Block Heater location

[idiabuse]

Has anyone mounted block heaters on both sides of the engine?

it looks fairly simple to do, just have to catch every drop of coolant

when I drain it out to do.

I think the one in my truck is burnt out and time to replace.

just wonder if anyone else has used one heater on each side.

I hate to try and fix my glow plug setup, I forgot how I did it before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6ZzlSw_kus

I Used to ground it out but it never worked after I rebuilt the engine

and threw her back in.

I know it works just do not want to focus on it.

I hate starting the truck without hot coolant and hot cylinders.

 

[icanfixall]

We can't install a block heater on the drivers side of the engine. It will only fit on the passenger side of the engine. Reason for this is the oem location is drilled out with no step to hold our poorly designed concave freeze plugs. Trying to drill or machine out the stock cup size with the lip is more work than you want to do on your back under a truck. Gravity has a way of dropping every bit of trash in your face.... Even with a full face shield on and a pair of work goggles.

 

[idiabuse]

How many hours or days did those engineers spend on this section? Geez!

Well I guess it wont take long to replace the block heater, looks easy to remove and replace.

Except for the laying on the ground part and doing like 40 situps.

 

[icanfixall]

My issues removing and replacing a block heater is the hot line going directly from the battery to the starter. The proximity of that line to the work needing done scares me. I suggest removing the hot cables from both batteries. Then if you contact the hot lead you wont see sparks and melt your wrenches. Remember all things fall down with gravity. Molten metal hurts plenty Otto. Working as a welder for more than 30 years when the need required it has taught me plenty. Leathers help but when a fold in the sleeves catches too many hot pieces of any stick welding it burns your arms no matter what. Our eyes do not take kindly to sparks either.

 

[Runningaford]

When I did my block heater, I tried without removing the starter, but it was a pita; also, the hot cable was bothering me due to how tight it was trying to reach up there. I went ahead, and disconnected the batteries, and removed the starter; WAY EASIER for the heater, and not that bad to remove.

I did a lot of reading up on it beforehand, and noted many people would just put a freeze plug there, as their heaters continued to leak after installing a new one, or new o-ring. You've got to really clean up that sealing surface, some 600 grit works well, or steel wool; then use a lube to get the o ring to seat properly.

If you want a secondary heater, my old man found something that works fairly good, it's a flat pancake heater that has an adhesive that sticks to the bottom of the oil pan(heating oil instead of water). I don't have the specific brand name handy, but the heater has worked like well for a few years on the vehicle he put it on.