bad which would be a good thing as it is an $18.00 part at NAPA.

I was wrong when I said the heater did not work. it does but not much heat at all.
I plugged it in last night for 6 hours and the engine block was barley above luke warm to the touch. The car was also parked in the garage out of the wind. The other day I left the car sit outside and had it plugged in all day and the engine was ice cold!