I will be moving to Anchorage, Alaska in August. My 93 explorer 4.0 liter V6 has a block heater installed. The question is how do I check to make sure its working? I could trace it down and pull it then heat some water but that may give me leaks etc. Is there an easy way to do this.
Also anyone with any experience with these. Do they work well at -20F?
Why not just plug it in when the truck is cold and then see if it warms up the water? I have them on several tractors, and can hear the water gurgling when they are working. The ones I have are well over 15 years old and never give me a problem. Years ago I had one in a Ford Fiesta. I loved it. I plugged the car in on cold nights and it was great to have heat first thing in the morning. But then I am in a relatively warm climate....
Regards,
Ed White
Als wrote:
Well I thought of that but as my assignment would take me from 80F to possibly 1F I thought to would be better to check it in advance. Just hoping to have a way prior to arrival.
"Als" wrote in news:BLmse.147$ snipped-for-privacy@fe05.lga:
Prior to your departure (like tomorrow morning) plug the heater in for 15 or
20 minutes and see if the water heats up. Pretty simple really.An ohm-meter is a barely adequate test.... it can't reveal any lightly corroded terminals. I have an old trouble light wired so that the 100 watt bulb is in series with an added 110 volt recepticle. That is to say... the path of power is from one prong of the plug, through the block heater, on to the bulb and then back to the plug. This will add load to the circuit and reveal any "iffy" connections.
To be honest, I wouldn't sweat it at this point in time.... August in Alaska is still pretty decent and the garages there will be much more familiar with block heaters than those where you are now.
Where I live, block heaters are a fact of life... there's nothing magical about them and they are, by and large, trouble free.
If 1F is the coldest you'll face, you won't NEED the heater.
You might like using it so that you get heat in the cab sooner, but as for the engine starting at 1F -- no problem!
Alan Moorman
The only reason some people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory.
Paul Fix
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