At 04:20 PM 12/13/01 -0800, you wrote:
>For those of you that live in colder climates and use a block heater, I
>wonder if I can ask you a question. On the mornings when I don't use my
>block heater the truck starts and fast idles fine. But some times I will
>put my block heater on a timer to start 2 hours before I go to work in the
>morning. When I do this the truck starts fine but will spit and sputter for
>aprox. 2 seconds, then run fine. I'm just wondering why the block heater
>being plugged in would make the engine sputter like this for a very short
>time, while without the block heater there is no hesitations. (and don't say
>"then don't use the block heater") :-) This has happened like this for a
>few years now in winter and has just got me curious. BTW, this is on a 97,
>318 and it's getting cold here in BC, Canada. Jay
Jay
I used my block heater for the first time last winter ... unusually early, cold
spell (below 0F) and I had not changed back to the 195 tstat from the 180 nor
brought my coolant mix back up to the 50-50 mix (was starting to get ice
crystal
formation!).
Anyways, I had the same experience. I believe that the pcm was getting
conflicting sensor signals and it took a bit of time before it figured it
really
should be in cold-start mode (i.e. very rich).
BTW, I read that about a 1 hour period with the block heater should be
suffice ... anything longer may not be beneficial ... a rough guide dependent
on conditions of course. I did notice that I was getting some "sizzling"
sounds
when it was plugged in for more than an hour :-)
Bob Tom Burlington, Ont., Canada
'97 Dakota Sport, 4x2, CC, Flame red, 5.2L, auto., 3.92SG
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