Does anyone have experience using an engine block heater on their truck?
I have never used one, reason for asking is that my truck doesn't want to start anymore when the temp gets down to zero.
It is a 94 F150 with a 4.9L with 150,000 mi....
She has a good battery.. new starter...etc.. everything is good there...
I happen to have a factory Ford unit for my truck, it looks like an extension cord with a freeze plug on the end with an electrode behind it.
Got any good/bad stories about these???
Tim

 

I heard a tank heater with a freeze plug (the freeze plug heater heats it up and the tank rotates the fluid through the engine) Just the freeze plug is the second best btw make sure that it works before you instal it and get a good seal fyi when you remove a freeze plug i heard that you should drill a course thread drywall screw in and the pull on it with a pliers. just my 2 cents!

 

A block heater probably won't help with bad starting like you described. I had similar problems with an 83 bronco when I lived in Colorado (1998). Had an Optima gel battery, MSD ignition and all that fun stuff. In the end, the cold start problem was simply compression. Don't get me wrong, at 10 below, the battery was really slow to turn as well, but that wasn't the culprit. There are direct relationships between compression, temperature, and flamability in a combustion chamber, so when it got cold, she just didn't have what it took to start b/c the gas and air coming in weren't heated like the block. Above freezing, rarely a problem. Below, trouble. Basically, the block was up to temp b/c of the heater but the air/fuel coming in was too cold.

My problem wound up being a bad valve seat. Once it was fixed the motor still turned slow on cold mornings, but it started.

A compression check (or vacuum gauge when the engine is running) are worth looking in to.

PS- Just read the Iowan suggestion for a tank heater....that could up up your temp significantly in the cylinder.

 

Another vote for the verticle tank heater. There is a drain plug in the block on the passenger side of the block between and just below the last two freeze plugs. Install a heater hose barb in it, determine where you are going to mount the heater, run a hose to the inlet on the heater from the block and another hose from the outlet on the heater to the return heater hose. All the parts to do this should come with the heater.

About two hours before you start up, plug it in or get a cheap timer to plug in to and set it to come on whenever you want.

 

When I bought my truck, it had a heater in the lower radiator hose. Since the thing leaked coolant and I have never known anyone around here to use a heater, I took the danged thing out. They seem like a good idea, but I don't know that a well tuned motor with good coolant wouldn't be fine on it's own.

Northern Illinois is cold.
Murph.

 

My old Galaxie 500 was originally a South Dakota car and had a block heater installed after it was bought new by the first owner. There is a device mounted to the frame with one hose running to a water jacket fitting on the engine block, and another hose running to a splice in the heater hose. An electrical cord runs from the device out the grill, between the passenger side headlights. I've never plugged it in. It's 35 years old, so it's probably not a good idea anyway.

 

thanks for the ideas guys. Yea, the freeze plug heater I got probably sounds better on paper.... sounds like a tank heater is the way to go.