Block heater for 2004 xc70

[erikv11]

I was always under the impression the most useful "heater" accessory was the battery blanket to ensure easy starting in cold weather. ...

This may well be, I don't know.

My point above is that heating the block is a better move than heating the coolant or heating the oil. Assuming, of course, the block heater actually achieves heating the block! If the block is even 40 ˚F warmer than the outside air and has been like that for a while, you can rest assured the oil in the pan has picked up plenty of heat too. I'm not sure how much of that heat gets to the battery, would be interesting to know.

A good insulation liner would matter too, for under-hood heating. Squirrels have ravaged all my P80 liners by now.

[scot850]

Battery heater blankets are useful as batteries when it is really cold can freeze. We also know these days how electric cars power disappears quickly when it gets cols like we get up here. It is a useful tool for sure is it gets cold regularly where you live.

However, the fact the engine and oil get really cold is a bigger obstruction to starting, especially when the battery is also cold it will struggle more when it too is cold to turn the engine over.

So, if it is regularly cold where you live, then the battery blanket is a good addition, but the engine heater whether in the water lines (Volvos used to have this in older cars, or the block heater, or the oil pan heater, all will rally help your car to start when really cold. When it is regularly cold in areas north of us, they use one of the engine heaters and the battery blanket too.

Neil.

[abscate]

I’ve worried that a coolant line heater would fool the ECT into not enough cold start fuel. It roughly 3x the fuel injected on a cold start by my observation, so that’s a lot of change. The cylinder walls would still be cold so that extra fuel is needed to get mix in the cylinders

Remember , wind chill is not relevant to starting, it’s just absolute temperature

Everything in the driveway is starting fine in our current 5-10F weather

[scot850]

I beg to differ. On a P80 wind (chill) on a turbo engine is an issue as it makes the air temp colder that blows over the intercooler and at low temps can freeze it solid causing difficulty starting and even if it starts, the car may not move until it thaws out. Cardboard zip-tied behind the grille can help (remove if temps get above +10C). Also parking the car with the nose pointed down wind can also help reduce this type of issue.

Neil.

[Blacklab467]

Wind chill factor doesn't affect the absolute temperature of the air, just the rate that a given object will arrive at the ambient temperature when exposed to the wind chill unless...........there is a pressure drop like a venturi as in Bernoulli's principle.

[erikv11]

I’ve worried that a coolant line heater would fool the ECT into not enough cold start fuel. It roughly 3x the fuel injected on a cold start by my observation, so that’s a lot of change. The cylinder walls would still be cold so that extra fuel is needed to get mix in the cylinders

Remember , wind chill is not relevant to starting, it’s just absolute temperature

Everything in the driveway is starting fine in our current 5-10F weather

Block heater FTW!