Block heater
 

I seldom drive my car spontaneously and thought why not have a block heater.

Curious for recommendations of brands or styles with good luck,

Thanks, Matthew

You did not post where you live, but even during the summer here in NY when I have got on the road early to travel to a car show I have needed the defroster to keep condensation from forming on the windshield for 20 minutes of driving timing time and to not have to keep the wipers on.

No doubt the inside of the car does stay a smidge cooler without hot coolant coming into the passenger compartment.

Most common block off caps you can buy in auto parts store seen to fail in short order, so I would dive into the McMaster -Carr catalog to get them.

You want 4 so you can block off all 4 nipples and keep critters out of the core.

Wipe I light film of spark plug boot lube or wheel bearing grease on the nipples so when and if you need to remove them they come right off.

A block heater?

Unless you'll be routinely driving the car in arctic weather, I dont see it helping at all.

Yes. An engine block heater. Or an oil heater. Possibly both.

https://www.moroso.com/oil-preheater...ned-12an-male/

Anyone have input on these?

Those are for race cars that can’t sit and idle to get the engine up to operating temperature so the oil flows. You can’t just plug it in and leave it on for days on end when you decide to drive the car. Same goes for lower radiator hose heaters and heating elements that install in place of a freeze plug. They’re made for overnight use in subzero weather.

Just start the car and drive it. Just don’t jump on it until it’s warmed up. A water or oil temperature gauge tells you when it’s safe and all parts have expanded to their working clearances.

Sorry I misread what the OP was asking.

Engine heaters are generally only needed in areas that see sub-zero temps for extended periods of time, and is more common on diesel engines due to fuel coagulation.

If you park it in a garage, it's pretty easy to keep temps from dropping below freezing in the garage, if you're concerned. If the garage is attached to the house, and it's somewhat insulated, it should stay at acceptable temps. If not, you can add a heater to the garage.

You can also install exhaust duct(s) and run the car in the garage up to operating temps before driving. In general, you should never drive a classic car without proper warm ups, to prevent excessive wear, for one. And you should never 'load' an engine without proper oil temps.

There's a bunch of diff types of heaters, and usually a combo of them are most effective. (oil+coolant)

Stick-on ones usually fall off over time, elements that go in the oil pan are not very effective alone, and freeze plug inserts usually leak over time. Factory types are usually the best, but that obviously wouldn't be available for a classic car.

Many of the 120v wall-plug type, the cords & plugs don't survive well for long under a car that's used in general driving thru multiple weather conditions.

Monday mind-dump on topic, rambling...


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I may still have a new one if looking for one let me know

It’s really best to just start the vehicle and drive it easy until the temp starts to come up.

This will take the choke off the fastest which reduces the excess amount of fuel richness that crates engine ware.

Long ago it was found that 65% of all ware takes place between the time that an engine is cold and up to normal operating temperature.
This means drive the vehicle to get the choke off and running a light enough oil that it flows well as soon as the engine is started.

Synthetics are excellent at covering that ground.

Don’t plan on starting the engine and letting it run at high idle until it drops off, once again drive it.

I thought it was the time it took a cold engine startup to reach oil psi was the wear timeframe? And until it reaches operating temp the most emission(s) output? (Based on newer vehicles)

Oil film for lubrication is certainly better in syn oils, but believe dino oil still holds a better 'oil wedge'.

That's just what I remember, I could be wrong, would actually have to look it up.

If I drive my car with cold or even cool oil, I still peg the gauge. But being efi, I control AFR after startup.

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Fully agree with all of this.

I've been think about the wear aspect on a cold engine and will be installing an oil cooler and possibly coolant also.

The open sign at my shop, door buzzer, roof vent etc are on WIFI controlled switches. Will be putting one on the outlet for the car. If its a nice day hit the app and the engine should be warm by the time I want to drive it

I've experienced what sub-zero starts can do to a daily driver engine parked outside w/o a block heater during a historically bad North Dakota winter, and it wasn't pretty.

That being said, I can't imagine installing/using a block heater on a car when you only plan to take it out on a 'nice day', but to each his own, I guess. Seems like a solution in search of a problem.

I had a block heater, replace core plug, that GM used to sell. I had it in a 350 Chevrolet motor that had no heat cross over underneath the carburetor. 1986 Corvette aluminum heads and built a homemade ZZ3 engine. It was cold blooded in all but the summer. It was my daily driver, 1986 GP, and I plugged it in a lot for several years. It worked great as there would be no hesitation or stumble as it warmed up. Fue injection would have helped but I wanted to run the stock electronic Q Jet.

This is where I'm at. Some of the cars have blocked heat crossovers or the heads don't have the provision.

With how most classic cars are driven, I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who's worn out an engine due to letting it warm up before driving. Even more so if it's been rebuilt within the last few decades.

I moved from an area where the coldest it got was about 10* F. Block heaters were not the norm as that temp did not affect startability. A warmup was still prudent. I moved to an area where overnight lows were commonly -20*f. Block heaters were the norm as were a bit longer warmups. I install a device that spliced into the heater hose return to the engine. It was not particularly aesthetic. As it heated the coolant it created pressure which then caused/induced coolant circulation. Check valves on both ends. An added benefit was that there was instant heat available from the heater core.

I live in MN (and for awhile in WI). Haven't had or needed a block heater since the early 80's when I moved out of extreme northern MN where temps routinely hit -40 F and colder air temps, with windchills often at -100F. Many of my cars were kept for well over 100,000 miles. Some over 200,000 without any internal repairs.

Where I live now in southern MN we rarely see -20 F.

Modern oils and FI just eliminated the need for block heaters.

1. Avoid "Kat's" which was also Five Star Manufacturing, later bought by Nickson.

2. I look for Zerostart--Phillips/Temro. Attached photo of heater packaging for my Lumina--don't use the part number as a guide for Pontiac applications.

3. Block heaters are easily tested with an ohmmeter. Typical readings of about 35 ohms through the heater element, NO continuity from heater element to ground. See attached photos. The cord is more likely to have failed than the heater element most of the time.

4. Block heater cords are available separately, you don't have to buy a complete block heater kit to get a replacement cord. But there are many styles of cords, be sure to get one that matches the block heater you have.

5. MAKE SURE the heater is popped COMPLETELY into the core hole in the block. A touch of lube on the O-ring helps. Similarly, make sure the core hole has no burrs, scrapes, loose rust, etc. Polish the hole with a bit of emery cloth before installation of the heater. Torque the fastener to the spec provided in the installation manual for the heater.

6. If possible, connect the heater cord to a wall outlet controlled by a timer. The heater only needs to run for about an hour, maybe two--not all freakin' night. The difficult part is finding a timer that allows a three-prong (grounded) plug.

I put a block heater into every engine I build. That said...I hardly ever actually use them even though they park outside, and it tends to get pretty chilly here in January/February.