99ZombieSport

I am a volunteer firefighter here in upstate NY. This means that on freezing cold nights I must start my XJ and drive it pretty hard without much warm up time. While I do try to get to my keys and hit the remote starter asap I am usually out there with-in a minute or so. I have thought about installing a heater but given the old wiring in my house it is not much of an option. So what are some recommendations to help prevent premature wear?

Roler

Well, it will mainly be the frequent short character of your driving causing the wear. Low visc engine oil like 5W-30 and a good oil filter with a decent anti drainback valve is pretty much what you can do. I've been reading about engine block warmers, but have no idea if those exist for the XJ...

Radi

Letting it warm up for a minute or two should be sufficient. That's enough time to get the fluids circulating.
You could install a frost plug heater or a tank type/hose heater if you'd like heat a little bit faster. Figure about 500 watts, or a tad over 4 amps at 120 volts. How bad is your wiring?

JackJare9455

like mentioned above... a minute of idling should be sufficient to get everything flowing properly.. just ease into the throttle untill you start to see your temp guage rise...

5w30 should be a good investment as well..

jeep19xj91

They make block heaters that go in place of a factory freeze plug. It would work great if he was able to plug it in though

JackJare9455

i have seen warmers that take place of your oil dipstick... havent had any real experience with them yet

salad

Driving it hard is not really a good idea, but I understand. If you want the full-on Arctic-ready thing, Rotella has some 0w30 synthetic, I'd also encourage the use of synthetic ATF to reduce the transmission's wear when cold. It will drive a lot easier with synthetic fluids.

I have one of the freeze plug block heaters in my 4.0L. It's alright, my gripe about it is that it doesn't touch the engine oil. When the engine is off, the top of the oil pool in the sump sits somewhat below the top of the pan, so any heat in the block must be conducted downwards through the pan walls or whatever crank balance is submerged at the time lol. I believe you can still purchase magnetic warmers that just stick on the oil pan. Worth a gander.

belvedere

In this case, a quality syn oil would provide real benefit.

djb383

As stated, 0W30 full synthetic oil should provide adequate protection, especially since, as u stated, u have remote start and idles a minute.

landude

Hey Zombie, Thanks for doing what you do!!!

salad

Yeah dude. Three of my coworkers are VFFs. Thanks! Always yield to the green light

cpttuna

ext idle switch. There are write ups on the different jeep sites. It boosts your idle like 250 rpm. I believe you have to have an automatic trans. This would help warm up your jeep faster.

Danimal94

I have seen and used magnetic heaters that you can place outside of an oil pan. I've used them on heavy equipment. Easy install and removal.
Very strong magnet with a 120v plug. Nice because you can leave them on while light driving and remove when offroad. Could be used on Trans aswell.
You can never go wrong with a freeze plug block heater though. In my opinion, having warm coolant at initial start up and letting it circulate for a minute would definitely warm block, head, etc, and aid in warming cold oil. I have one in my xj, i leave it plugged in at work. Helps when i get the -15 degree (F) days for sure!

Dan91

My Jeeps have always been fine through Michigan winters with no block heaters. Only since I moved out to North Dakota did I install one, and it's really only necessary when temps hit negative. I've even had my Jeep sit out in the lot at work for 12 hours on a -25 day and it still started up fine, a little slow to crank though. Let it idle for a few minutes and drove off fine. With some 5w oil and a good battery I wouldn't really worry too much. Either way, a block heater is a good cheap way to reduce strain/wear on cold starts, an excellent thing to have. Jeeps are tough

99ZombieSport

I thought about this but more for keeping my alternator juiced with the lights and radio. When I first start up I try to keep my rpm's as low as possible.