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 Car starring wasmth

 Created by: tothefloor
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 Posted: Nov 29, 2020 08:01PM
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I grew up in southern colorado where -20F -30F was common. During the winter my car was plugged in everynight. The best was a tank heater circulating engine coolant. Tee off a radiator hose. The worst was dipstick heater. If it was used to heat up cold oil it would mostly just burn the oil. I you must use one plug it in when the oil is warm and leave it plugged in til needed.

 Posted: Nov 24, 2020 02:30PM
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I don't drive my Classic Mini in the winter here. (salt here would kill it, QUICKLY), but for a few years, in various vehicles (a couple VW diesels notably) I used a 1200w Coolant heater.  That bad boy rocked.  Not only would my diesels fire right up after the glow plugs did their thing, but I'd have cabin heat right away and even on the coldest of days into the -30's (C) at least part of the windshield would be thawed out.

  ~ 30 minutes in a Mini is more therapeutic than 3 sessions @ the shrink. ~

  Mike  Cool  NB, Canada   

 Posted: Nov 24, 2020 07:54AM
 Edited:  Nov 25, 2020 05:00AM
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Flat heater: last time I saw one of those it was from a VW Beetle air cooled engine!
Now that the memory cells are awake, I remember we put it on a snowblower motor to make IT easier to pull-start.

.

"Hang on a minute lads....I've got a great idea."

 Posted: Nov 23, 2020 04:53PM
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Dan a friend called me today we were talking and I brought up the block heaters he had two of the dipstick ones in his garage I went down and picked them my up he was suggesting however do use a flat heater that you can move it up on either end and putting it under the engine my biggest problem is I have a full sump guard under the engine. I’ll play around with it for a few days

 Posted: Nov 23, 2020 02:09PM
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You should be fine with just a block heater - They heat the coolant, which dissipates the heat around the cylinders and head, which is where you need the heat. A dipstick heater heats the oil around it in the transmission, (I had one of those too ). The oil is slower in dissipating the heat, which takes a long time to get up to the engine. In cold weather here, we sometimes only needed to plug in the block heater an hour or so to warm the engine enough for starting. We'd only leave it plugged in over night in really cold weather: -20F to -40F or C.

.

"Hang on a minute lads....I've got a great idea."

 Posted: Nov 22, 2020 09:04PM
 Edited:  Nov 23, 2020 12:47AM
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It’s metal— I believe it’s from an Austin America.

the heated part of the dipstick is 23 inches my dipstick goes to 12 inches below the dipstick plug and 24 inches total.  My thought is find a shorter one or just change it when I start the car????

 Posted: Nov 22, 2020 07:41PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tothefloor
Thanks. I found the block heater and a dipstick heater which is what I’ll probably get both are sold at Napa I’ll be there in the morning they weren’t open nowl lol
Ok Scott,  first check which dipstick you have. One fits into a metal tube and the other was plastic.  If you have the plastic tube the dipstick type heater gets hot enough to melt the plastic tube.

 Posted: Nov 22, 2020 05:00PM
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Thanks. I found the block heater and a dipstick heater which is what I’ll probably get both are sold at Napa I’ll be there in the morning they weren’t open nowl lol

 Posted: Nov 22, 2020 03:47PM
 Edited:  Nov 22, 2020 03:50PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kermy
There's a block heater. They mount in the freeze plugs holes.
Google "engine block heater". I had one in my first Mini. The engine would start at -20F but you had to dress warmly as the engine could just make enough heat to keep itself going. You also discover how draughty a Mini is.

.

"Hang on a minute lads....I've got a great idea."

 Posted: Nov 22, 2020 03:03PM
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There's a block heater. They mount in the freeze plugs holes.

 Posted: Nov 22, 2020 01:17PM
 Edited:  Nov 22, 2020 02:49PM
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OK I have 4 Wheel Dr. truck that I drive most of the year. During the winter it’s usually a bear to start my mini.  Over the last bunch of years sometimes I haven’t started it at all. Well I started it a couple weeks ago again it was a bear because everything was so cold. I believe a trickle charger will keep the battery maintained but I don’t think that’ll keep the engine warm?? What are you guys in the colder US and in Canada doing??

It hasn’t even been that cold maybe 30°.  I remember in Colorado we had some kind of dip stick for the vw that was heated and would heat the oil. Anything like that around for the mini??