Circulating tank block heater maintenance

[Daox]

I went about flushing the radiator core on my Mirage this weekend, and at the same time I was going to install my Kats 1000W block heater that I had on my Chevy Metro. The heater is absolutely wonderful and warmed up the engine coolant in about a half hour on the Metro.

I grabbed the heater and pulled off the hoses. This is what I found. There were signs that it had been leaking a little, and the clamp was not nearly as tight as it should have been. You really do need to check these clamps and re-tighten them after a week or two because I know I put that sucker on tight. I assume its the heat cycling that does it.





In any case, I took it apart and cleaned it up. This is what is inside for those who wondered. I know I did.





And its all cleaned up and ready to go into the Mirage now.

[Frank Lee]

On a related note, core plug heaters can need maintenance on their cords, on both ends. In the past I have had to shine the tarnish off the contacts on each end of the cord with steel wool; on the engine side I used di-electric grease to keep from having to crawl under there again for that and on the plug-in end I use a bit of WD-40 but one could easily get away with using nothing because access is easy and the steel wool bit takes only seconds.

[oil pan 4]

This is why I make mine out of welded stainless.