Intake Air Heater?

[restoguy]

I heard rumors about an intake air heater possibly being produced for the 6.5L. Does anyone know anything about this? I'm planning to build a low compression motor and I don't want to be tied to an extention cord when it gets cold. Thanks for the help.

[Dvldog 8793]

Howdy
I think its always best to plug in when it is cold, depending on your deffinition of "cold". My truck will start when it is -20*F (tried it once just to see) but I don't do it because of how hard it is on the engine. Even synthetic oil is VERY thick in some of my Temp extreams. I plug my truck in from 20*F and below. It starts and is warmed up almost instantly. If you don't want to use an extension cord look into some diesel powered heaters. IMHO, it's not getting it started in the cold but what happens right after that is the problem.

[BobND]

Here's a link to some generic intake heater info:

http://www.zerostart.com/pub_DataSheets.asp

Click on "air intake heaters".

I bought some surplus Zerostart/Deere intake heaters through ebay. They look like the picture below. (Sorry for the poor pix quality!)

http://ndtc3500.stellarnet.com/~blweltin/Bob/heater.jpg

They go between the turbo and the intake manifold or intercooler. I don't know the specific Deere application.

I intend to work one into the intake plumbing on a 6.5 "one of these days".

[restoguy]

Thanks fellas! This is a great start for me. I plan to get an espar heater anyway. But I understand that the low compession(18:1) engines won't start below about 35 deg. F unless they've been pre-heated one way or another. That normally wouldn't be a problem for me because I keep my '94 plugged in, but I'm one of those 'what if' guys. 'What if it was unexpectedly -10 and I was somewhere that I couldn't plug in, needed to take off all of a sudden and/or couldn't wait on the espar?' I like to plan for everything I can so that I don't get caught with my pants around my ankles. Like my Grandpa says 'Always over do it. Then you won't look back and wish you'd done it better'.

[DmaxMaverick]

You could use an early model Duramax intake air heater. It would be a simple install. Either drill/tap or weld a bung into the intake. The heater treads in like a spark plug, is about 2" long, and about 5/8" diameter. It's a spring-coil type and works off battery power.

[GMC Hauler]

I have often thought that the heating function should be relocated to someplace more accessible, like the intake manifold.

DmaxMaverick,

How many of these heaters does the duramax use? Do you know the wattage/specs on this heater? Is it comparable to 8 glow plugs?

[DmaxMaverick]

Originally posted by GMC Hauler:
I have often thought that the heating function should be relocated to someplace more accessible, like the intake manifold.

DmaxMaverick,

How many of these heaters does the duramax use? Do you know the wattage/specs on this heater? Is it comparable to 8 glow plugs? There is one heater element. I don't know the spec's offhand, but observing the volt meter it appears to be a similar draw to the glow plugs. A 6 second or so cycle will get the intake pipe hot to the touch. The location on the Duramax is the intake pipe on the engine, after the intercooler. This winter, I am going to experiment with it, starting with and w/o. My intention is to remove it if it doesn't significantly help starting, as it rarely gets below +20

[restoguy]

I think that I like the D-Max idea. I'll have to get a peek at one but it should fit nicely in the main pleinum. And it shouldn't be too expensive or hard to find.

[CareyWeber]

Champion CH-3 is what I'm going to add to my 6.5 because I have one in my SD33 diesel.

http://www.binderbulletin.org/forums/showpost.php?p=214477&postcount=27

Also look at post # 60 in that thread too for installed pic.

Carey

[GMC Hauler]

Bump...

Dmax,

Any updates???

[HammerWerf]

Another one to ask is Peter Bierman on the 6.2 forum. He had to adapt one for his Twin Turbo project.

HammerWerf

[CareyWeber]

Originally posted by HammerWerf:
Another one to ask is Peter Bierman on the 6.2 forum. He had to adapt one for his Twin Turbo project.

HammerWerf Peter is the one who gave me the idea. ;)

I have mine in my Scout and it works, but I want to create a way to trigger it when the glowplugs start, but have it run on a timer for say a 1.5 minutes after the glowplug switch is released.

I have not added one to my 97 6.6TD yet, but it will get one.

Carey

[DmaxMaverick]

I couldn't tell any difference with or without, except for the SES light and battery draw. Maybe if it got real cold here, or if I get somewhere really cold to do a cold start. I will get it out of the intake path, one way or another. I'm thinking of a stand-off, like one of the old spark plug anti-foulers. That would still allow it to do some heating, without blocking the air.

[TurboDiverArt]

Hummm, I like this idea in principal. I plug my truck in at night but at work there is no outlet to plug into. My truck always starts down into the negatives (stock compression) but I'd love to have something that would help it start a little better and heat up faster.

I can see a benefit when in the up-pipe since the air must pass over it. I'm not too sure about the benefits of just having it plumbed into the upper intake unless it's directly in the path of the incoming air. Even at idle our engines consume a lot of air. I'm not too sure I see a benefit to having something really hot sitting off to the side while cold air rushes by. Putting it in the path of the incoming air has the problem of disrupting the flow of an already undersized intake path.

I wonder if it would be better placed in the side of the lower intake, maybe one on each side. If you put it next to the MAT so it too is in the incoming stream of air then I think its going to throw off your readings and who knows what that will do to the cold operations of the engine?

Art.

[DmaxMaverick]

The Duramax doesn't really have a plenum, like the 6.5. It has intake piping that goes right into the manifold. Really nowhere to put it, without blocking the airflow. Imagine something the size of a spark plug across the middle of a 2" pipe. A lot of restriction. I don't want to remove it altogether, as the PCM will throw a fit at lower temps. Replacing it with a resistor (just another kind of heater) will still draw the current, so might as well leave it in, just out of the way of the airflow. The heater will still heat the pipe and surrounding air, even if the air isn't passing across it. Yes, I know. Less efficient, but I don't really need it in any case. If I had to start at 0