Short trips in winter - block heater and heating pad?

FerrariF1

FerrariF1

:
Toronto, ON
:
2021 CX-5 GT Turbo
I have a 2021 Mazda CX-5 GT Turbo, live in Ontario Canada, and make a lot of small trips (5-10min). Take my son to school (5min), take my wife to work (5min), get home and park car. In the afternoon it's the same thing. Groceries are 5min away. Car is kept in an unheated garage.

I'm thinking of a block heater (OEM Mazda) to heat up the coolant, but also perhaps some heat pads (Amazon.ca) on the oil and transmission pan. Anyone have any insight or tips on using these heating pads? Any insight on making it easier on the engine since it never reaches operating temps on a regular basis?
 
FerrariF1 said:
I have a 2021 Mazda CX-5 GT Turbo, live in Ontario Canada, and make a lot of small trips (5-10min). Take my son to school (5min), take my wife to work (5min), get home and park car. In the afternoon it's the same thing. Groceries are 5min away. Car is kept in an unheated garage.

I'm thinking of a block heater (OEM Mazda) to heat up the coolant, but also perhaps some heat pads (Amazon.ca) on the oil and transmission pan. Anyone have any insight or tips on using these heating pads? Any insight on making it easier on the engine since it never reaches operating temps on a regular basis?
Click to expand...

1. Do your best to avoid short distance trips - at least doing so frequently.

5 minutes of driving is reasonable to simply replace with walking or public transport. That's just realistic when you approach this topic from a responsible standpoint.

2. Get an engine block heater.
 
It would appear that "Karen" finally made her way to 247Mazdas.
 
FerrariF1 said:
I have a 2021 Mazda CX-5 GT Turbo, live in Ontario Canada, and make a lot of small trips (5-10min). Take my son to school (5min), take my wife to work (5min), get home and park car. In the afternoon it's the same thing. Groceries are 5min away. Car is kept in an unheated garage.

I'm thinking of a block heater (OEM Mazda) to heat up the coolant, but also perhaps some heat pads (Amazon.ca) on the oil and transmission pan. Anyone have any insight or tips on using these heating pads? Any insight on making it easier on the engine since it never reaches operating temps on a regular basis?
Click to expand...
Best way to warm engine in morning when colder temp [0-31°F]
 
Get a remote start kit and let it warm before going any where. Block heaters are primarily for protecting the block from cracking and getting the oil flowing.
 
I understand your pain. I'm in Ottawa and have the same issue.
A block heater is never a bad idea. Put it on a timer though. Its a bit of a waste of electricity if it's on all the time. Set it for about 2 hours prior to driving.
If at all possible, and you don't mind the extra few kms on the odometer, take it out on a long run once in a while. Get everything up to operating temperature.
Lastly, do frequent oil changes. Your driving style guarantees you'll have some oil dilution happening (gas in oil). Your oil won't like those short trips.
 
Thanks all for the (mostly) useful replies.

I will install a block heater (gonna do research if I can install it myself, or pay a shop to install), and perhaps 1 or 2 heating pads to stick to the oil and transmission pans. The car is parked next to multiple outlets, so putting these heaters on a timer will not be a problem.

The car is in a garage, so a remote starter is a no-go.

I change the oil every 7500Km (5000mi) and use a high quality synthetic (Motul 8100 5W-30), so that should help. I also take a long trip every week or 2 which properly heats up the oil and all driveline fluids.
 
FerrariF1 said:
I change the oil every 7500Km (5000mi) and use a high quality synthetic (Motul 8100 5W-30), so that should help. I also take a long trip every week or 2 which properly heats up the oil and all driveline fluids.
Click to expand...
The only thing I'd recommend is shortening the oil change interval, especially with a turbo.
Doesn't matter if its synthetic or not, I'd change it every 5,000 kms.
 
FerrariF1 said:
Thanks all for the (mostly) useful replies.

I will install a block heater (gonna do research if I can install it myself, or pay a shop to install), and perhaps 1 or 2 heating pads to stick to the oil and transmission pans. The car is parked next to multiple outlets, so putting these heaters on a timer will not be a problem.

The car is in a garage, so a remote starter is a no-go.

I change the oil every 7500Km (5000mi) and use a high quality synthetic (Motul 8100 5W-30), so that should help. I also take a long trip every week or 2 which properly heats up the oil and all driveline fluids.
Click to expand...
According to many actual experts, those three things that you are doing:

- changing oil at half the recommended distance
- using a top quality synthetic oil (Motul is up there with the best)
- and taking a good long run at least fortnightly to get it fully up to temp, burn off contaminants and get rid of moisture….

Are exactly the right things to do to maximise the engine life and performance.
 
Yep I agree with @Moonlighter on this. Sounds like you're on a good track. Since the car is parked in a garage, I would say that you probably don't even need the block heater. I never needed one when I was parking in a garage, at least. Some may even argue that plugging your car into a block heater while it's inside a garage is a fire risk, but that's a different conversation lol

I would skip the oil pan and transmission heaters though. I've never needed them even in -40c temps, as long as I have the block heater plugged in.
 
Please log in or register to reply here.

Similar Threads

E
WTB Engine block heater and right front door lock actuator
Replies
7
Views
1K
elightbo
E

New Posts

Back