Add heating pads to intake manifold?

[isaac_alaska]

I'm thinking about adding a pair of silicone heating pads to the intake manifold, since it's going to be below freezing by the time my new spark plugs show up, and i want to be able to drive the truck around in the winter time. From what i've read, it seems like the biggest issue with starting in the cold is gas pooling in the intake and soaking the plugs, making it hard to start. Would there be any downside to heating the intake manifold, aside from the extra wires in the engine compartment? I figure i'll need at least an oil pan heating pad, and an inline coolant heater on the heater hose anyway, and i can't think of any reason not to pre-heat the intake manifold.

[Kaegi]

I have not lived in climates as cold as Alaska. but I did go skiing for week in MT and t he temp was 39 below with 69 below wind chill. the only rigs the resort was running was stock M37s. they had brand new chevy diesels lined up with 3 feet of snow on top that would not start. I don't think they had manifold heaters on the M37s back then but mostl likely heater hose set up. flatheads are cold weather friendly when it comes to starting. An old guy I used to service his vehicles for worked on bringing the power lines across the continental divide back in the 1950s and they had a fleet of WW2 surplus trucks and many were WC 3/4 ton dodges and he said the dodges were the only thing that would start during one cold snap that was down to over 50 below. Made him a dodge guy the rest of his life.

[w30bob]

Hi Isaac,

Gasoline is a wonderful thing........and it's made even better by adjusting it's volatility (vapor pressure) for seasonal variations in temperature. Just don't run summer gas in the wintertime or vice versa and you won't have any issues getting the engine to start. The problem is (or was) the oil. Newer synthetic oils have a much wider operational temperature range and flow better at lower temps than older oils that were available when the M37s were manufactured. Adding a block heater, either in the coolant or in the oil pan, will let the engine start much easier in the extreme cold, and is better for the engine internals. Heating the coolant makes more sense if you have a cab heater that uses coolant.......you have real heat in the cab really fast. Of course you can heat both if you're so inclined. It would probably be easier to modify an available dipstick heater to fit the dipstick tube than to install a coolant heater in a freeze plug. The other thing to consider, whether you install any type of engine heater or not, is to NOT run the engine at high rpm once it starts in order to "warm it up faster". That's tough on bearings, as the clearances in the components they're installed in haven't opened up until things get warm.......and you don't want to wipe a bearing in the dead of winter.

They did offer an arctic heater kit for the M37........you might want to see if some of those components make sense for the temps you plan on operating in. I'm getting cold just talking about all this stuff.........I'm going back outside.......it's 70 degrees and sunny!

later,
bob

[M37N55]

http://www.wolverineheater.com/ is what I use on my trucks. I live in northern Manitoba, so our climates are very close. I stuck one on the transmission oil pan and one on the engine oil pan... but not sure if adding to the intake will work or not. Can say that these pads work well with less electricity then a block heater and less plug in time too. The site claims 2 hours to warm the whole engine but I find that depends on wind chill... at -50 c the engine will scream at bit but still warms up faster then a block heater does.

[isaac_alaska]

Thanks for the link! I've used the pads before, but always in conjunction with an in-block heater, so the coolant is warmed as well. What power rating of pad are you using? i'd be a little bit afraid of using the 1250 watt right on the thin oil pan, because I've heard rumors that it can burn the oil. These pads look better built than ones you can pick up at Napa in the "bulk bin" where they are just all thrown in there...

[M37N55]

Thanks for the link! I've used the pads before, but always in conjunction with an in-block heater, so the coolant is warmed as well. What power rating of pad are you using? i'd be a little bit afraid of using the 1250 watt right on the thin oil pan, because I've heard rumors that it can burn the oil. These pads look better built than ones you can pick up at Napa in the "bulk bin" where they are just all thrown in there...

I use 250 watt pads and yes I still use the block heater when its very cold.. so 2 pads =500 watts + 450 watt block heater is under 1000 watts, no interior heater at that wattage but with everything warm the interior heats up fast anyways.