86, block heater question ,,

Old Goat

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5 yrs ago when I was flushing the Oil out of the cooling system from the Oil Cooler fiasco, I noticed my Block heater was wet and green around it. Removed it, and it was the Rubber "O" Ring that was at the end of it`s life.
I did replace it with a new one, but probably the "O" Ring could just be replaced if it could be sized matched with a new one.
The BH it`s self, probably still good. They aren`t something that gets a lot of use. They are like a heating element in a Hot Water heater, as long as they are in the coolant or water don`t burn out.

If you need just the power cord, the part # Zero Start 3600010.
Saw it on Amazon, $43 and E-Bay $24.
Just do your searching. Always good to have a spare incase something happens.

Just went through this on my 82 Mercedes, cord and the Alternator met, and took the end right off.
Checked my 7 spare engines and not one had a
Block Heater.
Out of my 9 cars in the yard only one had a BH and a Cord, but the da mn Mice chewed up the wire. OK, just cut, strip and solder it together.
Center wire is a green with good shiny copper wire. (Ground?)
other 2 are molded in with the black rubber cord with no insulating cover. Just this, black thin looking wire, maybe steel?
Can`t solder it, tried on a small Walmart Vacuum cleaner with same kind of wire.

Twisted the wires together with wire nuts, and it still didn`t work, worked before.
Ordered a whole new BH just to get the cord, couldn`t find just the cord.

Iam pretty sure the one for our IDI`s is exactly the same, as they all are probably Zero Start, Phillips/Temro BH`s.


Goat
 

HammerDown

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Unfortunately the O-Ring is compromised on my 1988... thankfully it ONLY weeps 'if' I plug it in, so I don't.
They're not too fun to change especially when the block drains plugs have never been out, guaranteeing a coolant shower.
 

The_Josh_Bear

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Yep. I've got a set for a 7.3 and a set for a 6.9. Since they're supposed to be better than ARP studs, I'm going to push a 6.9 and see what happens. 20+ PSI, here I come!
Who says Gator is better than ARP? I thought ARP was one of the few things left in the world that owned the top of the ticket hands down. :popcorn
 

KansasIDI

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Wes at Classic Diesel Designs. Maybe they are, maybe they're not.
At any rate they probably aren’t worse…

Hard to get better than ARP Custom Age 625 studs but then again, just about any head stud will hold down fine, talk about the tensile strength of these, but the stock bolts don’t snap.

The threads in the block would get messed up before you had a stud break. The bolts are probably a bit closer in metallurgy than the studs are to the block material for such reasons.
 

Old Goat

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Unfortunately the O-Ring is compromised on my 1988... thankfully it ONLY weeps 'if' I plug it in, so I don't.
They're not too fun to change especially when the block drains plugs have never been out, guaranteeing a coolant shower.
5 + years ago when I was doing my Oil Cooler puking oil into the cooling system flush.
I removed the 2 drain Plugs on each side to drain the block.
They are Brass Plugs, and came right out w/o any trouble.
As I remember a 9/16" Socket removes them.
I used one of those Cement Mixing pans from HD, about 2 1/2 - 3 ft long. Worked good to catch the fluid, and I didn`t get a bath.

This is on my 86 6.9, Probably had 300K on it back then.
362 now.


Goat
 

KansasIDI

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My 91 has these as block drains.

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Don’t know if that’s factory, I’ve never seen them on another IDI, but they’re nice.
 

Nero

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Definitely someone put those in. None of mine have had em.
 

HammerDown

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5 + years ago when I was doing my Oil Cooler puking oil into the cooling system flush.
I removed the 2 drain Plugs on each side to drain the block.
They are Brass Plugs, and came right out w/o any trouble.
As I remember a 9/16" Socket removes them.
I used one of those Cement Mixing pans from HD, about 2 1/2 - 3 ft long. Worked good to catch the fluid, and I didn`t get a bath.

This is on my 86 6.9, Probably had 300K on it back then.
362 now.


Goat
When I first replaced my original (1988) block heater (sometime in the mid 90's) I tried to remove the block drains... they wouldn't budge and I 'believe' they were steel. Trust me, I tried!
 

IDIBRONCO

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When I first replaced my original (1988) block heater (sometime in the mid 90's) I tried to remove the block drains... they wouldn't budge and I 'believe' they were steel. Trust me, I tried!
The early 6.9s had steel plugs there and they took a 1/4" square, like an extension, to remove them. Those were usually a BEAR to remove. The later 6.9s and the 7.3s had brass plugs that took a 9/16" socket to remove and were much easier to remove. I might be wrong and all of the 6.9s had the steel plugs, but I'm sure that all of the 7.3s had the brass ones.
 

Old Goat

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Have you ever hear of an "Induction Heater"?

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I bought one off E-Bay a few months ago, read about them and
sounds interesting how it works. I watched a bunch of YT Video`s
before I bought one off E-Bay.
Type in "Induction Heater on E-Bay, and a ton of them come up.

Here is an explanation of how they work.
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I bought a set of cab mounts, and looks like heating them w/o a
Torch is a lot safer.
When it warms up "or I warm up" I`ll get to this project.


Goat
 
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