No Block Heater?

[Nuggler]

8O Jeebus !!

I don't even want to think about block heaters till about Nov/08

Canadian Tire has a neat little heater that "magnets" onto the bottom of your oil pan, and keeps the oil all snuggly and warm. We got one, and put it on a timer. Half the time we forgot to activate the timer, but the car still started..................:roll:

Bad news was/is, it should be removed every day, or might come off whilst you are driving, or when you hit the end of the extension cord.

Warm (not hot) oil really helps a cold engine greet the day.

Something like a Timmy's coffee, eh, auto wise that is................

:tard:

 

[Scott Free]

The thing that really gave me pause was hubby staring under the hood, looking to the guy and saying 'where's the block heater'?

'They don't come with blockheaters'

'We'd want a blockheater'

'They don't come with them, because the engine is fine with a cold start up until -47, when blockheaters quit helping anyway.'

Hmmmmm. I don't quite buy this. Too many years on the farm perhaps? Too unwilling to believe salesmen? Has anyone ever heard of engines that don't require blockheaters in a Canadian winter?

Block heaters are an included option in Honda cars in BC. Normally they don't have them either.

My father had a new Mazda once and in a cold start (no block heater) the crank shaft twisted right in half. No one, not even the Mazda mother ship, knew how or why that had happened but it was about -50 out when it did.

I am suspicious of the sale mans explanation. Block heaters are meant to keep the oil warm to reduce initial wear from cold starts. Unless they are using some new materials or have some new oil I think a block heater is still a very good idea once temperatures get around -10. Otherwise friction is required to get the oil circulating and that can be very damaging.

Also, when the temperature dips below -47 your engine won't generally start unless you have a block heater so saying they don't work below that temperature is BS.

 

[eh1eh]

Block heaters work at any teperature. You apply electricity to them and they get hot. Period. In twenty years of starting trucks I have found this is a fact, that and my bit of knowlege of electrical properties. I'm guessing that was stricly a sales tactic and while as it has been said, newer cars don't really need one, I would say logic dictates that an engine will start better and less wear to the motor will occour, when some heat is applied to the engine. An oil heater is probably a more efficient way of doing this though as you want the oil up to the heads as quickly after starting as possible.

 

[Arailia]

A trar without a block heater.

I bought an Outlander last September and I absolutely love it. I call it a trar because it's kinda part car part truck. Having a vehicle without a block heater just does not make sense in Canada. I have talked to several people at Mistubishi including service guys and they all say the engine is built to handle the cold without one. I figured ok dokee, it's got a great warrantee, lets test this out. So, I made it through last winter without a block heater and never had any problems. Even when it was well below 30. I'm still skeptical though and have been thinking I should probably get one put in, but don't want to spend the money if I don't have to.

 

[scratch]

I bought an Outlander last September and I absolutely love it. I call it a trar because it's kinda part car part truck. Having a vehicle without a block heater just does not make sense in Canada. I have talked to several people at Mistubishi including service guys and they all say the engine is built to handle the cold without one. I figured ok dokee, it's got a great warrantee, lets test this out. So, I made it through last winter without a block heater and never had any problems. Even when it was well below 30. I'm still skeptical though and have been thinking I should probably get one put in, but don't want to spend the money if I don't have to.

Might be better to be safe rather than sorry.
Just a thought.

 

[Ron in Regina]

For what you'd spend on a block heater (cheap part but there's no such thing as cheap labour),
spend the $40 on an under the hood trickle charger ('bout the size of a pack of smokes now).
They trickle out something like an amp/hour and use very little power, and I only plug mine in
when it gets down below -25c or so...the car might be sluggish in the morning, but you've got
lots of power and you'll get it going.

This worked for me for years (I was eventually told) as my blockheater just didn't work and I
have such a short commute that my car really doesn't warm up until spring anyway. My car
finally let me down (after four years with no block heater it seems) after several days of -50c
or so...and it was the starter that was failing. A couple of minutes with a heat gun ($20 from
Princess Auto) on the starter and the car would start like summer-time though. Hmmm...
I haven't mentioned that my car's battery is now about nine years old too. The under the hood
trickle charger seems to drag extra life out of the battery too.

I don't honestly know how this'll work on this new SUV but my little car is somewhat bulletproof
(until it someday will just disintegrate out from underneath me...). I will say though that I do now
have a working blockheater and I plug the car in religiously (at work) with no guilt at all.

 

[hermanntrude]

our jeep liberty never had a block heater (or perhaps we never used it) but it started fine even down at -50

 

[Trex]

Interesting post.
Karrie if you really like the Mits and its the best vehicle for you buy it.
Get a mechanic to take a look at the block for a plugged port that the block heater would go into.
Possibly the Mits you were looking at was originally destined for the southern States.
Maybe you can retro fit it.

Others have said block heaters are not needed with modern engines and it's probably true.
Anyway you can buy a battery trickle-charger, a battery warming blanket, an after market oil-pan heater, you can stick a light bulb under the hood or you can wrap the whole damn thing in a tarp, shove a Herman-Nelson under it and fry the crap out of it.

Seriously though, unless its really really really cold the thing will probably start.
A good battery is a must in super cold weather.

On another note I remember driving my month old Grand Cherokee up the highway to Fort Nelson one frosty February
It was 47 below and forget the wind chill.
Wham, the transmission blows and there I am in the middle of a blizzard 50 klicks from Nelson.
Luckily I still had reverse.
Backed the thing up the shoulder for 50 klicks.
Jeep said they had stopped testing their new transmissions at 45 below.
There were Grand Cherokee's with blown transmissions scattered all over the Yukon, NWT and Alaska.
Jeep ate all the bills and all the expenses.
Rentals too, must have cost them a fortune.

Good luck with your new vehicle.
I can't in good faith recommend a Grand Cherokee.
I now drive a 4Runner.

Trex