I have a 1997 250 PSD, and I just went to plug my truck in for the night. As I plugged it in I heard a zap like an electrical short. I unplugged it and grabbed a fire extinguisher. Nothing smoked or flared up, but I am assuming it was a short in my block heater but it didn't blow a fuse. For now I'm going to assume the heater is shot. Can anyone confirm this or give me a different possible problem? Thanks!

 

I have had mine make funny noisses when actually connecting as the draw is quite high but not after connected.

 

never saw a block heater short out. they either stop working from an open circuit, or work.

what i have seen short out though is the cord. many many times.
sometimes it just a bad plug end, other times the cord rubs and shorts out in the wires.

 

thanks to both of you. il pull the wiring off and look for any thin spots or problems.

 

all of my block plugs make that noise. there fine

 

FIRST things to do are to measure the resistance at the grille plug, and then measure the resistance at the terminals on the heater itself. Should be aprx. 14 ohms. Resistance at the grille plug might be a LITTLE higher. If that's all good, you can confirm proper heater ops with a meter like this: ; should show aprx 1000 Watts. If resistance is the grille plug is a LOT higher or lower than resistance at the heater itself, then the cord is faulty.

SOME of them make a quiet steady crackling sound. If what you heard was more a single abrupt ZAP, that's not normal.

 

I did exactly what you said, and there was nothing across the prongs but the element is good. I pulled the cord out and there was a hole worn right through one side. out to find a replacement. does motorcraft still carry the cords or not? thanks!

 

Well the last time I bought it , it was cheaper to buy the Kit (cord & element) from Ford ...I think it was around 60 bucks here ...it is way cheaper for you guys .... I still have the new element ready to install.....that was 4 years ago......I am sure somebody will sell you just the cord....

 

I think napa has a 6' cord that'll hook up

 

on one of my trucks i took a heavy duty air conditioner extension cord and cut the end that goes into the block heater off, then wired it to the extension cord.
it was a temporary fix on a sunday afternoon. it worked so good i left it there for the 5 more years i had the truck, and it is still working 15 years later.
the employee i sold it too still stops by to do maintenance on it.

 

That's what I did last winter, when I discovered the cord burned out on a -5F evening.* Soldered and heat-shrinked (heat-shrunk?) the splices, and "staggered" them along the cord to minimize the risk of cross-shorting; it lasted all winter. I went ahead and got the generic one from NAPA and installed it before this year's "heating season"; keeping the homemade job as a backup.

*(Side note - it was so cold that night, when I went to install the repaired cord, the zip-ties just snapped as I tried to use them. I had to secure it to the frame with short pieces of chothesline rope; it was the only thing that didn't just break in the cold....)

 

$22: Zerostart 3600008 - Power Cord | O'Reilly Auto Parts


Or maybe you can get it cheaper from the source: Phillips & Temro Technologies
part number is 3600008.

 

got the cord from ford, and it wasnt cheap. well over $100 just for a simple cord.

 

Oh man, that sucks.

 

I went to NAPA as well but they said the only place you can get one is the dealer because of the plug configuration.