If that's a dealer or factory-installed heater, it heats the engine coolant. There are "core plugs" on the sides of all engines and often hidden on the front or back too. Those are often called "freeze plugs" because if there's not enough percentage of antifreeze in the coolant, and it freezes solid, it will expand and push those plugs out. Once thawed out, the coolant will be lost and those plugs must be replaced, then the coolant refilled. Sometimes those core plugs corrode through, also resulting in a coolant leak.
One of those core plugs is removed, then the engine heater is installed in that opening. There's no harm in leaving them plugged in all the time except for the hit to your electric bill. As I recall, they typically use around 600 watts.
You can buy that same type of heater and install it on an older engine, but there's also two other types of aftermarket heaters. One that used to be more common many years ago was a temporary replacement oil dip stick with a cord on the handle. Those were less effective, but they did keep the oil thinner and flowing better when the cold engine was started. The second one was a big block magnet that was stuck to the side or bottom of the oil pan to also heat the oil. Those don't work on engines with aluminum oil pans, and they lose their effectiveness on oil pans that are rusty of have patterns stamped in them. Those things cause there to be less contact between them for the heat to transfer into the engine. That type of heater can be quick to attach to any engine, but they're used mostly for heavy equipment.
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Tuesday, February 16th, 2021 AT 7:20 PM
