Civic Block Heater Install

[Chris D.]

$36.09.. I just have to pull a freeze plug

thanks for the help on that one..
2002 Toyota Tacoma 2.4 engine heater (for refference)

[DifferentPointofView]

wow, I got my 1000w Tank Type Block Heater at Advance Auto Parts for only $27.98, and a freeze-plug type that I was gonna buy was $15.98 and was 600w. The tank type is thermostatically controlled. Check AAP and see if they have something cheaper.

[Chris D.]

Tank type block heater? any pictures of that? google has netted me ziltch

[DifferentPointofView]

http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductL...e=1415&PTSet=A
Here's a block heater I found for your vehicle.


This is a tank type heater, you connect a coolant hose, or drain plug to the side intake(silver) and coolant gets heated. It then goes out the top,(red) and goes in a continuous flow, heating the coolant. I couldn't find a tank type for your vehicle, but this is what mine looks like. It looks more simple than using the freeze plug cause it only takes connecting hoses to the the ends, and it came with all the hose ties, as well as a Y-connecter, and it basically the same process as freeze plug. drain coolant, attach heater, refill coolant, run engine, add coolant till it's back to level. You might be able to find one, you'd just have to look around. they might have a universal one you could use.

[TomO]

I originally had a Kat's circulation type tank heater of the 1000W range that I got from Ebay. In fact, I'm selling it on ebay now as it will not work out for the way the civic has it's coolant hoses set up. Plus, it takes up much more room than the frost plug heater. It's just a personal preference on my part, but it was much easier to setup the OEM style thread in plug heater than trying find a lower hose adapter and plumb it all in.

[DifferentPointofView]

It really depends on each vehicle, because freeze plug types are harder to do than coolant hoses for the 4.0, and I've got way too much room left for that giant V8 that can go in there, and it'd be easier to do than a freeze plug. But I understand in a smaller vehicle because of the smaller engine bays, especially the newer vehicles (everything is covered in plastic trim). I don't know about that toyota. I'm guessing there's lots of room left because he has the 2.4 and it's designed to take a V8.

[TomO]

Ok, so I did some calculating yesterday at work.

It costs ~12¢ per day to run the heater. That's running from 6am-8am and then from 2pm-4pm 5 days a week. 400Watt heater run for 4 hours = 1600Watts or 1.6kWh. 1.6kWh = 12.32¢. So now it only takes my car ~1 minute to hit operating temp as indicated by temp gauge instead of ~6 minutes it takes without the heater. I'm not completely sure of the mileage I get while the car is in rich mode warming up, but I'll assume 25MPG and normal operating temp mileage will be 45MPG let's say (due to me not putting in the WAI again for winter). Assuming Gasoline is $3 per gallon it costs me 12¢ per mile during warmup as opposed to only 6.6¢ per mile cost during normal operating temp. So I'm saving almost 6 cents per mile for roughly ten minutes each day (2 x 5 minutes...once in the morning and once in the afternoon) in that ten minutes I cover ~10 miles. That means I'm saving 60¢ in gas every day or $3 every week that I use the heater (which is also one gallon of gas). In order to recoup the cost of the heater, I need to use it for ~13 weeks. Please correct me if any of my math is wrong.

So a block heater is a great investment for the DIY'er or even the type of ecomodder that wants to save gas without cost being an issue (i.e. having a shop install the heater).

[Chris D.]

TomO, your Math hurts my head

[TomO]

It hurt my head a few times...I was doing most of it in my head. Then i started writing it down and got it figured out to my satisfaction, lol.

[jazzie604]

dont forget the benefits of 5 min's less of "frozen butt syndrome" causing distracted driving