New England B.S. Thread

No, you do not. You'd be better served with a battery blanket than a block heater anyways, but neither are needed around here.

A well maintained diesel doesn't need them either. The older ones did, the new ones are a different animal and should start without a block heater just fine. I have one on my diesel for the sole purpose of getting heat in the cabin more quickly.

 

Do you think its a good idea on an 02 7.3 powerstroke?

 

Based on that I assume there are slightly less cat thefts?

 

Yeah, probably a good idea on something that old just to help the old girl along.

 

They just ship them to Jersey

 

Will do probably. My brother may just drive the thing south for the winter.

 

The Lucids - I didn't know, I have seen those but I thought it was just a model name from Kia/Hyundai. Nifty.

I'm sure in 100 years people will look back at how much we've done with batteries and how bad it was for the environment and whatnot, the same way we are now looking back at coal/oil/etc. I don't know what it will be that takes over, but it'll be something.

I really want a stinger. The insurance is $$$ though, people found a budget WRX and were wrapping them around phone poles left and right. Male under 25 having one of those would have been bonkers. I'm over 25 now, but would probably still be bananas. I'm still looking at/thinking about a little fun car - miata, maybe. BRZ, etc.

Long of the short - no. Not worth it. At most, a remote start. MIGHT be worth it if you were in VT/NH/ME but even then, probably not really.

 

But a remote start and a block heater are accomplishing 2 different things. Remote start, in my opinion, is just for creature comfort or to help the cabin heat up before you get in and drive. The purpose of the block heater is to heat the water jacket or oil pan (depending on the type) to make for an easier starting engine, make the oil less viscous so it flows through the block easier which, in theory, leads to less wear and tear on the engine. Modern oils act as a lower weight when cold now anyways, so they still flow reasonably well in the colder temps that we see in New England. The most important thing I'd say to do is to drive conservatively for the first few miles before really giving it the beans. Even with a block heater or remote start, sure the engine may be warm but the tranny, transfer case and axles are stone cold and need time to warm up as well.

 

Our trucks run 0-20, and the block heaters are really small. They barely warm the oil, the engine running for 5-10s accomplishes the same thing. In northern alaska, maine, michigan, etc maybe it makes sense. But we're talking -20, 30°. I know a few people have set up those light timers and extension cords so that they run for about an hour before they start up their engines.

CT, RI, MA/south of the rain-snow line - I wouldn't waste the time, effort, and money on a block heater.

ABORT MISSION.

Was it @js312 mentioned something about a limit on the number of skips you have? Yeah...I just ran into that. Was listening to a song, wanted to skip, saw it was grey. Thought "OH I'm at the end of the playlist". NOPE. I have reached the 'skip limit' unless I sign up for the 'unlimited' plan. Which, to be fair, may be the same cost as spotify, but, no.

 

Creature comfort until you wake up to frozen.glaze and can't even open your truck to start it!

 

I haven't tried it, but that would be an annoying limitation.

 

Ah just looked it was @HisDad that had the skip limit issue.

 

To me, there is nothing better than being able to start my truck from inside the house and get it warmed up on a freezing winter day. When I don't forget, I set the temp to high, direction to defrost, and fan medium.

It's worth the small amount of fuel expended to not have to stand outside the truck and try to chip the ice and brush the snow off the windows.

File this under "old guy comfort."

 

Yup my ice chipping days are over!!

 

this was the first thing I did with my truck. Remote start.

Now that my commute is 1.5 miles, I think I'll have to "suck it up" on the cold mornings. Doesn't make sense to run it for 5-10 minutes for a 5 minute commute

 

I don't have a commute any longer and most of my drives are longer, but I still use the remote start on cold days. Occasionally, I'll use it on hot days to get the AC going, but not as often. Since the remote start is also the remote door open and starter kill, it gets a lot of use.

 

Eh, how many stories of blown starters are there? Not enough to be concerned about.

I use it for the A/C if I have to leave the doggo in the truck. I used to have the cell control, I no longer have it but it's just a subscription model so I could. It's nice to know I can be in the store and hit the button and get another 15 minutes before it shuts down.

 

I have a timer on my block heater cord. It turns on about 3 hours before I wake up, I remote start it when I'm putting on my work boots and it has a high idle on it. Once the engine hits a certain temp, high idle kicks in and then it will actually start making heat.

 

Oh yes it does!! Take it from experience. I ran a truck for 2 years with a brand new battery. And the battery died. Why? Because I didn’t give the alternator enough time to fully recharge the battery. Not to mention giving the motor enough heat cycles to maintain the countless plastic parts around the engines these days.

 

I get the truck up to temp regularly, just not on my commute.