block heater question

moto-scoot · **Posted:** Mon Dec 22, 2008 12:35 am

its 7 degees here now.

just pluged my block heater in for the first time
find out how it worked in the am

ColoradoCRD · **Joined:** Sun Dec 10, 2006 9:25 am **Posts:** 60

nursecosmo wrote:

Last week when the temp was -20* I was able to start the Jeep with only a little extra cranking for like one second. Last night for some reason I did not think that the temperature was supposed to get very cold because it was snowing and in the twenties so I did not plug it in but this morning it -15*. It would not start. I don't know why it started at a lower temp last week but would not start this morning. I think that I'm going to put some 0W-30 oil in it tomorrow if I can find it. I had a hard time getting the hood unglued from all the ice in order to give a spurt in the intake. years ago there was an ether kit made for small diesel engines that mounted in the cab and had a tube that sprayed right into the airbox. It worked real nice for tired old MB's and VW's. does anyone know if such a thing is still available or will I have to make my own?

I found there is big difference in cold starting depending on diesel fuel supply. During the coldest months, I use the white Power Service additive - about 4 to 8 ounces per tank. The white Power Service is widely available and is probably the most commonly diesel additive available. You can find it at WalMart, for example.

It is made to improve cold starting and allows cold start to low temperatures that are not commonly experienced.

On the topic of the block heater, I find even 15 or 20 minutes has a impact. I typically use a timer, though, and set it for about one hour before I use the Jeep. Big difference. The glow plug indicator hardly goes on even in -0F temperatures. It doesn't take long to have an impact. Leaving it plugged in all the time is not necessary, but then, I haven't experienced -30 or -50 temperatures, only -20F.

BlackLibertyCRD · **Posted:** Mon Dec 22, 2008 9:40 am

15 degrees here this morning, 45 minute plugged in made no differents. Still very cold and I drove extra 5 miles to be sure not to shut off cold engine

blake1827 · **Posted:** Mon Dec 22, 2008 6:20 pm

if your gonna plug it the block heater let it do it's magic for a couple hours, it's not a lotta watts...

elephantrider · **Posted:** Mon Dec 22, 2008 8:48 pm

the block heater on my truck will raise the
coolant temp to 120 degrees with a 1 hour
plug in. i also have a lamp timer that fires
it up for 3 hours before i get ready to go if
it gets below 30 degrees.

moto-scoot · **Posted:** Mon Dec 22, 2008 10:33 pm

moto-scoot wrote:

:( its 7 degees here now.

just pluged my block heater in for the first time
find out how it worked in the am

fired up like it was 50

[4 low 13 when started]
guess it will be pluged in more often now.

bewestro · **Posted:** Mon Dec 22, 2008 11:31 pm

I use the block heater every night (in the winter). On a timer, 3hrs before I leave. It just makes things so much easier. However, most people say the heater is only 400W? I seem to recall the tag on mine said 1250W. It got torn off by ice at some point, but I remember checking last fall because we determined you could not run two of them on one outlet. Does anybody still have the little silver tag on theirs?

johnyrr · **Posted:** Tue Dec 23, 2008 9:33 am

Bewestro where in mich are you, im in south lyon. I am inclined to think its a lower wattage as i never get the coolant to raise temp when i use it and its parked out side. on my jetta it is a 1500watt and it raises the coolant to 190 in about 3 hours when the jetta is outside.

CATCRD · **Posted:** Tue Dec 23, 2008 6:23 pm

One or two people have measured them with a watt meter and found it's 400W. It will only get the block up to about 100F, which is not enough to show on the coolant gauge, so people mistakenly think it doesn't do anything.

The reality is in cold weather it will get the block up to about 70º above ambient temp. That's enough to make it light off like the 4th of July, even in January.

nursecosmo · **Posted:** Tue Dec 23, 2008 9:02 pm

bewestro wrote:

I use the block heater every night (in the winter). On a timer, 3hrs before I leave. It just makes things so much easier. However, most people say the heater is only 400W? I seem to recall the tag on mine said 1250W. It got torn off by ice at some point, but I remember checking last fall because we determined you could not run two of them on one outlet. Does anybody still have the little silver tag on theirs?

Do you have an aftermarket pan heater or something? I am having a hard time picturing how ice could have ripped the heater off way up inside the engine compartment. I have thought about putting an aftermarket heater on it because of the weak OE one.

bewestro · **Posted:** Tue Dec 23, 2008 10:18 pm

Johnyrr, I'm up in Alpena. Nursecosmo, sorry, I didn't word that well. It didn't tear the HEATER out, it just tore the little shiny flag-tag off the cord that has the electrical info on it. Ice builds up on the front bumper, then you grab the cord to plug it in, and one day the tag is gone.
I don't have anything to measure the wattage with, so maybe they just used a cord that is rated for up to 1250 watts, and that is what the sticker is about? I'm pretty sure it's the OE one, didn't all CRDs come with the heater? I bought mine used.
Anyway, I find it adequate. After three hours of heat with outside temps in the teens, the plug light only comes on for about a second. As long as it will turn over, I've never had a problem starting.

nursecosmo · **Posted:** Wed Dec 24, 2008 12:59 am

bewestro wrote:

Johnyrr, I'm up in Alpena. Nursecosmo, sorry, I didn't word that well. It didn't tear the HEATER out, it just tore the little shiny flag-tag off the cord that has the electrical info on it. Ice builds up on the front bumper, then you grab the cord to plug it in, and one day the tag is gone.
I don't have anything to measure the wattage with, so maybe they just used a cord that is rated for up to 1250 watts, and that is what the sticker is about? I'm pretty sure it's the OE one, didn't all CRDs come with the heater? I bought mine used.
Anyway, I find it adequate. After three hours of heat with outside temps in the teens, the plug light only comes on for about a second. As long as it will turn over, I've never had a problem starting.

10-4. You had the gears in my head grinding. It warms up nicely when the temp is warm (above 0) but I've noticed that when the temp in -20* it provides only enough heat for an easy start with the GP staying on for a couple of seconds.

tulsa · **Posted:** Wed Dec 24, 2008 9:57 am

nursecosmo wrote:

Last week when the temp was -20* I was able to start the Jeep with only a little extra cranking for like one second. Last night for some reason I did not think that the temperature was supposed to get very cold because it was snowing and in the twenties so I did not plug it in but this morning it -15*. It would not start. I don't know why it started at a lower temp last week but would not start this morning. I think that I'm going to put some 0W-30 oil in it tomorrow if I can find it. I had a hard time getting the hood unglued from all the ice in order to give a spurt in the intake. years ago there was an ether kit made for small diesel engines that mounted in the cab and had a tube that sprayed right into the airbox. It worked real nice for tired old MB's and VW's. does anyone know if such a thing is still available or will I have to make my own?

I thought ether was verboten on glow plug engines.
Lewis

nursecosmo · **Posted:** Wed Dec 24, 2008 11:41 am

tulsa wrote:

nursecosmo wrote:

Last week when the temp was -20* I was able to start the Jeep with only a little extra cranking for like one second. Last night for some reason I did not think that the temperature was supposed to get very cold because it was snowing and in the twenties so I did not plug it in but this morning it -15*. It would not start. I don't know why it started at a lower temp last week but would not start this morning. I think that I'm going to put some 0W-30 oil in it tomorrow if I can find it. I had a hard time getting the hood unglued from all the ice in order to give a spurt in the intake. years ago there was an ether kit made for small diesel engines that mounted in the cab and had a tube that sprayed right into the airbox. It worked real nice for tired old MB's and VW's. does anyone know if such a thing is still available or will I have to make my own?

I thought ether was verboten on glow plug engines.
Lewis

Not at all. One just has to judicious when it is used and how much is used. If it is used in warm temperatures it can cause damage so manufacturers say verboten because there to many idiots out there. When temps are -20 even ether can be difficult to ignite.

Lil Dies · **Joined:** Sat May 24, 2008 10:21 am **Posts:** 21

I live in northern Ontario, Canada. the temps here lately have been -30 degrees celcius in the morning. i plug the Jeep in on a timer for 3 hours every night. when i go out to start the Jep in the morning my GP light doesnt saty on for even 1 sec and the jeeps fires right up like it's the middle of JULY... I have had to start it in the cold when i didn't have a chance to plug it in, I just cycled the GP about 4 times and she started... with lots of groaning mind you but started none the less... For me it's a no brainer as plugging it in helps with no cold starts and get heat quicker form the engine. I do park in my uninsulated garage every night so that may help as well.....

nursecosmo · **Posted:** Fri Dec 26, 2008 1:13 am

Lil Dies wrote:

I live in northern Ontario, Canada. the temps here lately have been -30 degrees celcius in the morning. i plug the Jeep in on a timer for 3 hours every night. when i go out to start the Jep in the morning my GP light doesnt saty on for even 1 sec and the jeeps fires right up like it's the middle of JULY... I have had to start it in the cold when i didn't have a chance to plug it in, I just cycled the GP about 4 times and she started... with lots of groaning mind you but started none the less... For me it's a no brainer as plugging it in helps with no cold starts and get heat quicker form the engine. I do park in my uninsulated garage every night so that may help as well.....

LD' How do you get the GPs to cycle more than once? I can't get the GP light to come on after the initial couple of seconds unless I wait for several minutes.

Lil Dies · **Joined:** Sat May 24, 2008 10:21 am **Posts:** 21

Well cosmo, maybe i am wrong in thinking i had cycled the GP's more than once... I thought even opnce the light goes out that if you turned the key back off and then back on that they would once again heat up... when i have not had the luxury of plugging the rig in when it's really cold this seems to help with the cold start... but i could be wrong and maybe it's all in my head... I know our diesel ford ambulances will have the GP light come on as many times as you want to cycle them when the trucks are stone cold....

nursecosmo · **Posted:** Sun Jan 04, 2009 7:41 pm

We have constant duty GPs in the CRD. They will come on with full power for the initial warm up period while the GP light is on but drop back to half power or so during the rest of the time. It seems that it will start better for me as well if I let the ignition stay on for 10-20 seconds after the light goes out but it might also be in my head because there is no way to objectively test this theory unless it were the same exact temperature outside every morning.

skywarn · **Posted:** Thu Jan 08, 2009 2:32 pm

$1,000,000 to the first person who can post me a pic where the heater is!!!!!

I have posted before and never got an answer, so here it goes again, Im thinking its very poss that my CRD came without a block heater. Everyone tells me that this cant be true, the dealer is saying the same thing. However, there is no plug wire under my hood. its not on the oil stick nor the tranny, nor anywhere else. its just not there. So the million dollar question is: where does the the plug wire lead to???? nobody to date has been able to trace their wire to see where it plugs in.

from the dealer, plug wire: $20
block heater w/plug $700

so the next thought would be, order the block heater, or ask the dealer to get the install papers for the heater.... god bless DC they dont exist!!! go fig ea?

anyone? please??

nursecosmo · **Posted:** Thu Jan 08, 2009 2:56 pm

skywarn wrote:

$1,000,000 to the first person who can post me a pic where the heater is!!!!!

I have posted before and never got an answer, so here it goes again, Im thinking its very poss that my CRD came without a block heater. Everyone tells me that this cant be true, the dealer is saying the same thing. However, there is no plug wire under my hood. its not on the oil stick nor the tranny, nor anywhere else. its just not there. So the million dollar question is: where does the the plug wire lead to???? nobody to date has been able to trace their wire to see where it plugs in.

from the dealer, plug wire: $20
block heater w/plug $700

so the next thought would be, order the block heater, or ask the dealer to get the install papers for the heater.... god bless DC they dont exist!!! go fig ea?

anyone? please??

There is no way for me to get a topside pic of the heater because of where it is located and I'm not going to crawl under the bottom side and get covered with road poop (for all you southern folks, that nasty salty brown ice that builds up on the underside of a vehicle in snowy climes). It looks like the plug wire goes into the side of the engine under and slightly to the rear of the FCV. It goes into a red dust cap or something that looks like a dust cap. It is next to impossible to get to from the top side the bay. I don't know how easy it is to reach from underneath. When I bought my ride when new the wire was bundled up behind the FCV and tied down with a zip strap. I still remember the bloody knuckles I won trying to get it out.

I just went out to the driveway in my PJ's to check for you. That's love man!

block heater question

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