Suggest a heater???

[ssnsvibe09]

interesting thread about blockheaters for temperatures above freezing... I am now a three season blockheater user on a 1.8L and notice a difference but I am now into 5 degree temperatures.

I imagine your truck burns a fair bit of fuel idling for 15 minutes and a blockheater would certainly help.

my point is this.. there are very few manufacturers of blockheaters and you will find that companies like Temro are OEM suppliers, therefore OEM and aftermarket are of the same quality if installed properly.

I imagine one will only cost 30 to 60 bucks for your truck. be aware the truck will only heat to a point were you are wasting power to the atmosphere around the engine but I suspect not nearly as fast as idling a 4.9L engine.

tbh my primadonna child has endured cold cars all her life and it has not killed her. That is with me starting and rolling down the driveway nearly immediately at - 4f.

[Fat Charlie]

It's been anywhere from 10 above to 2 below in the mornings lately. My four year old moves pretty quickly, and knows that once the doors are closed a car full of people gets warmer fast.

[ssnsvibe09]

especially if the car is moving. I found that if I coasted mine down some hills that it lost temperature. One of the many reasons for the grill block too.

[JRMichler]

My 1.5 year old daughter just HAD to go sledding one night. It was 18 degrees below zero out, and we played for almost an hour before she got tired enough to come in. Yes, I know it was past her bedtime, but what father can resist a little girl that REALLY wants to go sledding with him? Kids come with built in furnaces and can handle cold temperatures surprisingly well. Which is why we never idled the car to prewarm it.

And she survived it. She's 17 now.

[XYZ]

Originally Posted by JRMichler

My 1.5 year old daughter just HAD to go sledding one night. It was 18 degrees below zero out, and we played for almost an hour before she got tired enough to come in. Yes, I know it was past her bedtime, but what father can resist a little girl that REALLY wants to go sledding with him? Kids come with built in furnaces and can handle cold temperatures surprisingly well. Which is why we never idled the car to prewarm it.

And she survived it. She's 17 now.

Mine is now 28, and she survived the cold too, better than I do today. I still don't pre-warm any car I have. But an add-on seat warming cushion does help warm my butt in winter.

You're a great dad.

[gone-ot]

Useless FWIW info (I know), but my wife absolutely LOVES the "touche' toasting" seat warmers in her Cruze.

[ssnsvibe09]

buddy of mine had seat heaters in his Jetta, initially he accused them of shrinking his bladder capacity...

[nackerton]

Electric cabin heaters are popular here, they are connected to a block heater wiring with a kit like this.

http://rengaskeskus.com/media/wysiwyg/sis_haara.jpg

[foytix]

Having 4 kids still in car seats I'll chime in. Kids should not wear any heavy/puffy winter clothes when buckled into their seats. If you get in a wreck the clothing will compress (no matter how tight they "feel" buckled in) and the chances of the seat not retaining them will increase greatly. My wife's as passionate about car seat safety as I am about fuel mileage LOL. Sorry if you didn't want to hear it.

[XYZ]

Originally Posted by foytix

Having 4 kids still in car seats I'll chime in. Kids should not wear any heavy/puffy winter clothes when buckled into their seats. If you get in a wreck the clothing will compress (no matter how tight they "feel" buckled in) and the chances of the seat not retaining them will increase greatly. My wife's as passionate about car seat safety as I am about fuel mileage LOL. Sorry if you didn't want to hear it.

Car seats should work no matter what type of clothing is worn by the kid that is strapped into in the car seat.

You made a claim. Now convince us of your claim by showing proof that your claim is credible.