Has anyone ever installed an oil pan heater on their SS? Any comments would be appreciated.

 

Theres one available from GM, but it doesnt even operate until ~15 below freezing.
Better off to run synthetic oil IMO. Better oil flow in the cold and helps the engine last longer. Mine doesnt take too long to warm up, even in this weather.

 

Thanks Prod. Here in Manitoba, it's minus 27 today and with the wind it's minus 36. I don't know if Toronto and the surronding areas get this cold? There is a aftermarket one available, from Piston Ring. I am using Mobil 1 synthetic and so far she hasn't had any trouble starting.

 

In the days gone by I had a magnetic oil pan heater I used on my Beetle.

It did help some in the cold northwest Wisconsin winters but it also made a dark ring of burned oil in the oil pan when I finally got around to tearing the engine down for a rebuild.

There was quite a bit of icky crud in that ring of burned stuff. I had to use a steel scraper to remove it then sand the area to remove the mark as much as I could.

I can only imagine that having the oil get hot enough to cake up like that was probably not so good for the engine. After the rebuild I did not use the oil pan heater anymore.

Instead I used my Coleman catalytic heater and would either skirt the bug in with cardboard or toss a tarp over the whole thing.

The Coleman heated the whole thing well enough that the bug never failed to start after I started doing it that way. Once I got the car running I'd put the heater inside the car so I was nice and toasty warm on the way to work.

 

you have an auto, so there is the option of remote starting before you go outside.
I use mine a lot, and coldest we have so far this year is -12 one night last week.