Engine block heater installation?

v8Toilet · #1 (**permalink**) 09-29-2002, 04:50 PM

Has anyone installed the Kat's frost plug heater on there V8 Tundra? Where did you install it?

The only place I can see where it can go is under the intake manifold, which I assume I would have to remove to get at the frost plug.

Thanks

KLS · #2 (**permalink**) 09-29-2002, 05:59 PM

They don't make it easy...How will you route the electric cord out from under the manifold?

There's a soft plug under the right exhaust manifold that might be accessible. Pull off the skid plate, or remove the right front tire & see what else you can see.

How about the tank-type heater that connects from a block drain plug to a heater hose?

Have you asked a dealer how they do it?

Ken

fltundra · #3 (**permalink**) 10-02-2002, 09:32 AM

Check these out, they heat the oil instead of the engine block.
Have one on my 2000 limited trd for three years now.
http://www.engineheaters.com/

userw5 · #4 (**permalink**) 10-02-2002, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by fltundra
Check these out, they heat the oil instead of the engine block.
Have one on my 2000 limited trd for three years now.
http://www.engineheaters.com/

Why would you need an oil heater if you live in Florida? Just curious.

Thanks,
Jeff

Trouthead · #5 (**permalink**) 10-02-2002, 02:08 PM

Being a displaced New Englander, and a Red Sox Fan, and a Framingham State Grad, and the son of a Worcester native, and someone who grew up in that neck of the woods, I have to ask why you want a block heater.

I now live in Wyoming, land of 40-50 below zero F. (not wind chill) Untill fuel injection and electronic ignitions, everyone, and I mean everyone used tank or block heaters.

Now with all of the above, and synthetic oil, few people bother anymore, and few if any have starting problems.

I have a 95 Nissan Maxima that has a heater that I have never used, and it has never failed to start. The lowest temp was -28F, and it started right up. My Tundra has only seen -20F and it started right up. I do run synthetic. We have been lucky with the temps the last 8 years, but I have seen -49 on my own thermometer, at my own house, and -63 F in Jackson Wyoming in 1978.

I can't recall any MA temps lowere that -20F, and few places in the US get below what Wyoming can get to.

I'd say the advice you didn't ask for is don't bother, and save you money for something else.

fltundra · #6 (**permalink**) 10-02-2002, 07:29 PM

Jeff,
Spend alot of time in the Rockies, and i don't like to abuse my engine when it get's below zero. also faster warmup means faster interior warmup. I consider it cheap insurance. I to run all synthetic lubricants, and it to will start at 20 below.
fltundra

v8Toilet · #7 (**permalink**) 10-02-2002, 09:13 PM

Well it doesn't get that cold here in New England but I'm sure an oil header would help curve off some of the wear that might occur otherwise to the engine. I think I'll get one of those too. Most of the wear occurs at startup anyway.

I'm putting in a block heater to get instant heat on those very cold winter days and to help alleviate the diesel like noise upon startup on a cold morning. I hate that noise!

KLS · #8 (**permalink**) 10-02-2002, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Trouthead

...I have seen -49 on my own thermometer, at my own house, and -63 F in Jackson Wyoming in 1978.
...

-63? Was that the year that Lower Valley Power & Dark installed the new electric transmission lines--the ones that weren't engineered right, so when it got cold (really, really cold) the wires contracted due to the cold, got a tight as a fiddle string, and popped? I was there. I didn't know how cold it really was, 'cuz mercury thermometers freeze at -40. It got up to about -25 in the sunny afternoons, and firewood split real easy. My power was out for a couple of days; we burned a lot of firewood. A couple of cars caught fire from the fire, Coleman stove, etc. put under the engines to try to get them warm enough to start and get the owners to work.

Anyway...I like using a block heater to minimize wear on the engine and for the quick heat for the driver. A really cold engine will have more thermally caused dimension differences (cold in the lower end, hot in the combustion chamber) and likely more wear.

Ken

userw5 · #9 (**permalink**) 10-03-2002, 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by fltundra
Jeff,
Spend alot of time in the Rockies, and i don't like to abuse my engine when it get's below zero. also faster warmup means faster interior warmup. I consider it cheap insurance. I to run all synthetic lubricants, and it to will start at 20 below.
fltundra

That makes sense.

Trouthead · #10 (**permalink**) 10-03-2002, 12:08 PM

-63F was over New Year 1978-1979. Either the 31 or the 1st or the 2nd. I can't remember which one. I was plugged in for sure, and had Mobil 1 in the crankcase. As it was the seats felt like a wooden park bench in my 78 Chevy PU. Don't know if that was the LVPL put in the new lines it has been a long time.

I would agree that the car will warm up faster with a block heater, and has potential to cause less wear, but I think it is overkill. But then again sythetic is overkill. So 50-60 bucks for a heater is a small price to pay for truck nirvana.

Katz tank heaters were always the most popular as they spliced into a heater hose and through convection made a loop of hot water running through the heater core and the engine.

I installed a couple over the years but that was twenty years ago and I've forgotten most of the details.