block heater question

kjfishman · **Posted:** Tue Dec 16, 2008 1:01 am

Is the block heater always on when plugged in or does it cycle off when the block warms?

onthehunt · **Posted:** Tue Dec 16, 2008 3:11 am

Always on when plugged in.

mackruss · **Posted:** Tue Dec 16, 2008 12:06 pm

onthehunt wrote:

Always on when plugged in.

Does it need to be on all the time?

Cowcatcher · **Posted:** Tue Dec 16, 2008 12:22 pm

It depends on the ambiant temperature. It is not very a very high watt heater as block heaters go (400W comes to mind). I only use mine when temps drop below 20 degrees F.

mackruss · **Posted:** Tue Dec 16, 2008 12:30 pm

Cowcatcher wrote:

It depends on the ambiant temperature. It is not very a very high watt heater as block heaters go (400W comes to mind). I only use mine when temps drop below 20 degrees F.

How do you control on and off?

MOSFET · **Joined:** Sat Feb 25, 2006 11:40 pm **Posts:** 295

mackruss wrote:

How do you control on and off?

I use a standard lamp timer, and have it turn on 3 hours before I leave for work in the morning. It definitely helps in the winter.

UFO · **Posted:** Tue Dec 16, 2008 2:11 pm

I just plug it in at night, and unplug before leaving the next morning. 400W isn't much power.

blake1827 · **Posted:** Tue Dec 16, 2008 2:20 pm

block heater definately helps below 20F

would have helped more the other night when it was -15F if I had actually stuck the extention cord IN the outlet....

05infernoCRDL · **Posted:** Tue Dec 16, 2008 3:03 pm

UFO wrote:

I just plug it in at night, and unplug before leaving the next morning. 400W isn't much power.

but according to some on the board it is enough juice to melt my 7 prong outlet i installed.... :-)r

... it is actually doing just fine being plugged in all night

mackruss · **Posted:** Tue Dec 16, 2008 5:27 pm

No definately not for me then not cold enough for a block heater, i thought it was something controlled by the ECU that i could unplug :oops:

Cowcatcher · **Posted:** Wed Dec 17, 2008 11:40 am

I do like UFO. If someone expects it to raise the temperature of a -0 block my response would be "Fat Chance". This heater is good for keeping the heat in the block once it is already there not so much fof warming it up from stone cold.

CATCRD · **Posted:** Wed Dec 17, 2008 12:08 pm

I beg to differ. It will warm it up quite a lot from stone cold. Enough so that the glow plug lamp never comes on and there is warm air coming out the vents as soon as you start the engine.

I did some temperature checks, and it only needs to be on about 2 hrs in your average unheated garage on a cold winter night before it can't warm the block up anymore. Make it three or four hours on the timer if the vehicle sits outside.

vtdog · **Joined:** Fri Sep 30, 2005 11:27 am **Posts:** 640

I know I have said this before, but it is not necessary to run the plug in heater in cold temps to get the car to start. I and others have started their Jeeps in very cold below zero weather without great problems. The engine runs rough for a short period of time and the tranny will not shift into overdrive until a temp set point is reached, but all in all, not a big problem. Just turn the key, wait for the glow plug light to go off (never more than 5 sec) and start the engine.

nursecosmo · **Posted:** Wed Dec 17, 2008 7:08 pm

vtdog wrote:

I know I have said this before, but it is not necessary to run the plug in heater in cold temps to get the car to start. I and others have started their Jeeps in very cold below zero weather without great problems. The engine runs rough for a short period of time and the tranny will not shift into overdrive until a temp set point is reached, but all in all, not a big problem. Just turn the key, wait for the glow plug light to go off (never more than 5 sec) and start the engine.

It is not necessary to let the turbo cool down after driving up a mountain either but you Jeep will reward you with lots of boost for a long time if you do. The same can be said for cold starts. When the engine is started at sub zero temps there is very significant stress on the various metal part such as rods, wrist pins and piston rings. Even the very small amount of flex happening in an unloaded engine creates stress fractures which can buildup over time. If the engine is allowed to idle when cold, cylinder washing is likely to occur. When the temp is -20 F it will not warm up in less than 30 minutes of idling. That is a lot of washing. We all know about the risk of loading a cold diesel as well. By plugging it in all of these issues are avoided. I cannot plug in at the hospital where I work and When I came out Monday morning the temp was -20. It started just fine with only a little extra cranking. I let it idle for 30 minutes but the gauge still had not moved, when I gave it some go pedal it dumped a lot of unburned fuel out the pipe making a bad stink for everyone in the parking lot :twisted:

. I drove with a very light foot for about a mile until the temp gauge started to move.

So, to make my short story long. Just because our Jeeps can start when it is very cold does not mean that they should not be plugged in.

warp2diesel · **Posted:** Wed Dec 17, 2008 10:37 pm

...an engine idling to warm it up. Some states like NY have laws on the books so the cops can subsidize their paychecks if they catch you doing it. As soon as any car or truck I drive including my CRD runs and has oil pressure, I place it in gear and take of at a reasonable acceleration rate. By putting the engine to work you warm it up faster and minimize cylinder wall and ring wear. The 2 miles to the tollway gets the temp gauge up to the first line even at -15f and at that temp, the trans will go into overdrive within 4 to 5 miles on the tollway.

When I was in the repair shop I had a retired school teacher who drove her Toyota Corolla to the grocery store, the Y, and Church, 40,000 mile later the head gasket went out and had to be replaced. The ring ridge was about 0.015". Another special Ed Teacher had the same engine with 250,000 and the EGR valve failed resulting in a hole in the top of one piston (yep gassers can do that but diesels DON'T), their were stil hone marks all the way up on the cylinder walls and no measurable ring ridge :!:

I put in a new piston and it was good to go.

What trashes out rings on diesels is COLD IDLING and DIRT, avoid both and you will have an engine that will last.

nursecosmo · **Posted:** Wed Dec 17, 2008 10:44 pm

X2 on that W2D. I let mine idle for a half hour a couple of days ago as an experiment to see how long it would take to warm up when it was extremely cold. The answer was that I wasted a lot of fuel and washed the cylinders with no return on my investment (as in heat in the cab).

canlib · **Posted:** Wed Dec 17, 2008 11:01 pm

I plug in for 2 or 3 hours when it gets to -20F. Much easier to start and less wear and tear. I found out last winter that the CRD will not start at -28F!!! It will grudgingly turn over, make a few half hearted attempts to run, run while the starter is running, but NOT start. Next day...plugged in...no problem.

BlackLibertyCRD · **Posted:** Thu Dec 18, 2008 11:34 am

Today my w/s was frosted and wife wanted to wait until heater was warmed. I told her to drive it and to never idle a diesel. A little use of the wiper and washer for the first mile was all that it needed. Plugging it in only cut that time to 1/2 mile.

danoid · **Posted:** Sun Dec 21, 2008 12:01 am

I look at it as a fuel economy thing. Plugged in, it runs better for the first ten minutes than not plugged in. When I start from dead cold, she's sluggish and I can watch my EVIC count down the mpg. Make it a little easier for your tractor and she'll drink less fuel.

nursecosmo · **Posted:** Sun Dec 21, 2008 11:18 pm

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?

block heater question

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