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i plugged my truck in last night and it began to smoke behind the drivers head light, i unplugged and investigated and got nothing, i tried plugging in again and it would trip my gfci on the house. any thoughts>?
if smoke came from behind the driver side headlight, i would say the block heater is most likely fine and the problem is with the wire.
i would unplug the wire from the block heater and test/inspect it before draining the coolant and removing the block heater.
Something is causing the gfci to trip, gotta be a short to ground. Bad juju to have AC rippling anywhere with all the fancy 'puter boxes sprinkled around in there, too.
x3 on checking the block heater cord. The cord tends to fail often. Usually the wires break just behind the plug as that gets the most wear and tear plugging it in all the time and there isn't any real strain relief.
But the cord could be shorting out anywhere along its length. Follow it from the plug all the way back to the block heater itself which should be behind the starter in the middle of the passenger side of the block.
Replacement cords are available, or you can splice in a new piece of cord if have the skill and materials.