has any one ever put on a block heater that Circulates warmed cooland through engine ive found them on e bay and local farm store sells them and i was thinking a 1000 wat to a 1500 watt one would be good my question is would it work right hooking it in to the heater hose off the block and does the t stat have to be open for it to circulate

 

I assume you have a 6.9 or 7.3 IDI motor pre-1995. I'm pretty sure that nearly all of them came from the factory with block heaters, although I've heard of a few rare southern truck without them. First I would make sure you don't already have one. Get under the truck, find the starter (passenger side), and locate the freeze plugs in the block (slightly bigger than a quarter, four per side). If the freeze plug above the starter has a cord running from it, or a connection with three terminals, you already have a block heater. If you are in a warm climate and it's never been used, sometimes you have to look hard to find the plug end. Follow the cord from the heater forward to the grille.

That being said, if you don't have a block heater, I wouldn't mess with an external-type canister heater. I've had them on tractors and they do work, but they are for a situation where it may be difficult or not possible for a block heater to be installed. They may actually work slightly faster since they circulate the coolant through convection, but you're adding a bunch of clamps and another device under the hood. You need to drain the coolant to install either type.

If all else fails, my father grew up in the Adirondaks. When at a hunting camp 20 miles from nowhere after a night of double-digit sub-zero temperatures, he would build a fire under the engine (gas motor - ouch!) to warm up the block so it would start. (No - while I'm serious about him doing it, I'm kidding about you trying it)

 

i have a 1990 7.3 i do have a block heater now but its not working i also need to be able to jump in my truck start it and go right away id would like it to be able to defrost the windows and get some heat as soon as i could i work for a large towing and recovery comp. and when i get a call that the hiway i closed i need to beable to get going now thats why i was looking at this type of block heater

 

Repair the stock block heater, you can find them from 500 to 1500 watts, and they warm up the entire engine.
Defroster starts to work as soon as the engine starts.

 

Mine wasn't working either. As cold weather is coming I finally sucked it up and was going to replace it yesterday. Parts from the dealer - $50 for the heater $60 for the cord. Really wasn't looking forward to spending the money, pulling the starter, or draining the coolant, so before I started draining the block I tested the existing heater to make sure voltage was making it to the element. No power. Turns out the plug on the cord was bad. Chopped it off and put a new plug on and 5 minutes later I had a functioning block heater.

It's worth checking - I have another truck I bought very used, and it had a replacement plug on it - the original plugs may have been prone to failure.

I've found that only 15 minutes makes a significant difference in starting a cold engine. If you don't have that much time, I suppose you could install an additional freeze plug-type block heater on the driver's side of the block and cut your time to 7-1/2 minutes. If that's not fast enough - go for it and run 8 heaters - now you're down to 1.87 minutes and you're on the road! (just don't run all eight extension cords off one cord splitter or you'll be waiting for someone else's emergency vehicle to come help you)

 

Holy crap $60 for the cord.

They should be more like $9.

 

That was OEM from a dealer. I was very happy to not need either the cord or the heater.

You should feel bad for gene17847 - he needs eight of them.

 

LOL, I would think in the severest of conditions that 2 block heaters would be more than ample.

Although I would like to see pics of a truck with 8 extension cords running out to it

 

NAPA by me was $45.00 for the whole thing and I have never had to pull astarter to change one. I have one of the other types also and like the fact it has a circulating pump. Truck starts tons easier when I use it and the heater gets nice and warm right away with it.

 

ok stupid question, but i keep hearing stories of the heater cracking the block.. what instances does this happen? how common is this?

 

New one on me??????

 

Wow I have never heard of a cracked block because of a heater.

I do know that if you leave it plugged in a lot for no real reason its hard on the antifreeze, and you should change it a little more often than people that do not use a block heater too much.

But thats the only real problem I have ever heard caused by a block heater.

 

ive heard of a few instances when the block heater has caused issues.. im pretty sure it messed up the b lock or cracked it. ill have to do some more research on it.

 

The cracked block issue was with the early 6.9 blocks.
In mid 85 the block casting was changed and that problem was eliminated.

 

ok thanks for clearing that up. it makes me feel more confortable now, especially since i have an 87 6.9