Given the subject, I would trust people from Canada and Alaska. ;)

I had a plug heater on an old Ford I once owned. It worked very well and I had instant heat on my way to work. I had it attached to a timer that would turn it on a couple of hours before it was time to drive to work. Engine leaked/burned oil so I'd use 40 wt all year. It would not start in cold weather without the heater. There was never a problem with starting the engine in the cold mornings.

I think people here doesn't know exactly what a( block or plug heater ) call it what you want does ,what it does is warm up the water /anti-freeze in the block "does not really warm up the oil" that why with a block heater you get heat in the car lot faster in the winter time,if you want to warm the oil you do need a oil pan or dipstick heater similar to what they use on diesel motor in the winter time. Using thiner oil +the pad heater that AKCJ mention & you see in the pics will be the best solution for our car. :)

The heater had a sizeable current draw and was inserted in a freeze plug hole. I pulled the dipstick a number of times and the oil was always tepid. The entire engine would be warm to the touch. The oil would be heated indirectly because, though it was in the sump, it had heated metal just above it. Radiative heating plus the conduction into the pan walls is sufficient to warm the oil on nights when the air was still. Eventually, everything became warm.

Trust me, I'm a doctor in matters of heating.

One can also add a pad type heater to a battery to help with cranking power insead of a cold battery.

Another way of doing a motor heat is go and get 40' or so of plumbers heat tape and wrap the motor with it around and around - warms the oil and water/antifreeze and all. It will not melt or harm any plastic or any thing under the hood - plug it in overnight or put it on a timer.

I agree with you but still a block heater main job is to heat the water/ anti freeze & another problem is that up to now nobody has find a block heater for our cars they don't seem to be available anywhere .So we are stuck with finding some other mean to warm the oil in the pan.And up here where the temp goes down to minus 25 or 35 f + wind chill factor we do plug our cars & I have yet to touch a warm block in the morning never on a sunday man.:)

I'd move if it got that cold here.

I would too :-P

I've been unable to find any discussion about 944 block heaters. Either they don't fit, or people don't have Porsches in cold weather areas.

The peel n stick pad heaters...any idea if there's any prep work to apply them? Does the oil pan have to be sanded and smoothed? Does the odd shape of our oil pan make it hard for application? What do you think Doctor Lawrence? :)

Guys! PO drove my car for many years near the Arctic Circle with a block heather mounted at the back of engine in the freezer knock out lid. It works wonderfully even today in the middle of the country at minus 24 C. Has an outlet for a cabin heather as well but seldom used as cabin heath comes rather quickly with the preheathed engine.
Start-stop is controlled by a timer. Recommended start time is 2-3 hours before use of the car and it fires up is amazeingly fast. Brand: DEFA (Norwegian I guess). Search
DEFA and go from there. Good luck!
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Lapponia 944 Na 1984

Do you have any pictures of the heater installed? I'm not sure what the freezer knockout lid is.

Normally the block heater is installed in place of an existing frost plug (also called freeze plug). The freeze plug is a round metal plug inserted into a round hole in the block. The idea of the freeze plug is that if it gets below freezing and you don't have antifreeze in the engine the freeze plug will be pushed out by the ice that forms (water expands when it freezes). So, in theory, the freeze plug gets pushed out instead of the block cracking.

To install the block heater you first have to pry out the freeze plug (screw drivers, punch, etc.). The block heater usually has a rubber gasket or o-ring and a screw on the front to wedge it in. If you're not comfortable doing this it's pretty low cost to pay a shop.

Regarding the oil pan heater. I've never seen a "peel and stick" type. Usually I use the high temp silicone from NAPA and smear it on the silicone pad and/or the oil pan, then just stick it on. I usually hold it tight overnight with a jack (don't use a hydraulic jack because they usually don't hold tight for long).

From an earlier post - Yes, I'm speaking from experience.

+1 AKCJ. Here´s som pictures of my 944/84 heathing installation.
Pic 1: Inlet socket 220 Volt (Earthed of course).
Pic 2: Junction between block heather and cabin heather.
Pic 3: Block hether just below rear motor lifting ear.
Pic 4: Cabin heather socket in front passenger leg space.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1263735361.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1263735387.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1263735406.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1263735436.jpg
Good Luck SmileWavy
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Lapponia 1984 944 NA

Lapponia,

Interesting to see your install. We're not used to seeing 220 volt power used like that.

I've seen the (AC power) cabin heaters but not many people use them here. I don't have any heaters on the 944 - I wouldn't consider driving it here in the winter.

Most people with modern cars just use an autostart to warm up the engine and cabin before heading outside. Even better is the heated garage. We're such wimps these days!

AKCJ