Brendan

is there any negative effect to leaving my truck plugged in for 8-10 hours overnight? I'm too lazy to wake up an hour earlier to go outside and plug it in so doing it before bed is much more convenient. Any probs with this?

KING

You must have a diesel; otherwise, I didn't know that TOYOTAs had block heaters.

rwmorrisonjr

They do, and mine came in today at the dealer. It won't hurt anything since that's what they're designed for. They only heat the coolant to a point below operating temp so that the oil & other fludis will flow more freely when the engine is started in really cold weather.

KING

Where do you hook them up to?

Brendan

my truck is on gas. an inline block heater just connects in place of one of the frost plugs.

rwmorrisonjr

Does anyone know which freeze plug it replaces? I don't have a FSM handy. I've heard its a real buger to install.

Sizzlechest, what do you mean by saying your truck is "on gas"? Did it get a bad meal at Taco Bell?

Brendan

My truck uses gas rather than diesel as suggested above. any frost plug will work. it's only difficult to do if your frost plugs are hard to access.

rwmorrisonjr

Sizzle, thanks for the clarification, just throwing some humor out there.

joez

There will be no negative effects. I leave my Blazer plugged in overnight and most of the day at work. Generally it is only unplugged when it is driving and when i am out on the town.

Phil

All it takes is about 3 hours at the most. Leaving them plugged in any longer can shorten the life of your block heater, waste electricity, and cause sludge problems (since you are heating up some oil that is not circulating).

That's what I've always heard. 2 mechanics confirmed this to me.

Could be wrong, but better safe than sorry is what I figure. A timer is cheap enough and probably pays for itself over the course of a winter or two in electricty savings alone.

MTL_4runner

I personally prefer the freeze plug style to the dipstick style because of possible sludge problems, but as it was mentioned, they are a pain to put in for sure

4RUNR

How much does an OEM block heater run for?

What sort of connection to the AC does it use? Socket on car then detachable cable from there to AC socket?

Phil

They usually run around $40-50, not sure on an Toyota OEM though. Installation can be expensive though, looks like it would be a real pain on my 4Runner.

There is just a standard cord with a 3-prong male plug usually somewhere near the grill. You simply plug that into an extension cord.

You should know that, being from the North Pole and all

rwmorrisonjr

It cost me $36 plus tax, will post a pic of it for all to see after I pick it up.

4RUNR

Standard cord? Then it would be definitely worth rigging up some sort of socket. Like on the back of computers. Cables goes in there, then AC. So when the computer forgets to unplug and drives away it would just unplug by itself

joez

$19.99 at NAPA for a 600 watt.

Phil, who told you it builds up sludge? All the heater does is keep the oil warm enough to not turn into goo when it is cold. About 50*F max, if its is below 0* out. I know several people who have run diesels for the past 10-15 years in this area who have anywhere from 200-500K miles, and they all agree just leave them plugged in all night. None of them have ever had any problems with sludge. My 200K mile detroit smokes worse than my neighbors 500K mile cummins.

I had been told the same thing, my neighbor said the dealership told him the same thing when he bought the truck new in '92. If you plug it in too long it builds up sludge. He pulls his pan every 100K miles, and there has been no sign of anything. Oils today are so much better than they used to be, I dont even worry about it. And neither does he.

4RUNR

Joez, is that for the dip-stick model?

Frost plugs are a pain in the butt, plus imagine one of the plugs going into the block. Whoops :pat: Removable and no potential leaking is the way to go

Phil

A typical block heater for a gas engine can reach 250 F, and actually heats the coolant, not the oil directly, although there are oil heaters.

Besides, like I said, there are other reasons as well. The main one being it just isn't needed all the time.

joez

I keep fogetting us with American diesels have a lot more oil and a lot more block to heat. I changed my oil in 22* weather, with it having just been plugged in, and my oil came out where it was lukewarm. I guess if i put the same heater on the toyota which is about a third the size with 3 quarts less oil, i could see the temps climbing. But for me it makes more sense to just plug it in all the time. You never know when you gotta run, and it was -4* this morning, and straight 30 weight doesnt help a motor turn over very well, and neither does the 350 psi of compression. Nor does that 30 weight lubricate very well until it is warm.