I think warm oil (pan heater) or warm coolant (block heater) are the basic choices. If you use quality oil you can forego the warm oil, but it's hard to argue against better ultra cold start lubrication for your engine. I chose the block heater because our temps aren't that extreme, I use synthetic oil, and the attraction of heat as I'm backing down the driveway was too strong.
Here's how I use ours. Whatever the reason I want it on for the morning, I connect it to a wall plug that has a cheap security home light timer - the ones you set a lamp to go on and off certain times of day while you're on vacation. That way, I'm not paying to heat it all night, but set it to begin heating 2 hours before I need to drive off. The electric cord has a chunk of 2 X 4 attached to it with a couple industrial staples. The chunk is painted flourescent orange and can either lay on the hood directly in front of the driver, or a slit I cut into it fits on the top edge of the bug shield so it's in plain view of the driver. It's a cheap system that economizes on energy and provides a measure of idiot proofing so you don't drive off with the cord attached. In 15 years it has worked flawlessly.
I've got an oil pan heater on the EFI gasser and a lower rad hose heater on the diesel, they connnect to a timer on the outdoor plug in. I set the number of hours preheat based on the expected overnight temperature. Not only does it give a faster warm up, it's also easier on the engine in sub freezing temperatures. Sure it might start at -30 with no preheat, but that's going to reduce the useful life of the engine and it's generally hard on all equipment, and ultimately leads to higher maintenance costs. Both vehicles have battery blanket preheaters, and the diesel has preheat on the fuel filter and injectors as well as a coolant source heat exchanger on the fuel system. With a diesel clean starts without smoke equals long engine life and preheating makes a big difference.
Earlier this week I posted I needed the freeze plug diameter for an altnernate source as Napa claims there is a manufacturing back order on these block heaters. After reading this thread through I went to toyota.ca and chose, at random, a dealer in Quebec (Sun Country wasn't opened yet and decided I should act before the 80 owner mudders buy them all ). They had 3 in stock and are shipping one to me by regular mail as they said other forms of shipping would require a lot of paperwork on his part . Very pleasant to deal with and seemed eager to assist, even asking "how many you want?".
i need to mention, make sure the block heater is correct before knocking the freeze plug through on your block. You can do what i did and find out after the plug is knocked thru, that the heater is too small, so i then had to order a special loctite and special order a freeze plug from toyota. Pain in the A$$.
i need to mention, make sure the block heater is correct before knocking the freeze plug through on your block. You can do what i did and find out after the plug is knocked thru, that the heater is too small, so i then had to order a special loctite and special order a freeze plug from toyota. Pain in the A$$.
I would assume so. The block heater I got had a small tube of lube (silicone?) to smear on the o-ring of the block heater before putting it in. My block has a fair amount of surface rust on it so when I installed the heater and tightened the screw it didn't seal completely against the block. I took the heater back out (a real pain once the metal tabs have been expanded) and sanded flat the exterior mating surface of the block with 120 grit sand paper. Sealed perfectly after that.
I would recommend sanding the surface before removing the freeze plug to minimize any "stuff" getting into the block.
This thread is 12 years old, but super helpful when looking for a block heater for this winter. I bought my cruiser two months ago, so this will be my first winter, cheers for the part number. It was a first for me to read through exactly what I was looking for and have an American recommend contacting the Toyota dealership 10 minutes from my house. Rod is still around there.
). They had 3 in stock and are shipping one to me by regular mail as they said other forms of shipping would require a lot of paperwork on his part . Very pleasant to deal with and seemed eager to assist, even asking "how many you want?".
