WANT TO TRY A LIL BUDDY HEATER TO WARM ENGINE

[Poorman]

I have an old 6.9 F350 Dually crew cab with a 12' camper. I love the old truck and it runs great, I use it maybe five times a year for 3-14 day campouts. The only problem with the truck is that it hates cold starts, it'll start fine but likes to smoke until it gets warm. If I put it on the block heater it starts and runs like a new truck but the only way to do that when camping is with a generator which is noisy and takes hours, if I want to break camp early I'd have to get up at 3am and fire up the generator. If I'm forced to stay in a commercial campground they don't allow generators until 9-10 AM.
So I was thinking about putting a lil buddy heater under the engine area , throwing a blanket over the hood and running it on low overnight to keep the engine warm. What's the downside??

 

[Cubey]

What's the downside??

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[rreegg]

Assuming the lil buddy works as well as a gen powered block heater, Gasoline is much cheaper than propane canisters. My lil buddy last about 5 hours on a 1lb tank.
And safety too..

 

[Poorman]

Cubey, I'd bet that fire wasn't from a lil buddy, more likely from an electrical short, could've even been from a block heater shorting, most likely a gas engine, but I get your point and fire danger would be considered. I've used one (heater) inside my camper for a few years and love it but like everything you have to use some common sense. Seems like an engine compartment is accustom to lots of heat, keeping adequate air space from combustibles would be easy. They just aren't that hot, on low you can hold your hands 6-8 inches and just warm them. My only worry is that it could somehow malfunction and flare into flame but I've never heard of that happening.
rreegg, I have a hose connected to a 10 gallon propane tank that I use to heat up my camper in the morning and evening , after a couple weeks it feels more than half full, yes the little canisters get expensive.

 

[Cubey]

Seems like an engine compartment is accustom to lots of heat, keeping adequate air space from combustibles would be easy.

They're not accustomed to an open flame underneath. You're just asking to lose your truck to fire by doing such a thing.

 

[MtnHaul]

Is it worth the risk just to avoid smoke? I can only assume it's a lot of smoke if you're entertaining options like this, but still. . . . I've read accounts of people either working or engaged in warfare in extremely cold environments actually building small fires under vehicles to warm things up, but those were pretty extreme situations and I'm sure they were not left untended.

 

[Kizer]

So I was thinking about putting a lil buddy heater under the engine area

Would you consider selling your cruise control cable to me, before you give this idea a run?

I promise to give it a good home and you're probably not going to need it,

 

[IDIBOBS]

May or may not work. Better question how cold is it when you’re camping? Regular glow plug system should start the truck down pretty far into the - deg f. Is the glow plug system working?

 

[KansasIDI]

Glow plugs

Injectors

Start there

 

[Brian VT]

If you're set on using a portable heater then maybe a diesel-powered heater? The heater would be next to the truck and the heat blows through a duct that you'd feed into the engine bay. Much safer than an open flame under your engine. You could probably find other camping uses for it also.

Buying a Portable Diesel Heater; everything you need to know

We’ve had a Portable Diesel Heater now for a couple of years, and absolutely love it. If you are considering one, check this out.

www.4wdingaustralia.com

 

[IDIBRONCO]

it'll start fine but likes to smoke until it gets warm.

This could be because of slightly retarded timing. Some smoke when cold is perfectly normal. The cylinders don't have enough heat inside them to fully combust all of the fuel that's injected until there's a little heat built up inside of them. If it's bad, as in a lot of smoke, I'd check into having the timing looked at.

 

[Black dawg]

What kind of temps are you having trouble with?

 

[The_Josh_Bear]

I've read stories of Alaska truckers that would do stuff like that. Put a big blanket over the nose of the truck and pour diesel into a bucket of sand or something and light that on fire(cause it burns very low and slow from the sand and the super cold temps). Don't quote me on the specifics but that's the general idea.

As for the lil buddy, those are just catalytic heaters, right? I can't see it putting out enough heat to make a big difference, if it starts on GP's I'd take the smoke all day over goofing around with a heater and blanket, etc. If it is a catalytic heater, I don't see it being particularly dangerous either, I just don't see the up side.

 

[kbenz]

As for the lil buddy, those are just catalytic heaters, right? I can't see it putting out enough heat to make a big difference, if it starts on GP's I'd take the smoke all day over goofing around with a heater and blanket, etc. If it is a catalytic heater, I don't see it being particularly dangerous either, I just don't see the up side.

they are propane heaters

 

[Clb]

Dale Waxler of wheels thru time, used to use a hotplate under 80 -100 year old bikes when he was barn find hunting.
Once the top end got hot, he would make a bike sitting for decades start.
His theory was, the bike doesn't know how long it's been parked, it feels heat and figures it should run.
Yes campfires onder the eng. Works.
Yes leaky oil soaked idi's will smoke before they burn...

What about a 12v heating element like a teacup heater in the lower rad hose?