Ideas for pre heating engine and oil

[Bryan Cotton]

I have a couple. I'll sell them for $100 each.

I think I still see them in the store. You could always use a floodlight. The beam patter doesn't matter.

[builderflyer]

My starter is grey / silver in color.

The battery in my plane is also undersized I believe. It is a 625 Odyssey. According to their website, the 625 is suitable for 2 stroke jet skis, not even 4 stroke jet skis, so starting a cold 3.3 liter six cylinder is really too much to ask of it. I probably should put a bigger battery on it, but not sure how that will effect the weight and balance, or if there is even room for a bigger battery between the firewall and motor mount.[/quote]


You've got the better starter motor so you're good to go there. I, too, had been using an Odyssey PC625 for years but it has always been marginal in starting power, especially in cold weather. About a year ago I replaced it with a Deka ETX16L and there hasn't been one time that the 3300 wouldn't start with this battery. The Odyssey PC625 has a CCA of only 220 but the Deka ETX16L has a CCA of 325 and the Deka battery actually fits in the same battery box I made for the Odyssey, having nearly the same dimensions. The downside to the Deka is that it weighs 17 lbs. (more lead) compared to 13.2 lbs. for the Odyssey. The weight penalty, however, is something I'm willing to endure in order to have more reliable starting. Finally, the Deka is also less expensive than the Odyssey even though it is made in the U.S.

Art,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Sonex taildragger #95,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Jabiru 3300 #261

[9GT]

I use a good quality glue on heat strip that has a temperature control sensor: https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/ ... Heater.php Then you get yourself one of these cell phone controlled switches like this or any brand for that matter. Some folks roll their own. : https://switchboxcontrol.com/the-switch-box . Plug the air ramps and blankets on the engine cowling when parked in the hanger when its cold. A simple switchbox activation from your cell phone a couple hours before you plan to fly and your engine will be toasty warm when you arrive.

[mike.smith]

Here is a YouTube video of my engine preheater. I'm in a hangar now, but I used to use this outdoors when I was tied down, too. I let the rheostat hang from the straps of my wing covers, under the wings (to keep it off the ground).
https://youtu.be/4ujF3cdGW5M

[gyroron]

My starter is grey / silver in color.

The battery in my plane is also undersized I believe. It is a 625 Odyssey. According to their website, the 625 is suitable for 2 stroke jet skis, not even 4 stroke jet skis, so starting a cold 3.3 liter six cylinder is really too much to ask of it. I probably should put a bigger battery on it, but not sure how that will effect the weight and balance, or if there is even room for a bigger battery between the firewall and motor mount.

You've got the better starter motor so you're good to go there. I, too, had been using an Odyssey PC625 for years but it has always been marginal in starting power, especially in cold weather. About a year ago I replaced it with a Deka ETX16L and there hasn't been one time that the 3300 wouldn't start with this battery. The Odyssey PC625 has a CCA of only 220 but the Deka ETX16L has a CCA of 325 and the Deka battery actually fits in the same battery box I made for the Odyssey, having nearly the same dimensions. The downside to the Deka is that it weighs 17 lbs. (more lead) compared to 13.2 lbs. for the Odyssey. The weight penalty, however, is something I'm willing to endure in order to have more reliable starting. Finally, the Deka is also less expensive than the Odyssey even though it is made in the U.S.

Art,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Sonex taildragger #95,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Jabiru 3300 #261[/quote]

Art, interesting story.... The guy I bought the plane from said he had recently replaced the battery with a new one only just a few months ago. Log books confirmed that.

When I went to look at the plane on a friday, it had the cowling off when I got there and the engine was warm to the touch, so he had already ran the engine before I got there. Engine started right up that day as I was there to inspect and test fly the plane.

Showed up the next day with the money to purchase it and to fly it home. After getting all the paperwork done and getting all set up to fly it home, go to start the plane and it wouldn't start. Two, maybe 3 tries on the starter and the battery was clearly done. We had to pull the cowling so we could hook up jumper cables to the guys car to charge the battery and start the engine.

Got home with it and first thing I do is hook up a battery tender and put it on a charge. Come out to the airport a few days later, try to start the engine and same thing.... Even with the battery tender showing me a full charge on the battery, I only got maybe 2 -3 10 second start attempts before the starter was weakened and noticeably slow at spinning the engine over.

Decided on a whim to order a new battery, get it a few days later ( ordered from amazon )

Before heading to the airport I take my new battery ( that I had placed on the battery tender for a full 24 hours or more at the house in the garage ) to the auto parts store up the street. Asked them to load test it. They hooked it up to some fancy portable box that ran some tests on it and printed out a sheet showing the results. Battery tested good and produced 352 amps.

I go to the airport and removed the old battery and installed the new one. That day, the outside air temps were in the upper 50's. Engine started right up no problems. Left the old battery on the tender to make sure it was fully charged while I did other stuff at the airport. Then on the way home that afternoon, I took the old battery with me and swung by the same auto parts store to have them load test the battery. They tested it and it tested bad. It only produced around 145 amps.

Then I noticed the date code on the battery and it was showed as built in jan of 2016. According to the log books for the plane, the battery was replaced in feb of 2016, then again in march of 2019. I believe the seller of the plane pulled the new battery and stuck a old one in there before selling the plane. I was PO'ed!

Anyway speaking of your battery, does it make 325 amps on a load tester, or more? Since the odyssey is rated for 220 but was making over 350, wonder what your battery will do.

[gyroron]

I want to find more info on the size of the air outlets for my cowling. If it won't hurt anything with the planes performance or engine cooling, I would like to open up the openings around the exhaust stacks bigger, so I can slide a light bulb into the cowling. I think if I do that, and block the other openings, cover with a thick blanket, just a simple light bulb, that can be left on 24/7 till warmer temps come in the spring, will do the trick.

[fastj22]

My old KATS pad heater power cable broke off so I had to replace it. Ordered a replacement off amazon and it was going to take 6 weeks to deliver. So found this, came in two days.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077J5DSFJ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

$32.

If you have a Jabiru 3300, it fits perfectly on the right side (looking forward) of the engine sump. I just installed it, cleaned off the sump with solvent, stuck the pad on and pugged it in. Man, it gets hot. I can see it warming the oil to 90 degrees in less than 30 minutes. You wouldn't want it on all the time. I applied some High temp RTV along the edges to keep oil from working under it. I'm going to route the cord around the engine mount a few times and then leave enough to reach it through the B model side opening along with my battery tender lead.

[builderflyer]

speaking of your battery, does it make 325 amps on a load tester, or more? Since the odyssey is rated for 220 but was making over 350, wonder what your battery will do.

I've never put a load tester on either of the batteries. But from personal experience I can attest that the Deka battery has more observable cranking power than the Odyssey under all operating conditions. What I can't attest to is how long the Deka will last in years since it has only been in service for about a year at this time.

Art,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Sonex taildragger #95,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Jabiru 3300 #261

[Afsbz]

I also have a sonex with Jabiru 3300. I live in Milwaukee area, so flying on a cold day is challenging in getting the engine to start. Here is what I did

For the battery, I installed the plug in lead to a battery tender permanently to the battery and ran the plug in wire up through the oil dip stick door. That way I have easy access for charging the battery.

For the engine, I installed a oil pan heater with the plug in also up to the dip stick door for easy access. The pan heater was under $25 and remains securely in place today (over 6 years) with no problems.

When I leave the hangar, I raise the tail of the airplane to expose as much oil to the heat pad as possible, plug in the heater, battery tender and cover the coweling with a blanket. When I want to fly, at about 20 degrees temp takes about 6 hours to warm up adequately. Last year WiFi became available at our airport, so I can now turn on the heat from home well in advance of when I want to fly.

[Johns]

For those like me out on the ramp, I'm going to try this.
https://youtu.be/CtcBwKFj6B4