A few weeks ago I had my local toyota dealer order a block heater for the TCH. Using google, I dug up the information of where they could get one from California. Price was about $35. The first one arrived, but the parts guy said it had no element. Then the supplier didn't have any more in stock. A few days later the supplier found one somewhere and sent it to our local toyota dealer.

I believe it was Squint in the toyota forms that I found the step by step instructions on how he installed his block heater. His post came complete with pictures. Thanks Squint for mentioning to plug on the cord before pressing in the element. At first I had a little trouble aligning it with the hole in the block. Once started it seemed to lock at 1/4 the way in. I tried to wobble it in various directions but it seemed frozen in place. I pressed a little harder and it started moving in easier until it seated. I heard the click when it locked to the block. Just like you said, the clip was toward the firewall.

You said you used too much thermal heat grease. Half of it may work ok, but I used the whole tube. I could not see if any ran out when it seated. That's kind of a hard place to see other than peaking though the cables.

I went slow so it took me 1 1/2 hours to finish. The Toyota service department wanted to charge those same hours at $90 per hour. I'm glad I could install it myself.

I will wait till the weather cools off to give it a try. During the winter it gets pretty cold here in the Southern New Mexico desert. Probably due to the 4300 foot elevation here.

Thanks again Squint for your help.

 

You're welcome.

The diagrams were screen captures from the Toyota service manual and the photos were from my own installation.

The original thread:

https://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/...uctions-12841/

My photo hosting account lapsed and I just renewed it so there may have been a few days or even weeks when the pictures weren't available.

 

Does this heater go into coolant or just heat the aluminum? Thanks

 

It is a "dry" heater. There is a open hole cast into the engine block housing. The heater directly heats the aluminum block.

 

No, the hold in the block don't reach into any coolant.

I never measured the diameter of the heater element housing or the hole in the block. It looks to be 3/4 to 1" diameter. This block heater fits inside a pressed in hole in the block. So your not dealing with any water at all. The thermal grease is used so the heater element can transfer its full heat into the aluminum block.

I spent about 40 minutes just removing the air filter base housing and a few sensors. I found a pre-filter in the upper part of the air cleaner cover. I guess that filters out birds and such before the intake air reaches the main air filter.

Fifteen more minutes inserting the element and running the wire with tie wraps. Another 15 minutes or so putting back the air filter housing and two sensor plugs. The other time was me walking back and forth to the nearby shop for tools, and a drink of water. After all i'm old and slow.

I went to the movie today to rest. Today, I saw 3:10 to Yuma. Now thats one really good cowboy movie.