Do those dipstick heaters really work?

tubman said:
Surviving winters on Minnesota in the fifties and sixties, I had 'em all. Best by far was a 1000 watt tank heater.
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In the mid 70's I had a Datsun 240Z, fun car but did not like starting in cold (I'm in WI). Installed a 1000 watt tank heater that installed in line in one of the heater hoses, easy install. Always started right up and had heat soon after starting. When I had to attend week long Winter tech schools for Kawasaki in Mpls, MN I always made sure I had a ground level hotel room that I could park just outside,.... had big roll of extension cord that went out the window to plug in.:)
 
GB SISSON said:
A heater in the tank of the radiator? I assume in the lower tank? It has been well below freezing for a week and was 9 degrees last night. Been starting my old diesel skidsteer with a heat gun in the intake so I can plow the road. Warm Pacific air arrives tomorrow and an ice storm is predicted. Housebound, hunkered down and hoping our steep winding road will be passable by Saturday. Heck, I gotta get to town to do my Christmas shopping.
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Actually, it is an external unit a little larger than a soup can. You "tee" into the heater hose coming out of the head and run a length of hose to the inlet port on the heater. Then you use one of those thing-a-m-jigs the goes into the lower radiator hose and run a hose to the outlet port of the heater. and plug the unit in. Most of them have a thermostatic switch that keeps them from overheating and boiling the coolant. Because of the nature of a Ford V8, they only heat 1/2 of the engine. On a practical basis, that's enough to keep the whole thing warm.
 
A garage without heat no good in the winter to work on a Antique car and is no fun. My garage is 40 by 40 and I heat it with a ventless stove I bought at Tractor Supply. Very cheap to operate. It does not hurt my gas bill. 100 percent heat, no loss. No fumes either. I had a hanging heater before and it double my gas bill. My cars stay warm in the winter.
 
It sounds like the dipstick heater may have too many inherent problems. The head bolt is an attractive alternative. Thank you all for the responses.
I'll look into one of those ventless stoves. That might class-up the garage a little too.
Phil
 
I was a little guy in the early 60's living in Fairbanks Alaska, -50 F in the Winter - Dad had a electric block heater that was plugged in at home and all the local businesses had electrical outlets in the parking lots. On the AF base the Diesels ran 24/7 as if they stopped and got cold, the restart was impossible.

Fast forward to the 70's - many times I'd pull the battery from my 73 BMW and bring it inside overnight to be able to start it in the sub zero North Western PA winters. The heavy gear lube would cause me troubles shifting as the shift lever was about 4 inches tall !
 
Had a roommate who used hot tap water to fill the ice cube trays. He said that will make ice faster because the warm water is pre-started in the right direction to cooling down before it gets in the freezer, doesn't need to change direction in the freezer.

Old wives tales live long.
 
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There are a lot of posts on heaters, but none on the viscosity of oil. When I worked in the Arctic, just South of the Arctic circle, we had a lot of non starts because operators "forgot" to plug in their diesel units at the end of shift. Esso, our lube supplier, recommended that we use 0-30 in the engines. We did that, and had a lot less no start problems. I know that 0-30 is a semi-synthetic, and some say that they cause a flathead to leak, but don't most flatheads leak oil? I have used 0-30 summer and winter for many years in my cars and snow blower, only changing to 5-20 when our new Fords called for it. Even in Norther Ontario winter, with 5-20, we don't plug our cars in and they start. Some lube manufacturers are now producing 0-15 and 0-20, which some car manufacturers are using as a standard engine oil. The video link is for cold weather lube.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...AA365BF2BB945A51A51BAA3&view=detail&FORM=VIRE
 
I managed to start my 54 Meteor with the 255 Flathead (Canada only that year) at -20C (-4F) last week.

The engine is in pretty good running condition, most cylinders are 95 to 100 psi, one dropped to 70 (might be a sticking valve) last summer, but still runs nice.

Last winter I could not start it at all unless I put an oil pan heater on it overnight, and a trickle charger. I lapped the valves last spring and now the compression is pretty even all the way across (other than the one cylinder).

To start it last week, I pumped the gas three times, hit the starter and the old 6 volt turned over REAL slow. I was lightly pumping the throttle to about 25% and it fired in less than 10 seconds. I held my foot on the gas maybe five more seconds and it smoothed out to a nice idle.

I'm also pretty impressed with how well the heater works. You can feel the pass side rad hose is cooler than the drivers side as the heater is actually sucking a fair bit of heat out of the system. Drove it around the block and it kept the windshield clear. Amazing, I just love this old car.

One regret I have was that I used to have a headbolt heater, it was on a 53 Pontiac I sold after I bought the 54 Meteor last year. Didn't even check to see if it would have fit the flathead. Dang.
 
You can find stick on silicone pad heaters for oil pans. Not too expensive. Look at the specs on them as far as temp and wattage.
 
working in a junk yard in the 50s i took a radiator out of a 37 chry. airflow that had alcohol in it the only one i ever saw with alky.
 
I used a tank type heater in the 60's on my Ford wagon. hoses tied into heater hoses. worked great. Could fell the warmth with my hand on the engine even in 0 deg mornings. I didn't want it to run all night so I rigged up an old clock radio that turned the radio on at a certain time to power up the heater. 2-3 hrs and was good to go. I quit using it because as I swapped engines I didn't upgrade the battery. Once I upgraded to a larger battery all was good, even without the heater. Coolant heaters are also made to fit into a freeze plug hole.
 
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"I rigged up an old clock radio that turned the radio on at a certain time to power up the heater."
I can't picture how that would have been wired. Clock radio had a 110volt switched outlet?
 
JayChicago said:
"I rigged up an old clock radio that turned the radio on at a certain time to power up the heater."
I can't picture how that would have been wired. Clock radio had a 110volt switched outlet?[/QUOTE
Maybe I posted wrong. When the alarm went off, instead of turning the radio on, it powered up a receptical on top of the radio. the heater was plugged into that recp. to powered up the tank heater. worked like a charm. My heater was 110V unit.
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