I probably should have done this a month ago....or st least a week ago...

Anyways, last year I just used a work truck and had no need for my own vehicle where I was living/working and that truck had some sort of heater we would plug in at night (work paid the electricity so we just left it plugged in all night).

Now though I have my own vehicle and because of the remote location, mechanics are really expensive (in fact I’ve been told this is the most expensive place to live in AK). Anyways, I want to put some sort of heater in my 2003 Tacoma since it’s looking like temps in the double digit negatives for awhile.

So what makes more sense??? A block heater??? Oil pan heater??? Is this something a non-mechanic can generally do themselves or is a mechanic the best way to go? I see some magnetic oil pan heaters are those any good???

Is there a way to get some sort of a system that would heat the battery, engine block and oil pan???

Just sitting here thinking about it, a warm engine is probably good but won’t cold oil going into it still be tough on it? But then if you just heat the oil pan wouldn’t that oil cool off really quickly after getting cranked through an engine that’s been sitting out all night at -20???

I appreciate the advice, I know this truck isn’t super nice but it’s not really a beater and I enjoy not having a car payment each month so I’d like to keep it as nice as I can for awhile longer, my last Toyota truck got 338k miles and still works pretty well, this one only has 180k so I think I can get some years out of it if I treat it well.

Thanks!!!

I moved to Alaska with a 8.5 year old Silverado. I had a heated garage when I was home, but my truck spent a lot of nights at the airport since I traveled so much.

I installed both an oil pan heater and a battery heater (makes starting easier).

I thought the oil pan heater would be tougher since I had to drop the skid plate, but every bolt came out easy, the degreasing/cleaning of the oil pan went smoothly, and gluing on the heating pad was easy.

I went with the blanket style battery heater (glad I did because my Texas battery only lasted one winter as it was designed as a southern battery not a northern battery), and it was a pain in the ass. Nothing to glue and nothing to clean, but fitting that jacket in the cramped space caused a lot of cussing. Once the battery blanket was in place, adding the cinching was a pain in the ass too. It worked great and was just as much a pain in the ass to transfer to the new battery.

I chose the oil pan heater over the coolant heater because I wanted oil flowing fast as possible and the oil pan would heat up the whole block. My friends in Fairbanks said they did all 3 (coolant, oil pan, and battery) as Fairbanks is frequently 10 or 15 degrees colder than the North Slope.

I chose the glue on oil pan heater over the dipstick as the dipstick had horrible reviews and weren't practical (many you can only use for heating and have to put the real dipstick back in for driving).

I had an arctic grade extension cord since they flexed easier and it had a multiple plug head on it. That's how I did my two devices, and you could do 3 devices this way too. Some people tie their devices together on their vehicle and only have 1 plug coming out the grill. Either way definitely get the arctic grade cable (the jackets are flexible at cold temps) so you can coil it up to take it with you.

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Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
I moved to Alaska with a 8.5 year old Silverado. I had a heated garage when I was home, but my truck spent a lot of nights at the airport since I traveled so much.

I installed both an oil pan heater and a battery heater (makes starting easier).

I thought the oil pan heater would be tougher since I had to drop the skid plate, but every bolt came out easy, the degreasing/cleaning of the oil pan went smoothly, and gluing on the heating pad was easy.

I went with the blanket style battery heater (glad I did because my Texas battery only lasted one winter as it was designed as a southern battery not a northern battery), and it was a pain in the ass. Nothing to glue and nothing to clean, but fitting that jacket in the cramped space caused a lot of cussing. Once the battery blanket was in place, adding the cinching was a pain in the ass too. It worked great and was just as much a pain in the ass to transfer to the new battery.

I chose the oil pan heater over the coolant heater because I wanted oil flowing fast as possible and the oil pan would heat up the whole block. My friends in Fairbanks said they did all 3 (coolant, oil pan, and battery) as Fairbanks is frequently 10 or 15 degrees colder than the North Slope.

I chose the glue on oil pan heater over the dipstick as the dipstick had horrible reviews and weren't practical (many you can only use for heating and have to put the real dipstick back in for driving).

I had an arctic grade extension cord since they flexed easier and it had a multiple plug head on it. That's how I did my two devices, and you could do 3 devices this way too. Some people tie their devices together on their vehicle and only have 1 plug coming out the grill. Either way definitely get the arctic grade cable (the jackets are flexible at cold temps) so you can coil it up to take it with you.

Thanks, I just looked under the truck and there isn’t a skid plate so it seems like attaching an oil pan heater or some sort either magnetic or otherwise would be very straight forward. What glue did you use to attach your oil pan heater?

I’ve always used the Wolverine oil pan heater on my semi trucks. They don’t need glue, but have an adhesive backing that is activated by heat. Clean the pan really good, stick it on, plug it in to heat it up, and it’s like it’s been welded on.

https://www.wolverineheater.com

Do not use a dipstick type oil heater. They lack surface area and will coke your oil.

Block heaters seemed to be popular when I lived in Stevens Point, Wisconsin years ago. Most Motels offered "free plug-ins." I just carried an extension cord. I liked the block heater.

I lived in North Pole for 10 years...

All my vehicles had a:
Block heater
Battery blanket
Oil pan heater - I used rtv and a jack with a block of wood to hold pressure overnight, never heard of wolverine, sounds way better.
Interior heater

Make sure you have a lighted cord to ensure you have power, sucks to try and start cold vehicle you thought was powered up, but not.

I placed cardboard in front of radiator with a 12' hole cut out in front of fan area, during winter.

Use synthetic oil, and make sure your coolant is rated for -45.

I think if you are not real comfortable doing freeze plug, better to spend some money. Need coolant drained from block, plug removed, heater installed, and new coolant added. I know several folks tried to save a few bucks, knocked plug into engine, tried drilling, damaged sealing surface ETC. IT IS SOMEWHAT EASY, BUT... Can be a bugger.

I haven't lived in extreme cold like that but have had some friends that did.
You have to be sure the oil is the correct viscosity and warm enough when you start and run the engine. If it is left idling a long time in that temperature the oil will get cold even though the water is warm and damage will result from poor oil flow.

quote:

Originally posted by newmexican:
Thanks, I just looked under the truck and there isn’t a skid plate so it seems like attaching an oil pan heater or some sort either magnetic or otherwise would be very straight forward. What glue did you use to attach your oil pan heater?

The heater pad had a high temperature glue on it, and you peeled off the back to expose the glue. You have to squeegee out any air bubble and press the hell out of it. Additionally, I put high temp RTV sealant on edges to prevent peeling.

This was a last minute Saturday project spurred by returning to the airport Friday night after it had been -10 to -15 the whole time I was gone. Even though I had a premium synthentic motor oil it with awesome cold temp flow properties, it made the most God awful metal to metal noise when I started the engine. Saturday morning, the NAPA guy was really helpful with picking out the heating products, degreaser, and edge sealant. I installed everything Saturday afternoon, and like I mentioned previously the oil pan heater install went shockingly easier than the battery heater.

When i lived in Minot (I know, not quite Alaska, but believe me, it still gets cold ), I had a block heater in my Toyota 4x4 pickup. It worked to keep the engine warm enough to start. The problem I had was I had to put the manual transmission in neutral, disengage clutch, start motor, let the motor warm up fully, the gradually engage the clutch with the transmission in neutral. The motor would have a load on it with the transmission in neutral as the 90 weight gear lube in the transmission gradually warmed up as the gears turned. Remember, a block/engine heater will make the engine easier to start, past that the transmission, differential(s), brake fluid, hydraulic clutch fluid, power steering fluid will all be cold until you drive for a few miles. Not to mention the tires flopping over the spots that sat on the pavement overnight, and the foam rubber in the seats being frozen until the heat builds up.
I miss the great hunting, fishing, and people in North Dakota, not so much the winters

You can get and should get lube(s) to match your temperatures. There is a reason every possible factory setup starts with a block heater, so at a minimum get that if Toyota offers it. I would not install it myself on a truck that old. Once you have that you can add-on to deal with your specific situation and requirements (like how fast you want to get moving after startup). Dreamerx4 has it down pretty well. I would start first with battery blanket, then if the block heater doesn't cut it add supplemental oil pan heat (probably not needed till below -20). In my experience (which is mostly diesel engines oil pan heat by itself is unlikely to get the job done, but gas motors will probably self start down to -20 anyway. Unhappy yes but well maintained probably start.

We ran battery blanket and oil pan heater. Living on post we were limited in how much power we could draw. Each winter was change to 5 weight, repack the bearings etc.
At night I’d put a brick under the wheel, set the heart to high and leave the car in neutral. In the morning I’d start the car, then eat breakfast. By then you could drive.
Had a friend shift early and bust his seals. My wife turned the wheel and broke the power steering line.
There was a trick for those off the grid. Stovepipe with J bend, torch and propane tank. Turn the torch on and position pipe under the motor. Remove any oil spill before doing this.

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:
You can get and should get lube(s) to match your temperatures. There is a reason every possible factory setup starts with a block heater, so at a minimum get that if Toyota offers it. I would not install it myself on a truck that old. Once you have that you can add-on to deal with your specific situation and requirements (like how fast you want to get moving after startup). Dreamerx4 has it down pretty well. I would start first with battery blanket, then if the block heater doesn't cut it add supplemental oil pan heat (probably not needed till below -20). In my experience (which is mostly diesel engines oil pan heat by itself is unlikely to get the job done, but gas motors will probably self start down to -20 anyway. Unhappy yes but well maintained probably start.

Gasoline will start down to -45F, but it makes a God awful noise until the oil flows so oil pan heater is vital. Full synthetic OW-20 or OW-30 helps.

50/50 glycol to water ratio has a freeze point of -29F so you need to change your ratio to 60/40 to get a -55F freeze point. You really should test your coolant every fall to make sure the freeze point is ready for winter.

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:
You can get and should get lube(s) to match your temperatures. There is a reason every possible factory setup starts with a block heater, so at a minimum get that if Toyota offers it. I would not install it myself on a truck that old. Once you have that you can add-on to deal with your specific situation and requirements (like how fast you want to get moving after startup). Dreamerx4 has it down pretty well. I would start first with battery blanket, then if the block heater doesn't cut it add supplemental oil pan heat (probably not needed till below -20). In my experience (which is mostly diesel engines oil pan heat by itself is unlikely to get the job done, but gas motors will probably self start down to -20 anyway. Unhappy yes but well maintained probably start.

A properly sized stick-on oil pan heater will do the job better than water jacket heat, and do it more efficiently. All that warm, toasty, soothing oil, sitting there below the crank, warming up the underside of those pistons. It takes a 1500 watt water jacket heater to do the job of a 1000 watt pan heater on a 14.8L truck. As an added bonus, the oil pan heater is more durable, not being affected by the vibrations inside of the water jacket.

Now, if you’re talking about those inferior magnetic oil pan heaters, then I’d agree that a water jacket heater is superior.