Re: Let us talk cold ...... Canada Re: Whoa!

[brettd@tiac.net (Brett Dikeman)]

>I digress , there are an estimated 20 million people with block heaters in
>Canada. A block heater is a necessity here not a choice. I have been spending
>20 minutes idling in a car at  -35c that was plugged in just to get to move.
>I can get it in gear but it takes over half throttle just to get it to
>reverse out of the parking spot. The engine starts well but everything else
>is frozen solid.
Guess what-block headers heat your block, not the tranny or the quattro
system.  True it takes a while to get the oil up to temp, but sitting in
the parking lot _will_ take you a long time to get things warmed up,
because you're not moving oil aorund much except for in the engine.
Driving around moves around the oil much faster.  I usually sit for about
5-6 minutes, and wrestle the thing out our driveway, and after a few
minute's driving, everything is flowing smoothly.  Moving the oil in the
transmission, diff, and engine at driving speeds will warm it up much, much
faster.  Not only is there the heat from the engine(which is greater when
you're driving along), but the gears+diff are stirring up the oil, warming
it up.


>Block heaters on a timer are good fix to a cold problem. IF the oil changes
Definately! Otherwise the rust will start to form.  My guess as to why you
don't see a problem is because you drive the car so often(at least twice a
day)

>are done on the 5000Kilometer mark with 5w30 the rust and water problems are
>minimized. Keep in mind the humidity levels at this temperature are
>miniscule. Without block heaters what is the cold start wear factor of the
Head down to your local library and check out AOPA magazine.  I don't
remember the date, but there was an article all about block heaters.  I
beleive it was sometime last fall.

>bearings and cyl walls with cold engine.
>
>Blatant Opinion - Lycoming(sp) are hardly leading edge engine technology.

'Scuze me?  Lycoming is only about the most popular piston engine in single
and twin engine planes!  And as a matter of fact, their technology,
although kept as uncomplicated as possible, is the best designed, safest
and most relaible(this is generally true in the aviation industry.)  Think
about it-how many crashes do you see on the news that were attributed to
engine failure?  Compare that to the number of planes flying in the
US(and/or # of flights daily.)  I don't know if your a pilot, but keep in
mind that a plane's engine is operating very close to its redline during
flight, under constant stress.  The engine is much, much, much more
reliable than ANY car engine.
  Your arguement about the oil changes also doesn't wash, because most
piston engines burn(either by design or whatever else) oil at a rate that
requires oil being added often, keeping the oil fresher than what is in
most cars.

Brett