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Oil Pan or Engine Heater

richardak

New member
This may seem like an odd question but given the breadth of experience in these forums, someone may have run into this before. Is there any sort of oil or engine heater for an airhead? I've started commuting with my '83 R100RT w/ sidecar and this morning it was -11F. I am somewhat concerned whether the engine will start when I get ready to leave. All of the parking spots have outlets to plug in the vehicle engine heater. I don't want to just slap a silicone pad onto the oil pan. I figure that the battery tender may keep the battery charged and a little bit warmer and I already changed to lighter weight oil as recommended in the owners manual.

Any thoughts?

IMG_0064.jpg
 
Heat

I'd pick up a spare oil pan and grind off the the ridges on the bottom so it is a flat surface to attach a silicone heating pad.That and a battery heater blanket or pad,seems about all you can do.Unless you cover the bike with a tarp and put a heating device underneath.Good luck.1983 R100S W/sputnick in Manley AK
 
That photo reminds me of a local founding member of our BeeCeeBeemers club of some renown. His name is Phil Funnell and he was the first person to ride the Dempster Highway in winter on an R50. His solution to frozen oil was to drain his warm oil each evening into an aluminum pot which he would reheat with a gas stove in the morning and then pour it back in! To say that Phil marches to a different drummer does not begin to describe him and his adventures.
 
Aircraft engine heater: $120 > http://planegadgets.com/aircraft-engine-heater/

EnginePreHeater.jpg


Pick up one of those "space blankets" and a few Pony clips and you're in business.

space%20blanket%20red.jpg
ponyclamp.jpg


Just curious, is the electricity free?
 
This may seem like an odd question but given the breadth of experience in these forums, someone may have run into this before. Is there any sort of oil or engine heater for an airhead? I've started commuting with my '83 R100RT w/ sidecar and this morning it was -11F. I am somewhat concerned whether the engine will start when I get ready to leave. All of the parking spots have outlets to plug in the vehicle engine heater. I don't want to just slap a silicone pad onto the oil pan. I figure that the battery tender may keep the battery charged and a little bit warmer and I already changed to lighter weight oil as recommended in the owners manual.

Any thoughts?

View attachment 37841


I would think?..any block heater could be installed in the pan. Particularly in one of the 'deep' pans available.
 
Block heater

A block heater is for the water jacket in an engine not the oil.Never heard of one being put in the oil sump.It would seem to me that a hole in the pan for a block heater would be a lot more ooga booga than just installing a heating pad externally.
I would think?..any block heater could be installed in the pan. Particularly in one of the 'deep' pans available.
 
Somebody is probably going to raise a few eyebrows, but go to a 5-40 oil or something even lighter and keep the battery on the tender when at work. The lighter the oil that you can get away with will greatly aid startup. I live in a cold climate, so appreciate the lighter oils on startup, especially at -40 C/F.

The bigger issue is making sure that the engine gets to operating temperature, not so easy to do on an airhead as the heads are exposed to the air. There will be an issue with condensation and fuel dilution of the oil. To my view not worth driving the bike in -11 F conditions.

If it was me I personal would wait until it warms up slightly. I see snow in your picture and you only have single wheel drive ( not 2 wheel drive like a Ural ) so this will affect acceleration & braking.
 
" All of the parking spots have outlets to plug in the vehicle engine heater "

Before this discussion gets to the point of spending any money you need to find out just how much electricity is available.

How many amps to trip the breaker? Available Amps X volts(120) = watts maximum for any device you plug in
Are you sharing your AC outlet with another parking space? or whole row of spaces? - don't answer here but know this
before you spend your nickel

Public parking facility may have relatively small breaker per outlet to prevent use of the high watt car interior warmers

Thin oil 5w30 synthetic and a good battery is probably first line of defense against getting stuck - also make sure you are
not the last one to leave the lot just in case

More than a few years ago I remember quite often my R69S with sidecar took me to work in northern wis when my truck
would not start below -20deg F. I used thin oil 5W 30 or maybe 5W20 dino in about 1986-1996 for a 4 mile commute.
The old /2 would fire right off without much trouble even in that cold when my Dodge would only groan.
 
Sump Heater

highly recommend those stick on heaters.Although I have NO experience with them on bikes, I have had several on diesel cars.My current
VW jetta has 435000 on it.I live in Canada where temps are often very cold. I find they do a good job of warming the oil which is critical to reducing wear and ensuring a quick start.
 
A block heater is for the water jacket in an engine not the oil.Never heard of one being put in the oil sump.It would seem to me that a hole in the pan for a block heater would be a lot more ooga booga than just installing a heating pad externally.

I understand that, but they heat fluid...they don't know it's not water ;) And I was referring to the smaller diameter design, and install it on the side of the pan/sump.

Although I've never tried one, I'd look into it if I wanted the heat. However i have now reached the age that I wuss out, & do not ride in extreme cold...:p

Ron
 
Thank you for all the comments and suggestions. I have used a lot of the silicon pad heaters over the years on a variety of vehicles.

To answer some the the other questions.

Just curious, is the electricity free?

"Free" in that there is no additional charge to plug in but there is an annual parking fee and electricity usage is included.

Somebody is probably going to raise a few eyebrows, but go to a 5-40 oil or something even lighter and keep the battery on the tender when at work. The lighter the oil that you can get away with will greatly aid startup. I live in a cold climate, so appreciate the lighter oils on startup, especially at -40 C/F.

The bigger issue is making sure that the engine gets to operating temperature, not so easy to do on an airhead as the heads are exposed to the air. There will be an issue with condensation and fuel dilution of the oil. To my view not worth driving the bike in -11 F conditions.

If it was me I personal would wait until it warms up slightly. I see snow in your picture and you only have single wheel drive ( not 2 wheel drive like a Ural ) so this will affect acceleration & braking.

I am running 5w40 oil at these temperatures to ensure that there is oil flow even after starting. The engine heads and cylinders are to warm to touch after even a few miles of riding so I suspect that it is getting up to operating temperature even with the cold air temperatures. The efficiency of the heat transfer from engine to air would be a function of the temperature difference and an additional 40 degrees colder isn't that much compared to the temperature of the cylinder and heads.

Studded tires are legal and with studs in the front and rear bike tires, handling starting and stopping are just fine. 1WD is more than sufficient through several inches of snow. The softer rubber of the trials tire also helps on the slicker roads.

" All of the parking spots have outlets to plug in the vehicle engine heater "
How many amps to trip the breaker?

Public parking facility may have relatively small breaker per outlet to prevent use of the high watt car interior warmers

Thin oil 5w30 synthetic and a good battery is probably first line of defense against getting stuck

Every space at my work has a separate 15 amp breaker but they will ticket you if it looks like you have an interior heater (melted snow on the windows) as it is against the parking regs due to electricity consumption. As noted above I am using light oil and the engine does start almost immediately though the starter gets very sluggish. I'm thinking that 30 years of grime needs to be cleaned out of the starter.

However i have now reached the age that I wuss out, & do not ride in extreme cold...:p

Ron

With heated gear and the barn door faring and windshield, I'm warmer upon arrival than if I taken the bus.

What I'm thinking of doing is getting an aluminum plate and sticking on a ~100 watt silicon heat pad to and mechanically fastening it to the fins of the oil pan. There are only a couple of quarts of oil there so there may be more than enough heat transfer to keep the oil warm. My truck engine holds 12 quarts of oil and uses a 70w silicone pad but has better conductivity between the pad and the pan. Even at -40 the oil in the pan is pretty warm.

Thank you again for the suggestions!
 
...I am running 5w40 oil at these temperatures to ensure that there is oil flow even after starting. !

And the question we're all dying to ask is.....Is it synthetic?

Don't feel the need to answer as it will likely send this thread down the drain faster than your air temps after sunset. :laugh
 
And the question we're all dying to ask is.....Is it synthetic?

Don't feel the need to answer as it will likely send this thread down the drain faster than your air temps after sunset. :laugh

Nothing like stirring the pot...

In that vein, I'm using a synthetic blend....

(Cheaper, probably good enough)
 
Maybe a pad heater mounted on a say 1/8 inch thick aluminum plate which in turn is RTV'd to the bottom of the ribbed pan casting. Some sort of foam/shiny insulation in the bottom side of the whole mess would be very desirable to minimize radiant heat loss if it didn't project down too far & get into the road crap. Use lots of RTV (lay it down down in separate lines for each rib) & try to get attachment to each fin since RTV really isn't a very good heat conductor. This would probably work for say 150 watts or so.

Yes - definitely synthetic oil but you already are doing that.
 
http://www.reiffpreheat.com/product.htm

The link above is for aircraft engine perheaters. They have pad oil sump heater that are bonded by using J B Weld. And cylinder band clamp heater that may work. We have a set on one of our aircraft and when used it is almost to hot to touch in a few hours.
 
I've not tried it on my motorcycle, but a cheap electric blanket wrapped around my boat engine lets me waterski until the lake ices. I would think one for a twin bed wrapped around the engine would be enough.
 
http://www.reiffpreheat.com/product.htm

The link above is for aircraft engine perheaters. They have pad oil sump heater that are bonded by using J B Weld. And cylinder band clamp heater that may work. We have a set on one of our aircraft and when used it is almost to hot to touch in a few hours.

Interesting site. I didn't even know these things existed. The band heaters are a method of heating an air cooled engine that I had never thought of before.

For now, I just ordered a couple of relatively small silicone pads. One 25 watts and one 50 watts. I'll experiment a bit to see how things may fit. I'm thinking that the 25 watt heater may be perfect to keep the battery warm and the larger one mounted to a plate which I'll try and clamp to the pan or something...

Thank you for the suggestions...
 
Thank you for all the comments and suggestions. I have used a lot of the silicon pad heaters over the years on a variety of vehicles.

To answer some the the other questions.



"Free" in that there is no additional charge to plug in but there is an annual parking fee and electricity usage is included.



I am running 5w40 oil at these temperatures to ensure that there is oil flow even after starting. The engine heads and cylinders are to warm to touch after even a few miles of riding so I suspect that it is getting up to operating temperature even with the cold air temperatures. The efficiency of the heat transfer from engine to air would be a function of the temperature difference and an additional 40 degrees colder isn't that much compared to the temperature of the cylinder and heads.

Studded tires are legal and with studs in the front and rear bike tires, handling starting and stopping are just fine. 1WD is more than sufficient through several inches of snow. The softer rubber of the trials tire also helps on the slicker roads.



Every space at my work has a separate 15 amp breaker but they will ticket you if it looks like you have an interior heater (melted snow on the windows) as it is against the parking regs due to electricity consumption. As noted above I am using light oil and the engine does start almost immediately though the starter gets very sluggish. I'm thinking that 30 years of grime needs to be cleaned out of the starter.



With heated gear and the barn door faring and windshield, I'm warmer upon arrival than if I taken the bus.

What I'm thinking of doing is getting an aluminum plate and sticking on a ~100 watt silicon heat pad to and mechanically fastening it to the fins of the oil pan. There are only a couple of quarts of oil there so there may be more than enough heat transfer to keep the oil warm. My truck engine holds 12 quarts of oil and uses a 70w silicone pad but has better conductivity between the pad and the pan. Even at -40 the oil in the pan is pretty warm.

Thank you again for the suggestions!


I rode in "cold" before I retired, but any more it just goes to my bones. And I don't have the 'barn-door' fairing any longer either......so when it's "cold" I stay home..:p
 
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