Block Heater/Antifreeze heater

[Rhall]

Has anyone had their block heaters quit working? I plugged my truck in for the first time this year, and it did nothing, my glow plug relay is bad too, so its not starting very well when its 5 degrees out. I dont drive it very much, but it would be nice to have. Im pulling the motor out of it to swap into my 01 dually in a week or two, but i want to make sure it gets fixed when it goes in the 01.

Thanks

Rob

 

[sweetdiesel]

Mine broke when it was most needed

Easy to replace and I think they are around 50 bucks with the new cord

The problom with mine was actually just the cord was no good I dunno why cause it still looked good?

 

[ZeroGravity58]

just buy a $2.99 can of ether :rofl:

 

[05' Ditry Duramax]

Mine "arced out" when I plugged it once last year. I had used it several times before this happened. I plugged it in and started to walk away from the truck then.....crack smack pop BANG and when I turned around I saw a shower of sparkes. I about shit my pant's at that time. I unplugged it real quick and went under to look at it. Where the cord plugged into the heater it had arced over somehow and destroyed both the cord and the heater. I had it replaced under warranty. Haven't used it since. I prolly woun't use it this year. I don't drive the truck anymore so I don't feel the need to plug it in.

 

[Killerbee]

Mine "arced out" when I plugged it once last year. I had used it several times before this happened. I plugged it in and started to walk away from the truck then.....crack smack pop BANG and when I turned around I saw a shower of sparkes. I about shit my pant's at that time. I unplugged it real quick and went under to look at it. Where the cord plugged into the heater it had arced over somehow and destroyed both the cord and the heater. I had it replaced under warranty. Haven't used it since. I prolly woun't use it this year. I don't drive the truck anymore so I don't feel the need to plug it in.

I hear that these fail a lot. Do you think it is corrosion?

 

[Rhall]

just buy a $2.99 can of ether :rofl:

I woke up this morning to heavy snow, damn thing wouldnt start, i had to drive my cavalier in, so on the way home i got pissed off and bought a can, she fired right up then.

 

[05' Ditry Duramax]

I hear that these fail a lot. Do you think it is corrosion?

I would say yes. I didn't look at the old cord or heater so I can't confurm this. When it was still in truck I could see some green shit on the heater from the brass prongs on the heater. That would indicate corrsion to me. Too bad I didn't catch it before it happened. I would have been pretty upset if the truck would have caught on fire and burned to the ground. It was right next to my house so i'm sure there would have been a good chance it would have caught the house on fire too. I live in Pacific Northwest and we get a ton of rian. At the time I was driving the truck daily so i'm sure it was from all the water. It's about 18* here tonight and it's not getting plugged in. I don't care, let the block crack and i'll get a new one motor. I'll get a warranty motor and put some parts in it before it goes in

 

[mytmousemalibu]

I had to BACKORDER one for my Mercedes. It no likey cold weather, these buggers are notorius for hard cold starts. Mine with a ton of miles=low compression and not very aggressive glowplugs, even with a shot of ether it still wont fire

The D-max on the other hand has Never failed to start! But it does preffer to be plugged in. Its better on these engines to warm start if possible, and as a bonus you have a nice toasty heater sooner! I wish i could afford a Blueheat (Webasto) diesel fired heater, there a nice lil unit but ouch there expensive!

 

[Bluemax]

I hear that these fail a lot. Do you think it is corrosion?

Mine shorted the same way but it was on the plug end. It had a lot of corrosion on the inside the insulation. It was cracked all over around both ends of the cord. The cracks were small enough you had to look pretty hard to notice. Probably never would have noticed until it caught on fire as I walked towards the house one night and I decided a good inspection of the cord was probably needed, so I took it off to get a real good look at it.