Winterizing Mods for 2nd Gen

In an attempt to keep my battery healthy and make startups on cold mornings here in CO a little easier I stole some ideas from this thread: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/block-heater.591203/ and cobbled together some parts for a cold weather setup. Items include: Kat's Engine Block Heater KH11813,

$63 Kat's 22200 80 Watt 36" Battery Thermal Wrap

Kat's 22200 Battery Thermal Wrap,

$40 NOCO Genius2D , 2A Direct-Mount Onboard Car Battery Charger, 12V Automotive Charger, Battery Maintainer, Trickle Charger, Float Charger and Desulfator for Marine, ATV, Truck and Deep Cycle Batteries

NOCO Genius2D Trickle Charger,

$23 NOCO GCP1 15A AC Port Plug, 125V Power Inlet Socket, and Waterproof Electrical Outlet Receptacle Box with 16" Integrated Outdoor Extension Cord

NOCO GCP1 15A AC Port Plug, Twist and Seal Cord Protect, Dissent Off-Road Flip-Up License Plate Mount, and an outdoor power strip.

As noted in other block-heater threads, there is a little filing needed to be done for an accurate fitment of the heater into the block.

I fabricated an aluminum mount for the power strip and attached it to the cover of the fuse box with machine screws and silicone for sealing.

For the port plug, I cut out the grille behind the flip up license plate and attached it with a home made bracket to the aluminum crossmember. I connected the port plug to the power strip and protected the connection with the cord protect and strapped everything securely and out of the way.

Installing the battery wrap was straight forward, and so was mounting the trickle charger. Once everything was mounted, and wires tucked away, I plugged everything into the power strip.

Now all I have to do when the temps hit rock bottom is run an extension cord to the front of the truck, flip up the license plate and plug it in. This is my first winter with this set-up and my truck starts with ease. No sounds of strain or stress.

 

That's pretty cool. What kind of temperatures are you dealing with? It's been 0F most mornings this year in Maine (on the coast too, it gets colder a few miles inland), and while I haven't felt like the truck struggles to start at all, I'm pretty interested in stuff that decreases wear and tear and helps with longevity. I thought briefly about a block warmer but I've got a long list of maintenance and priority upgrades like tires ahead of that...

 

We were recently in the single digits and teens. It's not consistently that cold, but it can be consistently below freezing, with dips here and there nearing or below zero during the season. My truck is older with over 200k, so where it makes sense for me to ease it's life, I attempt to do so.

 

I hear ya. Nicely done in any case, very slick.

 

Thank you, I appreciate it.

 

I spent several very cold winters in Chicago and one night my truck would not start, barely turned over. I bought a "Dip Stick Heater" It works great as long as motor is warm when you put it in and plug in. Never had any more problems when 0 or below!

 

The 4.0 V6 was also made with the idea of installing a factory block heater if one so desired. There is a port located in the rear of the driver's cylinder head (Bank 2) for this. I did and just looked at the invoice I obtained from Toyota of Dallas in 2017.
The invoice lists the part number as PYR09131.

 

Canadian here. Nicely done! Been meaning to do something similar to mine truck. How much electrical draw does all that equipment add up to for you?

My 2013 came with a block heater when I bought it. Has a nice little plug in the fog light housing for a special cord, similar to the one you added. But I've wanted to tap into that wiring to add a battery blanket and maybe an oil pan heater.

We get down to -40 every winter and will hover around -30C for a month or two. AGM batteries tend to last much longer here. A single -40 day is all it takes to kill a standard lead acid. I'm at 6 years with my AGM now, factory lead acid lasted about 4 years but didn't like the super cold in the last year. Luckily I park in a heated garage so it's rare that I have it sitting out in -40 nights (usually warms up into the -30 to -20 range during the day).

I find that the truck will start ok at those temps as long as I keep the battery topped up. It's the tranny oil that takes a while to heat up before it feels like you don't have the e-brake on anymore lol. Though I've seen what 5W-30 engine oil looks like at -40 and that got me wanting an oil pan heater as well.