Engine Block Heater

[LMB]

So question. I'm assuming the block heater is in a frost plug, for the water. Does it get that warm that it reaches the oil pan?

Yes it is a frost plug heater.
I do not have experience if it will work as good with a plastic oil pan. My experience with old farm tractors as a kid they would not easily turn over with the thick oil. When plugging them in a few hours and they spun right over with 6v systems.

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[pan-y-cerveza]

Will this help? I have two, but not for my car, here in the land of always summer.

If it's cold enough to need a block heater it will be too cold for your cord to nicely coil up like that.

 

[dejones64]

Yes it is a frost plug heater.
I do not have experience if it will work as good with a plastic oil pan. My experience with old farm tractors as a kid they would not easily turn over with the thick oil. When plugging them in a few hours and they spun right over with 6v systems.

I suppose with any warmth in the water it'll radiate out. Better than nothin'. I might have read somewhere that the 2.3L has the metal pan and 2.7L has the plastic, I could be wrong.

 

[NVCowboy]

If it's cold enough to need a block heater it will be too cold for your cord to nicely coil up like that.

I should've included the post from the guy that was worried about backing out without unplugging. My intended humor fell short, as it is the first time I copied a picture into a post, and I didn't quote him before I posted my last.

 

[bloominguez]

Here's what my 2018 F-150 owners manual has to say...

Gotta love that twisted wording. "...0.4 to 1.0 kilowatt-hours of energy per hour of use." Enough to make an electrical engineer cringe. Otherwise known simply as "0.4 to 1.0 kW." As much as 8.3 A at 120 V, so it's a decent load when it's plugged in.

That would be 90 kWh if you run it for 3 hours every single night in a 30-day month. Or 240 kWh if your plug it in for 8 hours every night. For reference, my power usage varies from 300 kWh all the way to 1500 kWh per month when the A/C is sorely needed, just to see how much of an impact this can have on your energy consumption. Put it another way: In the winter, when electric power usage is low (for me), if I were lazy and plugged the car in whenever I wasn't driving it, it could possibly double my energy usage.

Solid info, though, about not needing more than three hours of heating.

P.S. I'm ordering the block heater. Great to have when up north (Upper Michigan, in my case).

 

[toughtoaster]

Gotta love that twisted wording. "...0.4 to 1.0 kilowatt-hours of energy per hour of use." Enough to make an electrical engineer cringe. Otherwise known simply as "0.4 to 1.0 kW." As much as 8.3 A at 120 V, so it's a decent load when it's plugged in.

That would be 90 kWh if you run it for 3 hours every single night in a 30-day month. Or 240 kWh if your plug it in for 8 hours every night. For reference, my power usage varies from 300 kWh all the way to 1500 kWh per month when the A/C is sorely needed, just to see how much of an impact this can have on your energy consumption. Put it another way: In the winter, when electric power usage is low (for me), if I were lazy and plugged the car in whenever I wasn't driving it, it could possibly double my energy usage.

Solid info, though, about not needing more than three hours of heating.

P.S. I'm ordering the block heater. Great to have when up north (Upper Michigan, in my case).

Ideal use case is to use it when the temps drop below 15-20F in my opinion. Oils should be rated for 0 degrees F though and realistically only need to use it when it's that cold out so energy should be saved to some degree (no pun intended). Being from Chicagoland we occasionally get the below 0 weather but usually its about a week all winter on average. On average the temperatures are below freezing for 43 days out of the year.

 

[Eggsalad]

Block heater or even a oil pan heating pad really helps with starting and saving the engine, but also consider in real cold, there's other things with oil that you have to mindful of. Had to do a couple of very slow and ginger laps around the parking lot at -35f so the axles would warm up.

Quality synthetic like Amsoil in the axles, transfer case and manual trans is a good thing.

 

[71to21-2DR]

I want it just to keep the coolant warm in the winter, even though it’s only in the 30s or 40s here in Norcal. Less warm-up time. And the windows will defrost faster.

 

[NC_Pinz]

Necro-thread but hey I'll join in. I added the block heater to mine even though I'm in North Carolina. I got used to running one on my diesel truck. The instant defrost and easy starting is what I liked. I plugged the cord into a digital timer that turned on early in the morning so it was only running for a few hours before I started the truck. My batteries lasted 10 years on that truck (dual setup).

You still have to take it easy because the rest of the driveline is cold.

 

[mdfilip]

Anyone have pictures of where the block heater plug is located? I heard it was under the hood on the passenger side which kinda sucks if you have to open the hood to plug and unplug it.

 

[amccue90]

Anyone have pictures of where the block heater plug is located? I heard it was under the hood on the passenger side which kinda sucks if you have to open the hood to plug and unplug it.

I don't have a picture because I moved mine. Yes is under the hood on the passenger side, kinda high up near the air intake.

but:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082VYB1MF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Put it wherever you want.

 

[Jhuff]

I have enough cold nights where I live that I went with a heater myself.

Aside for convenience, faster warm up, this is also my first turbo (and I am leery of additional parts that can fail). Thus, I'm going to baby that thing on cold mornings, whether it's overkill or not.

Will be adding a timer or wifi controlled power outlet so that it's on only when needed.

 

[Silver&Black_Bronco]

Anyone have pictures of where the block heater plug is located? I heard it was under the hood on the passenger side which kinda sucks if you have to open the hood to plug and unplug it.

https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/engine-block-heater-plug-location.24524/post-910086

 

[mdfilip]

I don't have a picture because I moved mine. Yes is under the hood on the passenger side, kinda high up near the air intake.

but:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082VYB1MF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Put it wherever you want.

I ordered one similar yesterday when I found out the factory location. I can’t believe they just left it there

 

[amccue90]

I have enough cold nights where I live that I went with a heater myself.

Aside for convenience, faster warm up, this is also my first turbo (and I am leery of additional parts that can fail). Thus, I'm going to baby that thing on cold mornings, whether it's overkill or not.

Will be adding a timer or wifi controlled power outlet so that it's on only when needed.

I bought a wifi Inkbird temperature controller. Been using them with my homebrew fermentation, never failed me there, hasn't failed me yet on the Bronco.

heating hooked up to the block heater, cooling hooked up to a battery maintainer.

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