# Cruze 1.4 LT Oil Pan Heater



## Wally (Dec 31, 2010)

I picked up my Cruze on Saturday in Western Canada and love it. I am just wondering for those in the colder climates if you opted for an oil pan heater or (block heater as I know them as). I opted for one but it was not available at time of production. My sales guy seems to think that the newer cars don't really require one. He says it just helps limit the 'whine' of a cold engine upon starting. Granted, there are only a handful of minus 25-30C days in winter here, thank goodness. I do park overnight in an unheated garage. Any comments concerning oil pan heaters on the new Cruze appreciated.


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## sedanman (Dec 10, 2010)

The coldest I've seen it here (New York) this year has been -10C and the car starts up flawlessly just fine, so there was no need for an oil pan heater.


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

...it's worth it if: (a) temp's are _below_ *-22ºF* (per GM) and/or (b) you're interested in *fuel economy(*)*






*(*) *a *warm* engine reaches its best fuel economy almost _immediately_, while a *cold* engine must warm-up (~ 1/2-hour!) _before_ it reaches best fuel economy.


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## ChevyPower (Nov 9, 2010)

It's not worth it unless you really want it. This winter has been good so far and even my 20 year old car starts flawlessly in this weather. So if my 20 year old, near classic car can start flawlessly.....im sure the Cruze will have no problems at all.

How much was the heater you were going to get?

Where in Canada do you live?


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## montgom626 (Jan 16, 2011)

sedanman said:


> The coldest I've seen it here (New York) this year has been -10C and the car starts up flawlessly just fine, so there was no need for an oil pan heater.


Same here in Wisconsin. Starts with ease.


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## Aeroscout977 (Nov 25, 2010)

Never had it on my Honda or Pontiac in Fort Drum winters which the worst I saw was -55F and it was constantly colder than -25F. But like 70AAR said, your car's gonna run pretty rich on start up until it warms up. Of course you could jump your ECT sensor and not...dont do that. You should be fine without the oil pan heater.


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## Wally (Dec 31, 2010)

Thanks for the responses everybody. ChevyPower, the oil pan heater was only a $100 option as I recall. I am from Calgary, home of the famous Stampede and current red hot Calgary Flames hockey team


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## apsb21 (Jan 31, 2011)

OilPanHeater.jpg picture by apsb21 - Photobucket

the heater is Close to a 100 dollar, i bought mine from GSL chev city, the last piece for $103.00 including GST. The bracket to hold the heater is backorder. should not take long to install. Guys guess what the cable is more expensive then the heater, yup thats exactly what i thought, the cable actually has a sensor built into it which enable the cable to turn on at -18 C. Also I was able to find heat pad by proheat products. this item is also same as the oil pan heater but gluing the pan, i didnt wanted to do that. For Canadians , Auto value has the cheapest 250 Watts pan heater for 100 bucks, Napa got the most expensive same heater 250 watts for 190 and not last Part Source has it for 125. So in case your dealer is being an a** and want to sell u the pan heater for more than 100, just go get your own. Cheers


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

*apsb21* -- if you could, would you please tell us the GM part-number for that OIL PAN HEATER "kit" that you bought?

...hoperfully, it'll be the _same_ p/n for USA vehicles.


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## lostjuan (Jan 21, 2011)

JDM-USDM Love said:


> Never had it on my Honda or Pontiac in Fort Drum winters which the worst I saw was -55F colder than -25F.... .


So where are you that it gets that cold? The coldest it got here in my thirty years here was -51F in 2009 (without the windchill) and only some place in siberia was colder. There are definitely places a lot colder north of here.

The Engine preheater is just insurance to me. If your car doesn't start because of the cold and yes this will happen, probably not now but cars do get old..... It will probably have to get towed somewhere. A tow and a mechanic is going to cost a heck of a lot more than $100 oil pan heater. Plus that may be the only time it happens. You can get through the rest of winter without service til your cousin tony can do tune in june for next to nothing and at your convience. I would almost argue that a battery heater is probably more important if the oil pan heater if it's kick in til -18c. The more I hear of these oil pan heaters the less I like them. 
I also heard a story three years ago of a guy who was told by the salesmen that his new bmw didn't need a block heater because it had Mobil One in it so he didn't put one in. That winter it got really cold and the thing would not start. It only took an tow of 60 miles to the closest dealer and a reflash the computer because the battery died. It was over a $1000 to do this. Guess what this guy installed after that?


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## montgom626 (Jan 16, 2011)

lostjuan said:


> Guess what this guy installed after that?


A garage?


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## montgom626 (Jan 16, 2011)

lostjuan said:


> Guess what this guy installed after that?


Fault in the logic is to assume that block heater would have solved the problem.


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## Aeroscout977 (Nov 25, 2010)

lostjuan said:


> So where are you that it gets that cold? The coldest it got here in my thirty years here was -51F in 2009 (without the windchill) and only some place in siberia was colder. There are definitely places a lot colder north of here.


Was in Fort Drum, NY. It's in about a 30 mile section of the east side of Lake Ontario. Arctic air from Northern Canada that is normally high in the atmosphere takes a dip over the region causing temps to be colder than areas north or south of the region. Soldiers from Alaska come to Fort Drum for "cold weather training" as well as many Canadian Forces. I've done a few exercises with Canadian infantry, artillery, and a few medics. The area sees extreme temperature swings. From humid high 80's F in the summer to -30'sF in the winter. While it's rare to get below -30 on occasion those super cold sunny days do happen. My first day up there was the -55F day. It never got close to that again in the 7 years I was there. The next coldest day was mid -30's The usual is - teens with fluctuations to high 20's on snow days. I'm sure you know that in the winter the cold days are the prettiest ones lol.


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## lostjuan (Jan 21, 2011)

JDM-USDM Love said:


> Was in Fort Drum, NY. It's in about a 30 mile section of the east side of Lake Ontario. Arctic air from Northern Canada that is normally high in the atmosphere takes a dip over the region ........ I'm sure you know that in the winter the cold days are the prettiest ones lol.


Interesting stuff. I know we send a lot of clippers down your way, we don't need them
here in Alberta and your right We get a lot more sunny days here than most people 
expect but a lot of them are when it's 20 degrees below freezing. 

And actually I really can say for certian if the guy bought a garage,
a block heater or land in florida. My guess he went for the cheaper solution,
got his wife to go and start the car every 3 hours.


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## apsb21 (Jan 31, 2011)

Cable GM part# 95017061
heater GM part#55568885

@ lostjuan: Man that is true BMW still does not have block heaters, they run synthetic oil and good for -35 C, personal experience, also the oil in these engines tend to stay up in galleries due to construction, if you shut down the engine try hearing the oil rundown noise, u wont hear it.


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

*Doesn't the 1.4T require Dexos1 oil?*

Since the 1.4T requires Dexos1 oil & the only Dexos1 approved oil out yet is synthetic wouldn't an oil pan heater be pointless?
You should check out the colder temperature pour point of synthetic, for mobil 1 5w30, If I remember right it was like -49 degrees Fahrenheit. 

I could see using a block heater if it was heating the cars water/antifreeze since then you may get heat sooner after starting the car, but the oil heater is pointless with modern oil. 

If I was going to look into anything to ensure cold weather start it would be a battery tender, you hook a small box to battery & trickle charge the car as required(no damage to battery from constant trickle charging), so you always have enough battery power to start your car.


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## Gritts (Jan 23, 2011)

Wouldn't the unheated garage you mentioned be warmer than outside air temps?


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## Aeroscout977 (Nov 25, 2010)

Gritts said:


> Wouldn't the unheated garage you mentioned be warmer than outside air temps?


Mine usually stays warm enough to melt the snow in the winters here in Ohio. I can't speak for areas that see real cold though.


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## lostjuan (Jan 21, 2011)

apsb21 said:


> @ lostjuan: Man that is true BMW still does not have block heaters, they run synthetic oil and good for -35 C, personal experience, also the oil in these engines tend to stay up in galleries due to construction, if you shut down the engine try hearing the oil rundown noise, u wont hear it.


 I see u twitter ....I didn't know about the galleries thing, interesting. I run
25,000 mile amzoil product so I know the value of PAO's and how great they are. That's how I got
420,000 miles out of the 97 astro.


Gritts said:


> Wouldn't the unheated garage you mentioned be warmer than outside air temps?


 Yup Problem with unheated garages is that they are usually attached to a house and the cheapest
houses here run $230k that is a real expensive engine preheater. Plus you would probably not want
to live a neighbourhood with houses that cheap. I just want heat in car after a couple of blocks.
The chevrolet oil pan heater doesn't even turn on til the on til -18F which is pretty
much of no use to me and from what I understand it wouldn't provide any heat in the cabin any
quicker anyway.
I have learned more about how the remote start works so that may solve
the problem somewhat. Currently on a WARM day about 32F from a cold start I get good heat with
in 7 mins with recycle activated and running the car at about 3-4000 rpm. So that means the cabin is
warm by the time I get to the destination and I will take another 10 minutes to warm up indoors.
Which from what I can recall is the same as me running the car via the remote for 10 minutes when it's
-18F out except because of the ambient temp I take even longer to warm up once indoors. Their is 
plenty of heat once it up to temp. 
Speaking of that I have found that the normal running temp for every GM product I have owned is
one to two segments below the middle of the dial on the temp gauge, Oddly enough I came
out the other night and the fans were running on the rad and the temp 
gauge was at a quarter, there was heat in the cabin but not a whole lot. In this process I also 
noticed that the american brochures have No numbers on the temp gauges. Where my cruze and 
the cdn brochures do. That said I really don't think the number to be all that accurate. They could 
replace the numbers with "not hot" and "too hot" and have the same accuracy.


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## Aeroscout977 (Nov 25, 2010)

Doesn't the cruze have it's own PCM controlled warm up cycle? My GTP doesn't but the Si does. It revs a little over 2K until the mixture can start to lean out then it lowers the revs until it's trim levels are normal. I just head out and start up the car about 5-10 minutes prior to leaving. This was prior to having a garage though. I've also run full synthetic since the first oil change like many of you.


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## masterjohnson (Apr 7, 2011)

Wally said:


> Thanks for the responses everybody. ChevyPower, the oil pan heater was only a $100 option as I recall. I am from Calgary, home of the famous Stampede and current red hot Calgary Flames hockey team


hey guys i cant find something like that on ebay.com or amazon.com.lol ooops i forgot to call my dealer. maybe the dealership price is kinda $200. where did you get one for $100 guys? i wanna know.


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## Starks8 (Jul 20, 2011)

Im just noticing that the 2013 Chevy Cruzes have the option for a oil pan heater. What exactly does it look like, how does it work and unless you live in a place like Alaska, is it even a must have?


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

...item #3 in this GM illustration: http://parts.nalleygmc.com/images/parts/gm/fullsize/1004011P01-006.JPG

...the heating element gets "clamped" against the side of the oil pan.


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

70AARCUDA said:


> ...item #3 in this GM illustration: http://parts.nalleygmc.com/images/parts/gm/fullsize/1004011P01-006.JPG
> 
> ...the heating element gets "clamped" against the side of the oil pan.



Really worthless when it does not heat the water/antifreeze like a block heater. At least with a block heater it will give you quicker heat in the cab. 
Anyone ever read the pour temperatures of synthetic & synthetic blends of oil? There is absolutely no reason to try & warm the oil on these cars even in the most extreme low temperatures. Much cheaper to run a good full synthetic & do the same thing. 

Think Mobil 1 extended performance pour point is -40C for 5W-30. Would be interesting to find out what the dealer fill synthetic blend rating is. Owners manual says 0W-30 oil can be used in winter also so if one were to shop around you could easily get a pour point at below -50C with some synthetic oils.


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

I have an oil pan heater I installed myself on my Cruze. It was $20 for the heater, $5 for a tube of red RTV silicone sealer, and $10 for a heat gun. So $40 and an hour to install. 

It was nice going out to a car that was plugged in and heated up quickly. It shaved about 5 minutes off the warmup time during the winter. Too bad I moved and don't have a convenient plug anymore, or else I'd use it again this winter.

What was nice about it was that it heated the lowermost part of the engine. Heat rises, so it heated the block and the coolant within the block too. And, pumping warm oil to the engine instantly on startup sure was nice. 

This winter, I'm planning on using full synthetic oil like I always do. At least the roads in any direction are 55 mph and almost no stops, so it'll warm up quickly too.


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

Plus, condensation in oil from an engine that only does short trips in the winter and never lets the oil get hot enough ain't very good for it. I see this as having a purpose.


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

sciphi said:


> I have an oil pan heater I *installed myself *on my Cruze. It was $20 for the heater, $5 for a tube of red RTV silicone sealer, and $10 for a heat gun. So $40 and an *hour* to install.


...sounds like you both clamped _and_ glued (RTV) it to the side of the oil pan, correct?



sciphi said:


> It was nice going out to a car that was plugged in and heated up quickly. It shaved about *5 minutes off the warmup *time during the winter.


...and, you were getting better FE almost immediately too, not having to endure the typical 1/2-hour-or-so engine warm-up to normal time.



sciphi said:


> Too bad I moved and don't have a convenient plug anymore, or else I'd *use it again *this winter.


...try using it year around and you'll notice: (a) engine warms to "normal" operating temp almost immediately, (b) quicker, smoother engine starting, and (c) improved FE because warmed engine transitions from "open-loop" to "closed-loop" computer control much quicker!


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

70, the heater itself had an adhesive backing. So it's held on by glue alone. 

Sadly, my new place doesn't have a plug on the street side, and I'd have to run the cord across a sidewalk that gets plowed in the winter. So while I'd love to use it, I can't. :angry:


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## Ru5ty (Jun 20, 2012)

hey everyone !

here in quebec canada where i live we get -55C, thats hard on an engine. my 2006 mazda 3 used to kill batteries trying to turn over, it did not have a block heater. I'm so excited to see the difference the oil pan heater will make on my car and on my battery. even if it just heats it to -10 degree oil that will be awesome!  so the oil pan heater will definitely save you money in batteries because your engine will need less cold cranking amps to turn over  increasing battery life during the winter and making it less likely to be late for work!...... stupid battery


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## ve5ned (Dec 3, 2013)

Well,my Cruze is a lease buy-back from Abbotsford BC. new in January of/13. 1700 k when purchased from Saskatoon dealer.
They had installed the oil pan heater as a matter of coarse---it gets cold here!This AM I statedrted the car---it is in a sheltered 
wooden building .A timer turns on the heater for three hours.It was stiff turning over--synthetic oil and all!Should install a battery blanket.
Car started well--ran for ten min. then drove 17 miles.No heat from the heater for 8 miles! Temp. was -29C with wind chill of -40C
Battery is not very big--lots of room for a larger one. We'll see how it goes--!


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## cruzen (Mar 3, 2011)

So in December 2009 I bought a new 2010 Cruze LS. I was told that it doesnot need a block heater and they gauranteed that it would start. I have parked it in the garage until this year ( kids moved back home and filled my garage)  and well guess what -40 C and no go. Sounds terrible misses for like 20 seconds and stalls now nothing. Even at -20 C it sounds like a diesel for 30 seconds. Anyone else have this trouble


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## cruzen (Mar 3, 2011)

FYI it is a 1.8L


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## AutumnCruzeRS (Sep 10, 2012)

What oil are you using?


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## cruzen (Mar 3, 2011)

Take to the dealer for every oil change does not say on invoice but I think it is 5W30


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## cruzen (Mar 3, 2011)

oops got my years wrong bought in Dec 2010 it is a 2011 cruze


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## lostjuan (Jan 21, 2011)

ve5ned said:


> Well,my Cruze is a lease buy-back from Abbotsford BC. new in January of/13. 1700 k when purchased from Saskatoon dealer.
> They had installed the oil pan heater as a matter of coarse---it gets cold here!This AM I statedrted the car---it is in a sheltered
> wooden building .A timer turns on the heater for three hours.It was stiff turning over--synthetic oil and all!Should install a battery blanket.
> Car started well--ran for ten min. then drove 17 miles.No heat from the heater for 8 miles! Temp. was -29C with wind chill of -40C
> Battery is not very big--lots of room for a larger one. We'll see how it goes--!


 Had the same weather here, 2011 cruze with no heating devices or protection started fine. I do use a true "PAO" oil though. Amsoil signature. My car is lower mileage than most so it would actually take more power to turn over. Just wish I had the advantage of a heated coolant system as it gives you heat a lot sooner.


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## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

cruzen said:


> So in December 2009 I bought a new 2010 Cruze LS. I was told that it doesnot need a block heater and they gauranteed that it would start. I have parked it in the garage until this year ( kids moved back home and filled my garage)  and well guess what -40 C and no go. Sounds terrible misses for like 20 seconds and stalls now nothing. Even at -20 C it sounds like a diesel for 30 seconds. Anyone else have this trouble


If you're starting your car after an all night soak at -40C, a good synthetic oil will help trememdously. The dealer is only using their Dexos1 synthetic blend, which is not a bad oil but will not flow well at low temperatures. At -40C engine oils thicken a LOT, and anything other than a good synthetic will turn into a molases-like sludge that's next to impossible for your engine to pump. Only after several minutes of running with little to no oil pressure will enough heat be generated to allow the oil to flow even marginally. There are lots of videos on utube showing the effects of cold temperatures on engine oil. A real eye opener.

In temperatures that cold I would look into using a 0W-30 instead of a 5W-30. 0W oils have superior cold temp viscosity. I'm not sure where you're located, but in the US Mobil1 0W-30 AFE is abou tthe only such oil that is Dexos1 approved. I'm in Canada and I bought some in the US as it is not sold here.

The OEM oil pan heater will make a bigger difference for super cold starts than synthetic oil will, unless you're parked somewhere you can't plug in. It's a 200W heating element that attaches to the side of the aluminum oil pan and has a thermostat built into the cord that turns the heater on when temps drop to -18C (0F). There are customers that should be using this oil pan heater and you're one of them!

I have the oil pan heater on my '12 Eco and use it all the time. I have the cord thermostat bypassed so it comes on at any temperature:

http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/57-how-library/11122-diy-oil-pan-heater-thermostat-removal.html


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## ssnscruzeeco2015 (Dec 29, 2014)

Folks,

I finally data logged the performance of the 150 Watt Oil Pan heater over a course of 6 plus hours monitoring three temperature sensors on the engine, Coolant, Intake Air, and the O2 sensor. The last two are relevant to monitoring heat being radiated by the engine and heater. Most folks are aware that there is a point where heat lost to the atmosphere will equal to the heat gain of the Oil Pan Heater. At the time the outside air temperate quickly moved to 7 degrees Celsius before I started and stayed there the whole time. There was no wind, not even a stir.

Over a course of time the engine warmed up slowly to 16 degrees, which would indicate a 9 degree heating capacity compared to atmosphere. The rise nearly flat lined past the 4 hour mark, at which point you are wasting money to the atmosphere at a much higher rate.

There are two reasons to plug in the heater, one to ensure an easier start, and on an unmodified block heater cord it will only turn on at -18 degrees Celsius and will shut off if the outside air goes above that. The other reason is to gain an advantage of warm starts to save fuel for a few moments by cutting out the thermoswitch on the heater cord and plugging it in overnight with a timer.

Money savings is the question WRT energy consumption. Electrical power in Nova Scotia is 14.947 cent a KWH. High test gas is 104.4 cents a Liter.

Therefore for us to save money we would only run the Oil Pan Heater 4 hours before, starting the car. which would cost me 8.9 cents or hopefully a gas savings equal to 0.086 liters of fuel in order to breakeven....

I have been logging data on my car since the first time I started it. now nearly 29000 kilometers later, I should be able to figure out if that is in fact true.

More to follow.


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## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

Very nice chart! Thanks for taking the time to share!

The oil pan heater, as we know, was only really designed to heat the oil pan and lower front end of the block where the oil pump is located. It does warm the entire engine somewhat as well, nice to see some data showing that.

If you reach down and feel the crank pulley after having the heater running for a while you'll see how well it works for aiding cold starts. Even when it's real cold out, like -20C, the crank pulley is toasty warm. The oil pan around the heater is even warmer, but be careful not to touch the heater itself as it is quite hot.

I ended up building a custom circulating heater setup which works great and I only need to have it on for about an hour before I leave to have the temperature gauge reading off the cold mark. If I leave it on much longer it will trigger codes as the startup diagnostic will fail... the temp reported by several sensors on startup will be off by more than the spec.


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## MCH86GN (Oct 23, 2014)

sciphi said:


> I have an oil pan heater I installed myself on my Cruze. It was $20 for the heater, $5 for a tube of red RTV silicone sealer, and $10 for a heat gun. So $40 and an hour to install.
> 
> It was nice going out to a car that was plugged in and heated up quickly. It shaved about 5 minutes off the warmup time during the winter. Too bad I moved and don't have a convenient plug anymore, or else I'd use it again this winter.
> 
> ...


I got on as well, getting ready to install it.


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## ssnscruzeeco2015 (Dec 29, 2014)

if you can, be sure to use a thermo compound between the heater and the oilpan. especially if it happens to be the OEM heater. I took a look at mine a couple of days ago and it was not installed properly. I was over too far to the center of the oil pan and the heater is actually shaped to fit snugly against the pan. I used high temperature copper anti-seize and coated the pan and the heater. installing it in the correct position. Then I put foam tape in the open gaps around the hood.

Mine is actually a 200 Watt unit. The work that I did earned me at least another 2 degree C advantage. I will be doing another log like I did earlier. 11 degrees between atmosphere and coolant temp when I started. It was 0 degree C and windy. My next step is to cover the heater with insulation. Half of my heat energy is likely going the air around it. Thinking some good manifold wrap might work.


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## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

Funny you should mention that! I did the same thing with my heater, even though it was installed properly from the factory. I cleaned it well, covered all the sides that don't touch the oil pan with a thick layer of black RTV to insulate it from the surrounding air, then I used a TIM (Thermal Interface Material) between the heater and the pan that was originally intended for computer CPU coolers.

There WAS some sort of TIM used in the factory installation, but I have my doubts that it is as good as the products used for building PCs. The interface between the heater and pan is not what I would call a "precision fit", not by a long shot, so the thermal conductivity of the gap will have a significant effect on heat transfer.

It did have a noticeable effect, especially when feeling around on the engine. I wasn't able to data log the difference, but the needle did seem to come off the cold mark a little sooner after heading out.


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## theonlypheonix (Oct 8, 2015)

What about a closed cell SPF to spray on the entire unit, would seal the unit and also insulate?


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

I think in the summer months, you'd want the oil pan to be able to transfer heat to the air. So what's optimal for winter may not be a good idea year-round.


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## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

ChevyGuy said:


> I think in the summer months, you'd want the oil pan to be able to transfer heat to the air. So what's optimal for winter may not be a good idea year-round.


This is exactly why I didn't insulate my oil pan. With a stick-on heating pad on the front of the oil pan as well, I've already covered enough of its surface area.

However, the Cruze does have an oil/coolant heater/cooler. It heats the oil while the engine is warming up, and keeps it cool once the engine is up to temp. Having said that, losing all that heat radiating surface could still be detrimental to oil temps if the car was being driven hard/fast in high ambient temps.


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## ErickysGSX (Jul 19, 2011)

theonlypheonix said:


> What about a closed cell SPF to spray on the entire unit, would seal the unit and also insulate?


Most are flammable/combustible. I'm thinking about using two layers of this product or similiar:

Thermo Tec 13500 Adhesive-Backed Aluminized Heat Barrier, 12 x 12 Inch

One small square with the reflectant side facing the heater/oil pan covered by a larger square to cover the first layer and stick to the oil pan? Would that work?


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## Camcruse (Oct 4, 2011)

To bad we can't use something like a frostheater which keeps the antifreeze circulating. Had this on my Jetta TDI and wala...instant heat.


FrostHeater.com - Welcome


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## ErickysGSX (Jul 19, 2011)

Given the production numbers of the Cruze, it might not be too hard to talk this FrostHeater guy into designing something like this for our cars too. Or design one and market it yourself.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

ErickysGSX said:


> Given the production numbers of the Cruze, it might not be too hard to talk this FrostHeater guy into designing something like this for our cars too. Or design one and market it yourself.


He's buying his parts from here. They don't have a kit for the VW, so that's where he comes in.


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## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

Camcruse said:


> To bad we can't use something like a frostheater which keeps the antifreeze circulating. Had this on my Jetta TDI and wala...instant heat.





ChevyGuy said:


> He's buying his parts from here. They don't have a kit for the VW, so that's where he comes in.


None of the Phillips and Temro (Zerostart) heaters have a built in circulation pump (that I'm aware of anyway). They use thermosyphoning (hot coolant rising, cold coolant falling) to slowly circulate the coolant.

The issue with this type of heater is you need appropriate places on the engine to tap into the cooling system... one up high and the other down low. Without that the thermosyphoning effect is severely compromised, which is the case with the 1.4T; no low level coolant access.

I'm using a Zerostart 3308002 1000W heater:

http://www.phillipsandtemro.com/userfiles//Series 8000 Circ Tank Heater(1).pdf

I have it plumbed in series with a 12V Toyota Prius auxilliary water pump. This setup is plumbed in parallel with the heater core using Y pipes to connect everything. The heater has a check valve that only allows coolant to flow in one direction, so the pump pulls coolant from the heater core hose on the water pump side of the engine and pushes it through the heater and into the heater core hose on the transmission side of the engine, reverse of the normal flow when the engine is running. When the engine is running and the pump is shut off, the check valve in the heater keeps coolant flow through the heater to a minimum, which makes sure I'm not allowing coolant to bypass the heater core.

It works pretty well. I use it in combination with the 200W O.E. oil pan heater, an additional 125W stick-on oil pan heater on the front of the oil pan (both are insulated with RTV over them), and a 50W stick on heater on the transmission. A total of 1375W, a decent safe load for a 125V 15A home circuit with lots of breathing room (max is about 1800W). If you were only using a circulating heater setup you could use the 1500W model, but that doesn't leave much room for using an oil pan heater, and heating the oil is important if you're starting the car when it's really cold out, like 0F (-18C) or colder. No coincidence that's where the thermostat in the O.E. oil pan heater cord switches on.

I let it run for about 1.5 hrs before I leave for work, and only when it's real cold AND windy is it not enough to get the temp gauge needle well off the cold mark before starting. Mind you I park close to the garage, generally sheltered from our predominantly West winds, which probably helps a lot. If I don't use the heater right away the needle is usually at full temp within 5 minutes of driving, but it's nice to have the option of using heat on those SUPER cold mornings when your breath freezes to the inside of the windshield. Fortunately we haven't had many of those this year!

I keep meaning to do a writeup about this install, but to be honest it ain't pretty since there's no easy place to mount the heater and pump (the heater should NOT be mounted to the engine, vibration will damage the element). I have a super sketchy looking foam covered twist tie thingy supporting the assembly, as well as the included heater bracket expertly bent to rest on the rubber isolation boot for the shifter cables. So far so good, but I wouldn't exactly call it a robust installation. Ideally, some sort of bracket would support the pump and heater, and attach to the firewall.

I did do a nice job of the wiring, so that's something...


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