Canadian Block Heater Question - 2018 Tacoma

Hi,

My wife and I just picked up our first Tacoma, a used 2018 TRD off road. Excited about it!

It came with the Canadian "premium" pass-through bumper block heater plug. The 3 pin style.

The main problem we have is that the plug connection is so stiff... It takes a lot of pressure to get it fully seated and unplugged. We're scared we're going to snap the plastic of the bumper. I tried dielectric grease but no change really. Once already we actually compressed the retaining spring so much trying to get the plug off that it un-hooked.

Anyway, living in the Yukon where most nights are around -30c or worse we can't really mess around with this stuff. So, we're wondering about just snipping the cord at the base of this fancy "premium" plug and wiring the cord into a traditional replacement male end plug which would then come out of the grill like 99% of the cars up here. We would just leave the pass through bumper plug and spring where it is so there isn't an empty hole.

Does anyone see anything wrong with this mod? I read that there was a recall on certain block heaters for the 17's and 18's. I can't see why wiring the cord into a traditional end plug would be a problem but thought I would check because I have never seen a block heater with this fancy 3 pin style and don't want our new purchase to burn down to the ground.

Thanks

 

Most of our customers will attach the cord and zip tie the extension to the lower grill. Leaving it all attached. Then remove it when the sun finally shows up in april.

Do not cut it, its high watts and many fires have been caused by misuse of a block heater.

 

@Bishop84 Ok thanks! Do they zip tie the little 1ft cord usually? Or the 6ft one?

 

Smaller of the two, its ugly but works.