Questions and Answers
Block Heaters
Q. I have a 1999 Dodge Stratus, fuel injected, with a 2.4 litre 4 cylinder engine. The block heater does not work. I have had it into the shop and they said it checks out fine. There is power to the engine heater plug all right, but other than that the block heater seems to be totally ineffective.
Even after being plugged in all night, it still starts cold. I know it is very hard on the car to have it start this way, although it always does start. I know this is a previously unused factory heater, since I took the tape seal off the cord myself. I live in Calgary, AB, Canada, and we experience our share of quite cold winters. Any suggestions, ideas, or comments would be greatly appreciated.
Also, I have been told that you cannot install a circulating block heater on this car. Is this true?? And if so why??
Thank you very much for your time.
KelvinA. A block heater is easy enough to check with an ohmmeter. Just measure the resistance between each prong of the plug, if it reads open or very low, the heater is bad. If the resistance is high, chances are it's good.
Now most block heaters don't heat up a lot. Most times not even enough to show on the gauge. They keep the coolant in the block at about 40°, which, to the engine, is good enough to keep the oil from getting thick and give a little head start on the heater.
There are so many styles of circulating heaters that I can only guess that there may be one that will work on your car. However the standard block heaters do more than an adequate job of keeping an engine warm.
Additional Information provided courtesy of ALLDATA
