Circulating coolant heater

Has anyone installed an honest-to-goodness circulating coolant heater on a V6 2017? The 400 watt external tiddler is a bit under powered. When to 350 watt B/H in my 2010 VW diesel went, I replaced it with a 1500 watt Zero-Start. 45-90 minutes was all that was needed for an easy start, even at 20 below.

I looked under the hood, but there's too much plumbing to sort out without a service manual, and mine's still under warranty.

 

http://oilordering.com/product-detail/dominator-coolant-boost/

 

What are you looking for exactly? Just a heater for cold start or a heater to actually get the heater working sooner?
The Tacoma has a few things:
1. 0W-20 Synthetic gives you to -40f starting ability.
2. An electric heating coil built in to the heating unit to augment your standard heater.
3. If you are going to be in really cold weather, a simple block heater plus the above should be all you need.

 

Pretty sure these trucks have a circulating coolant heater

 

A good block heater circulates the coolant, don’t the Canard’s versions have that option?

 

More of a diesel thing, isn’t it? Had one on my 06 Jetta TDI. Was a beautiful thing. Never really had any cold start issues with a gasser. Block heater should suffice. A battery blanket is nice to have too.

 

BITD, I had a Corona .... was parked outside ... put a dipstick heater in there with a 100W bulb next to the battery. All was hooked to an appliance timer set to 1 HR before I left for work. Did an excellent job!

 

I think he's looking for the a plug-in device that goes in your coolant line.

 

My sold-in-Canada Tacoma came without a block heater. I have the dealer option one to go in, but its only 400 W or so. So it needs to be plugged in for hours to be effective. And it only warms the block metal from the outside. Someone posted an IR pic of the motor in one of the block heater threads, so heating is localized.

As far as starting, it not been a problem so far. I have noticed significantly poorer gas mileage in cold weather, on short cycle driving, which I expected. Like 20%, if you believe the truck.

My diesel experience has been a 25% increase in fuel consumption, in cold weather(-10 C and down, Less than 25km trip). Preheating made a huge difference.

So, prewarming the engine will likely pay a dividend. I have actual coolant heaters on hand, but they are convection type, so correct plumbing is critical, or they don't work/overheat.

 

Like, one of these

https://phillipsandtemro.com/solutions/engine-heating-solutions/circulation-heaters/

These WILL NOT work properly, unless the heater outlet runs upward into the block, dip-free, and draws from a lower point in the system. Water channels have to be open when the engine is cold (think closed thermostat). Not a big deal on older gas engines, cuz the ports were there and the plumbing comparatively simple.

A frost plug heater is another option, but it involves engine surgery, something I can't do whilst under warranty. I may not have access to a suitable plug anyway.

 

For people with deep pockets, a Webasto or Eberspacher would be nice. Not me, right now.

 

If the 3rd gen block heater is similar to the block insert style on the 2nd gen it should work fine. I just checked mine that’s been plugged in for a couple hours and it’s warmed the coolant from -10°F to 52°F in that time. I have an oil pan heater as well which probably helps radiate some heat upwards through the block.

 

So it would seem. Hole in the left rear face of block. I'm awaiting heat transfer paste and decent weather for the install.

And, I s'pose, some cold weather to test it out. Gonna be +5 C here next week.
I take that back. We had a winter a few years back where it was warmer Yellowknife than southern Ontario for about 2 weeks.

A plumbing diagram for a circ type heater from some one who has it working would be appreciated.

So far, no takers...

 

I really want the fuel-wasting, emission-system heat-up sub-program to kick off sooner. On my VW TDI, I thnk it was based on engine coolant temp.
Regardless, a block heater and weather front saved significant fuel.

A big block heater allows me to turn it on and get ready(60 minutes, pillow to punchclock). The factory 400W means I need to plan things hours ahead of time (not always possible) to benefit.

My indicated tank mileage is 10-15% poorer in cold weather.

 

I use an outdoor timer to turn mine on and off automatically. My work schedule changes daily and at random but it’s a simple one minute job to change the timer the night prior as needed.

 

On my Dodge Cummins, I used a remote switch thingie (think key fob to turn on/off the christmas lights).
Never got curious enough to find out how big the heater was (it was a lease), but 45 minutes was the difference tween Happy diesel start-up and Angry Diesel. Colder the bigger difference. Never had a no-start.

I guess I'll find out when I get the cartridge heater up and running.

It's a discipline thing, really. Spend 15 cents on hydro to save 50-75 cents on fuel. Or not.

 

Anyone using Webasto heaters or similar on gas trucks up there? Very popular on up market cars in northern Europe, I'm told.
BMW has them as an option on the 3.0 TDI or whatever Beemer calls them.
A bit spendy for my climate.

 

No one that I know of. Pretty much everyone just goes with a block heater, oil pan heater and battery heater. Some people add a transmission pan heater or substitute a trickle charger for the battery heater.

 

I service and repair them. In this climate, all of our equipment is preheated.

 

You keep comparing our truck to a diesel and that is apples and oranges. Our truck will start with no heater at minus 40f no problem.
Your poorer has mileage has nothing to do preheat, with the exception of the first few minutes of engine warm up. After the first few miles, the ECU has leaned out the fuel mix and opened up the air.
If you are used to running diesel vehicles maybe you are not aware of summer versus winter gas. That will drop your efficiency by about 10%. I just did a big long post on it recently.
I have no clue how much you drive in the winter but on average, if you are running 10% less efficient it will cost you about $5 for a 20 gallon fill up. No idea how much those heaters cost but rough calculations tell me you can be 10% less efficient and it will cost you about $100 for every 6000 miles driven.
If you just want it for quicker heat in the cab then fine, but for actual efficiency and cold weather operation on the Tacoma it is not needed unless you are in really cold climates.

Good luck man.