Those of you with a block heater

I turned on my block heater at the start of an 8 hour shift to see how warm it kept the engine. Leaving work it was 0*F and I turned the ignition on. The oil temp was pinned cold and after starting it still took ~5min to start moving up. Is this normally or should the block heater be able to put off enough heat to show on the oil temp indicator??

 

Is your block heater working? Does it warm the oil or coolant? 4.0 I assume? They don't normally make the engine warm enough to make heat right away (dangerous) Just make the engine easier to start.

 

Yeah 4.0. I didn't crawl under to feel the block but I assume it was working cuz it was directly plugged in

 

Do the 3rd gens have an oil temp gauge? I don't have a 3rd gen, so just curious.

It seems to me, that block should be a lot warmer than that. 5 minutes is about what a truck with no block heater should take to war up in zero temps.

I don't think that block heater is working. Can you plug it into a circuit that has a light bulb on it? The bulb should flicker when you plug it in.

 

Block heaters are meant to keep the block a little warmer for easier starts. They don't really pre-heat your engine so that you'll get warm air in the cabin right away or noticeably a lot faster. Try a remote starter in conjunction with the block heater. Start your truck a few minutes before you get in, with temperature controls full blast and you'll be toasty with clear windows when you get in.

 

No way block heaters get the engine warm enough to register on the temp. gauge. They are meant to make it easier to start in freezing temps and given that it was 0* degrees its probably doing its job, but to make sure feel underneath the block and make sure its not freezing cold to see if its really turned on.

 

x 2 .OP I see you live in anchorage. Consider getting one of those magnetic type heater pads to attach to your oil pan. Should help with those cold engine starts.
but your never going to see instant heat. i live in the cold Canadian prairies and at -35 degrees you can idle it for 10 minutes and you will see little movement on your temp gauge. I normally idle for about a minute or 2 in very cold temps and then start driving slowly until engine reaches operating temps. A few times I forgot to plug in at -30 degrees and truck started ok but don't recommend it as it is very hard in the motor.

 

Agreed, check that yourself or take it to someone. I'm up in Fairbanks (-40) I know down in ANC most only do block heater. I have block, transmission, oil pan and battery heaters and it still takes 10 min to warm up from this temp. But tomorrow, the autostart gets put on. Woohoo!

 

I don't even plug mine in until 0F. It helps the engine start when it's cold, which I don't notice until closer to -10F. The block heater is just a mild warmer, it doesn't make the block noticeably warmer to the touch.

 

Running 0-W30 oil should be a big help with cold start engine wear. I just made the switch.

 

Thanks for the input. I'm doing the same thing tonight and befor I start it I'll give the block a feel. I was under the impression it put off enough heat to notice in the temp indicator. I guess an auto start is in my future too