Is the one that you bought original nissan/datsun spare part? You can easily buy here a set but it is not original datsun spare part. I have never seen one that would have been nissan/datsun made.

FinTukka,
It is an actual Datsun/Nissan part.

Chris,
Thanks again

Kelly

The block heaters that I bought look to have been vendor supplied to Nissan North America & have a Nissan parts number.
I also believe that they are unique to North America & look to have been supplied from a manufacturer in Canada.

Oh yeah, another benefit is easier starting with less drag at the oil pump from cold thick oil & better fuel vaporisation during cranking due to warm ports in the head & even a warm intake manifold. This really reduces the load on the starter & allows a cold & therefore reduced-performance battery to get it fired up right quick.

The temperature can drop to sub zero overnight around here during winter for days on end, so maybe it's an investment after all.
[see first post for picture]

I can see why FinTuukka has one. But D-man, what was it they said about selling ice to the eskimos?

These are very common in certain parts of the USA, for example eastern WA where it gets cold and icy all winter (in Seattle it only rains and rarely gets below 0 C).

When i was a kid there was a kid up the road who's dad used to plug in his 460CI T-bird. A bit of a wank I always thought, but maybe on an engine that large(take a while to heat up) or in a cold climate a worthwhile idea.

As FinTuukka said, we didn't get these heaters as genuine Datsun/Nissan parts. Mostly them are made by Defa or Calix.

Defa
Calix

With block heater you can have also interior heaters to warm up your cabin. That's very nice when there is -20 degrees (Celcuis) outside, but in your car there is something like +10 degrees. :)

When I was a kid I worked in a factory which made electric blankets for tractors. Different method but the same principle. Place the blanket over the motor, plug it in and keep the block warm overnight for easier starting and running first thing in the morning.

Heh, my friend tried few years ago something similar, he used this kind of device:




He put it under the bonnet and turned it on. Lucky for him that his car didn't burn or something - these devices are NOT ment for that kind of use.. :)

Quote:

Worst thing you could do for a engine. Now you're running an engine very rich at idling, which means more unburn fuel gets into your oil. The bores are being washed clean of oil by this excess fuel, and wear of the bores and rings will occur faster. Your engine takes longer to heat up this way too, and more wear will appear sooner. You're also wasting lots of fuel this way. Best thing to do, is drive of at a very sedate speed as soon as you get it fired up. This way the engine heats up faster, negating all or most of the previously mentioned negative effects. Most vehicle manufactures recommend driving of right after start up...

I disagree that a few minutes of idling is bad for the engine.

It's winter here & I start my engine on near full choke, then immediately push the knob in untill the engine is running at about 800 to 900 rpm. At this point the fast idle function has come into play but the choke plate is mostly open & the amount of air being consumed by the engine is low enough as to be unafected by the choke plate.

I leave it run for a few minutes to allow the oil to penetrate all of the places where it is intended to go while the engine speed & engine loadings are low.

At this point the engine is actually running lean due to the temperature & you are right, a portion of the fuel arrives in the cylinders unvaporised, so it's in liquid form, however, at nil engine load, the manifold vacuum is at its highest for the circumstances, so maximum possible vaporisation is occuring.

Since my engine is a stock 1200 it uses the 'hot spot' form of manifold heating & this spot is heating up while the engine is running. It doesn't take long for some appreciable warmth to reach this spot & improved fuel vaporisation occurs within a very short time. The upshot of this is that with more fuel arriving in the cylinders as vapour, the mixture is starting to drift towards the ideal & rpm's increase, thereby creating more hot exhaust gas & heating the manifold even more.

This in turn also improves the manifold vacuum which in turn helps to improve the conversion of liquid fuel to a gas, thereby improving the air fuel ratio, which increases rpm, which heats the manifold & increases vacuum etc. etc.

I tend to wait untill the rpm rise to about 1200 to 1500 before slowly pushing the choke knob in & bringing the revs down to about 1000. This whole process takes only a few minutes at most.

Once I have taken the chill out of it's bones I bring the revs down to about 800 or so & select 'low' & drive up the moderately steep hill near my place at about 2000 to 2200 rpm. This allows it to climb the hill without upshifting & then struggling in second gear. The light throttle needed also means that manifold vacuum remains high & this combined with manifold heat minimises the amount of liquid fuel reaching the cylinders.

By the top of the hill & on the flat the temperature guage is already showing a reading & warmth is flowing from the heater, so I select 'drive' position & drive on steadily but normally.

The Jatco trans needs vacuum to control the shift points & if I drive off too soon, I need more throttle than normal, which results in low vacuum & higher upshift points. The cold oil in the trans, combined with the higher rpm makes for a harsh shift, particularly the 1-2 shift, so a little heat means a bit more vacuum & a smoother shift.
By using this method I have the temp needle right in the middle of the guage within 2k from my home which puts me at the edge of town, but of course the whole engine & trans are not properly warmed untill about 16k [10 miles] has rolled under its wheels & this is easily achieved as I can maintain an easy 60 to 80k in the rural roads where I live, increasing the pace steadily as the whole car warms.

So for me, a short time at a fast idle after a stone cold winter start makes a lot of sense.