I just installed an engine coolant heater on my "other car", an '05 Golf diesel. Having instant heat on a cold mornings has been great, and I seem to be getting much better fuel economy on that car now.
I would really like to find a block heater or coolant heater for my '06 prius, but I can't find any good info about them on the internet. Does anybody know where I could find one and where in the prius engine it would be best to connect it?
I've looked at the J.C. whitney pumped coolant heaters but i've heard lots of horror stories about them.

Jesse at Metro has them http://www.metrotpn.com/ They are about $40. plus shipping. I just put one in last month.

Mike

Hi,
Most folks have been buying it from Canadian 'gray market' sources. I've got one and am planning to document the part including the electrical characteristics. Once we have that, we can find a plug-compatiible part.

Bob Wilson

Operation Iraqi Oil Freedom:

Automatic, stock, project car.

My other 1500 cc car:

Automatic, stock, backup car.
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The one I got form Metro is a Canadian part.

I clicked on the link given for metrotpn.com but was unable to find the block heater part for the Prius. Can someone post the link to the location of the block heater part on that website.

The person that installed this part- is it difficult to install? Does it cut down on the warm up time when first starting out?

I had a freeze plug heater installed on a prior car I owned and it did absolutely nothing. Even the block heater on my '98 GMC truck does nothing but increase my electric bill. I noticed no significant warming of the engine on either vehicle. Kind of wary of block heaters unless I hear some good success stories.

Call or Email Jesse Wright. His contact info is:
Jesse Wright
Internet Parts Sales
Metro Toyota
Cleveland, Ohio
1.877.885.2900
parts@metrotoyota.com

It took me under an hour to install it.
Go over to Priuschat.com and search for "block heater" and you will find alot of good information on them. And if you need more info I can email a couple pictures I took while I was installing mine.
They do help, as temprature plays such a large part in the stages of hybrid operation in a Prius. If you can start off at a higher temp the ICE will need to run less to warm things up, saving gas.
Mike