[dsiegfried]

Does anyone have any experience with installing or uses a block heater/oil warmer on their rig? If so any brands/suggestions would be appreciated! I have to have mine parked outside in a unheated shed for the winter and I use it for snow plowing weekly. Temps at night are typically -15 to -30 for most of the winter. I figured it would help with firing it up and wear and tear on it with such cold starts. I know they don't have a plug knock out to put one in like a truck, but I figured someone in the forum has used something. Thanks!

 

[Nomad]

I would seriously consider synthetic oil in your situation. Also, there are plug in heating pads that stick to the oil pan.

 

[Vincent]

I would seriously consider synthetic oil in your situation. Also, there are plug in heating pads that stick to the oil pan.

Heater pad on the oil pan would be a great idea.

 

[Laval]

They make a circulating heater that installs in your rad hose

 

[KodiakAfishyo]

Amsoil makes a synthetic ATV oil that is 0W-40 that would be great in your application.

 

[TRW]

Laval, have you got any more info on that Circulating heater? What I have have done on those cold nights is put an electric heater in front of my Kodiak and put a tarp over the entire thing. In two hours it does warm up, even below 0. I do this just to ease the stress on the engine. This is a good question and I will be watching for good options.

 

[Laval]

I will check with my dealer and get back. I know they are available as one of my customers was showing me the one he has on his polaris. Availability may be greater in Canada due to our winter temps.

 

[Laval]

Just checked Amazon for lower rad hose heaters which is what I was talking about earlier. Available for 1”,1.5”,1.75” hoses. Priced under $50.

 

[Laval]

Stopped at my dealer and asked about heaters. The in line hose heaters are what they install and they claim they work well. $59 at the dealer.

 

[JimP]

If you do install a heater get a timer that is rated to handle the wattage of the heater. And then have it come on a hour or so before you are going to use the bike, or just hook it up for a hour or so befor you go and start it. If not and you just leave it plugged in your power bill will show it


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[TRW]

I will look into that, so what is better, warming the engine coolant, or the engine oil?

 

[JimP]

Most big trucks will warm the coolant which warms the block and the oil suspended in the block but not the pan.

I'd go with the coolant heater

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[TRW]

Yes, that sounds like a good idea, thanks for the info. You know, if my wife would park her car outside on those cold nights, I could get the Kodiak into the garage.

 

[Tirill]

Due to an severe issue last year with my 709 engine during an -10 (Celsius) Cold Start, I did consider an electric block heater as extra safety. I did a lot of investigations of possible ways to establish this!!
An plug heater, that replaces the engine oil drain plug, an Silicone pad heater glued to the engine block, an electric heater integrated in the oil dipstick etc etc
However I did choose the most complicated version, an water heater in the radiator hoses. That is now in operation and works fine actually. It is on 600W (220V here in Europe)

Anyhow this was an quite big and complicated job as I had to insert an special adapter to lift out the thermostat cover as well as the thermostat to obtain an pipe connection there UNDER the thermostat, and also some other details shown on the submitted picture.
If you dont do this the water is forced thru the radiator and almost no heat remain and there is also not possible with circulation as the thermostat is closed and cant open.

But the result has been outstanding good so far with my system as it turned out to be.

 

[TRW]

Thanks for the update and info, this is interesting. I wonder if the factory should consider the cold climate package that includes this. It would be easy for them to do during assembly.

 

[CanadianKodiak700]

No need for coolant to circulate past the thermostat as it would while the engine is running. That's just excess plumbing.
The inline heater is place close to the engine block in the lower rad hose as a coolant Heats it will rise up through the passageways gradually heating the engine well the cold coolant will drop down to the bottom and be heated by the element and the cycle will Begin Again. It's the same way it works in an automobile with a frost plug in the engine block it doesn't actually circulate throughout the engine and thermostat area

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[Tirill]

So, how/where do you mean the heater should be placed then?? The warm water is always seeking upwards as it is lighter then the cold. Do U know some that have the installation that U talk about and can take a pic or two.
I tried first without the excess plumbing and it didn't work at all, but the position of the heater was the same as on the pics. The thermostat blocked the circulation, and even if U open the thermostat passage by removing it (for test only) the hot water did cool down so much in the radiator that there was almost no heat left for the engine block.
I admit that my solution includes quite a lot of plumbing and fabrication of special devices, like the T under the thermostat, but this was the only solution I could figure out.

 

[Vincent]

Due to an severe issue last year with my 709 engine during an -10 (Celsius) Cold Start, I did consider an electric block heater as extra safety. I did a lot of investigations of possible ways to establish this!!
.

Wow that sucks! Guess I'm kinda lucky because my old Grizzly always starts first time, even in brutally cold -25C weather.

 

[TRW]

We had a cold morning a few days ago, 4 degrees F, and I had a long hesitation while cranking my Kodiak, took three times to get it to fire, and then it killed, but did start. It turned over kind of slow, and it is one year old, so I wondered if it was the battery or just cold. I thought of one more option for us, and that is a battery blanket, to warm the battery. The info available says a warm battery has up to twice as much potential power for cranking. Anyone heard of this for an ATV?

 

[JimP]

Any heat that you can add to the machine will help, no matter where it is applied. The oil, coolant, and battery will only benefit. Two enemies of batteries are too much heat and cold.

However if it was me putting something in I would go with a coolant/block heater. This will keep the coolant in the water passages warm which in turn will also warm up the oil and give a slight amount of heat to the battery off of the radiator.

You would just want to remember to plug it in a couple of hours before you plan on starting the Kodiak. I have a diesel truck with a coolant/block heater and if I plug it in for at least 3 hours the starting difference is quite a bit different than just a cold soaked engine. We a have also found that it really doesn't need to be plugged in longer than 3 hours for sufficient heat.