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So all of a sudden my block heater pops the gfi when I plug it in. Can't see any damage to the cord. Guess I'll try a replacement cord but not looking forward to rolling in the snow trying to route it. Running out of things to replace......... Hope it's just the cord.
Element probably shorted out. Ohm it out at the cord. Should be 15 ohms. Then disconnect the cord from the element and ohm it or plug it in again. If the gfi doesn't pop then it's the element.
15 at the plug. Have to crawl around tomorrow and disconnect. What do I need to remove the element if that's it? Can't seem to find instructions anywhere. I guess I'll have to take a small coolant bath to replace it?
Test the cord first and check the connection at the plug.
But if it is the element it is located above the starter and unscrews from the block. It may be easier to remove the starter or go in from the passenger wheel well.
If it is just the cord you can find them on Amazon under manufacturer Kats IIRC.
Well I started tracing the cord back and noticed right behind the bumper there is a flat connection. Figured why not take that apart and clean it up to see. I pulled it apart, scraped the three prongs and also the female connections. Got the air compressor out and blew them out. Plugged it back together and viola, it works!! Seems like a pretty bad spot to have a connector. I'm guessing a little moisture was in there but maybe the contacts were corroded a little? There was gunk inside the connection so after I got it cleaned up and working I wrapped it in electrical tape pretty well. Might save somebody getting a new cord or element, this was a simple fix.
Easy way to test a cord and heater. Take you DMM and set it for MΩ and place one
probe on the bumper or other metal of the truck body. Take the other probe and place
it on one of the plug blades. The ground should give you a reading around 0.00Ω
when you check the other two you should see it as an open circuit. Be sure that your
fingers are not touching the probes. If you get a reading from anything other than
the ground pin then you have a path for the voltage to reach ground. If you disconnect
the cord from the heater and check the pins to the block and get a reading of anything
other than an open circuit then the element is bad. But it it shows as open then it the cord
that you need to be looking at.
Yes it takes less time to do it that it does to explain how to do it.
Looking for the wiring diagram for the heater cord on a 2019. I've searched and haven't been able to find this. I'm installing the block heater this weekend.
