Ford Powerstroke Diesel Forum banner

Block Heater Cord

13K views 35 replies 15 participants last post by  NCHornet 
#1 ·
I just looked under my truck behind the passenger's tow hook and didn't see any zip-tied cord.

I'm guessing I don't have the cord installed on my truck.

What are my options on getting the block heater running?

Isn't there a marineco fitting that I can mount through my bumper for ease of use?

How hard is it to hook it up (once you buy a cord)?
 
#2 ·
Did you check your drivers side tow hook? Thats where mine is and believe me it took me a while to find it. Its way in there and theres not much slack. My neighbors 04 with a 6.0 is on the passenger tow hook and he couldn't find his either until we looked real hard. Just double check it. It should have one. Otherwise look on both sides of the block and maybe you can see if there is one already in a frost plug.
 
#6 ·
a frost plug is a round plug that fits into the block. Its made to "pop" out if the pressure in the block gets to be too much, like if there was water in there and it froze. I believe ford puts the block heaters in a frost plug on these trucks. Its too cold (-1) outside right now or i would go check mine. You will see 4 i think, on each side of the block below the exhaust manifolds. One of em should have a wire running to it for a block heater.
 
#8 ·
Look on your oil filter. IF you see an orange cord, follow it to the left tow hook and that should be the plug in for the block heater. Only if you have the orange cord coming from the oil filter area, then you have the heater. From what I have read, it can be hard to find. I took a Marinco adapter and put it the plastic air dam below the bumper. I took a heavy duty extention cord and took the male end of the block heater, plugged it into the female end of the extention cord....ran about 4 feet and cut it. I took the end I cut and wired it into the input I mounted on the bumper..Look at my pictures and you will see what I did...
 

Attachments

#9 ·
Are you talking about the orange cord in this picture? I'm positive I've got that on my truck!

 
#10 ·
block heater

my 6.0 is on the right side but it wasn't easy to find.It is so short if I don't use it for a while it goes back into hiding and is a real pain to get my hands on it.And of course it is always very cold when I need it so it is that much harder to get.This spring I am going to mount a plug into the bumper so I don't have to dig it out.
 
#15 ·
Do the Marinco mod, it is much more solid. You found the cord finally, if you don't use something like the Marinco mod the life of the cord will be short lived from all the pulling on it. I have pics of the Marinco plug installed on mine. You can find them at any boat shop Cabellas Bass Pro etc.... I just gave away the last one I had. If you can put a new plug on a electrical cord you can do this. You will need a metal hole saw though. You can rent it for about $10.
PM me with any ?
NCH
 
#18 · (Edited)
I know somebody had a chrome socket for their block heater mounted in their bumper at the SSS. I can't remember who it was though...I would rather have the chrome one than the black if I put it in the actual bumper.

*I think it was Delaware King Ranch* (just sent him a PM)



Nice cowbell, I know guys who do the same thing on their bikes.
 
#20 ·
Yeah as you can see by my picture, I just put it in the plastic under the chrome. If you drill into chrome, then you compromise the chrome coating and the edge will start to rust. I see guys at work all the time that have drilled through galvanized, zinc or chrome and before long they start to rust. I figure the plastic will not rust....as long as I have the truck anyway :eek:hnoes:
 
#22 ·
Well I looked under the drivers side again tonight and found it! It was basically behind the driver's side fog light zip tied to another wire.

I'm going to leave the block heater in tonight and see if it makes any difference in the morning. If it's a difference that I can tell, I'll do the Marinco Mod. If not, I just won't use the block heater. :dunno:





 
#21 ·
Yup, it was me with the chrome plug at SSS. I will be out all day tomorrow snowboarding, but I am off work Monday so I will try to get a pic up. I like the chrome, blends in nicely with the bumper and the best part was tha it already had the Ford heater plug on it, so no splicing needed!:thumb:
 
#24 ·
Is that something you can buy from Ford, or did you find one that someone else already made so you just had to unplug it at the block and block the wiring coming to the chrome plug into it? If from Ford, do you know a part number or what application it was from?
thanks
 
#23 ·
Gonna get pretty chilly down chucktown way tonight. I would imagine Irmo will be a little colder....You should notice a difference in being plugged in.....if nothing else, the heat will be warm inside the cab pretty quickly. If you decide to plug it in pretty regularly, a timer set for about 2 and half hours before you need to start it will keep you from running the 1500 watt heater all the time....Let me know how it goes.....Dave:givemebeer:
 
#26 ·
Man was it nice this morning not having to sit in the driveway while it sputtered and coughed a little as I start it up. The truck started right up with no problems and I had a little heat instantly. I didn't know that heater is 1500 watts, that would rack up on the electric bill in a hurry if I plugged it in every night. I like your idea about the 2 1/2 hour timer prior to me needing the vehicle. I figure the heater draws 12.5 amps (1500 watts @ 120 volts).

Any suggestions on finding a cheap on/off timer that would get the job done?
 
#25 ·
Just another way of doing it. I mounted mine in the grille. I dont know if theres a good spot in the newer body style grille to mount the plug or not. Mine being a obs, my grille had enough area for it. The housing came from a big truck.... the cord plug is round and has a spring loaded set ball in it, to lock it in place.

 
#27 ·
Go to Home Depot. They have some nice timers in the outdoor lighting section. I use a timer set at about 3 hours in the morning. I don't think that the block heater is quite 1500 watts. I think your only looking at about 1000 watts unless the 7.3 heater is bigger than a 6.0 heater. There is no way the circuit breaker that I have mine plugged into would handle anything close to 1500 watts.

When I start the truck in the morning the coolant temp is anywhere from 96 to 103 degrees depending on the ambient temp. Instant heat is a nice feature, but with electric at over $0.18/kilowatt hour I can't afford to plug it in all night long. The $20 timer will almost pay for itself in the first month. I figure it cost me about $10-$12 per month right now to plug the truck in with the timer. It would cost more than that in fuel for warm-up idle time.
 
#28 ·
Go to Home Depot. They have some nice timers in the outdoor lighting section. I use a timer set at about 3 hours in the morning. I don't think that the block heater is quite 1500 watts. I think your only looking at about 1000 watts unless the 7.3 heater is bigger than a 6.0 heater. There is no way the circuit breaker that I have mine plugged into would handle anything close to 1500 watts.
I'll definately check out the timers. I might find one on ebay for cheap. Thanks for the help

Referring to your circuit breaker....just to give you an idea in relation, a hair dryer is typically 1875 watts which is around 15.6 amps. You must have your block heater plugged into a circuit with a 10amp breaker:dunno:
 
#29 ·
The block heater is 1000 watts not 1500. This is still like having 10 100 watt light bulbs running all night, so for sure use a timer, under $20 at Lowes. I also would be careful about drilling through the chrome part of the bumper, I have seen a lot of rusting from people doing it, even if they seal the edge with galvanized paint it still rusts over time. If you look on my pics the plastic cowl piece under the chrome part is a good place, these are usually black or in my case painted white, there is a metal bumper behind the plastic so it is a nice rigid mount, but if you get any rust around the hole it won't show. The chrome ones, as well as white and black can be found at any decent boat shop or Cabellas as I said above.
 
#32 ·
Thanks for the info! I'm probably going to mount the cheap Marinco black plastic inlet in the same location as yours. I think the plug is somewhere around $15 and I've got a gift certificate to boater's world I need to use before it expires.

As for the timer, I'm probably going to be hitting up Lowes tonight. :thumb:

I looked for a nice chrome inlet and the cheapest I could find was around $60+shipping, it had a screw-on cap....I was looking for one with a spring-loaded cap.
 
#34 ·
Dave- Where abouts are you in chuck town.....I've not seen your truck before.
I work in North Charleston but live in Summerville....Retired from the Air Force a few years ago..



I also would be careful about drilling through the chrome part of the bumper, I have seen a lot of rusting from people doing it, even if they seal the edge with galvanized paint it still rusts over time. If you look on my pics the plastic cowl piece under the chrome part is a good place, these are usually black or in my case painted white, there is a metal bumper behind the plastic so it is a nice rigid mount, but if you get any rust around the hole it won't show.
You are 100% correct on the rust thing. I have seen folks drill into chrome and they immediatly start rusting once you comprimise the seal. I did the same thing you did on the plastic piece under the bumper. I got lucky, I have the dark grey piece under the chrome and my marinco plug is black so you hardly even see it. Heck sometimes I get asked if there is something on my bumper....running stealth for sure. Nice you have there for sure...Dave
 
#31 ·
Thanks for the clarification Hornet! I was sure I had read that they were 1000 watts and I know from experience that my circuit breaker wouldn't handle a 1500 watt load. I'm not a fan of having the plug in the bumper, but I guess it is convenient.
 
#33 ·
I got the timer at Home Deopt or something like that about a year ago along with the extention cord to do like I had described. If I remember correctly, don't get the light duty one, with just a polarized 2 prong plug, get the heavy duty one with the 3rd prong for the ground. I think mine was less than $10. My bad on the 1500 watt thing, for some reason that is what I seem to have read a while back...glad I stand corrected. Happy hunting...
 
#36 ·
Man you went digging for this thread!!! You are not using the factory block heater. You are plugging into a aftermarket heater. You should at least see the connection for the block heater cord above your oil filter. As to why someone isn't using it and installed a freeze plug heater I have no idea.

NCH
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top