cleatus12r |
Wed, January 6th, 2010 07:29 PM |
You HAVE to see if you have continuity through the cord and heater. That's the absolute first step after you make sure you've got power to the end of the extension cord.
Use an ohm meter (digital multimeters work the best). Set the scale to ohms (looks like a little horse shoe). Put one lead on one flat spade (doesn't matter which) and the other lead on the other spade (DO NOT TOUCH BOTH LEADS with your bare fingers..you'll get an inaccurate reading).
If the meter says anything other than 11-13 ohms, something's bad. ZERO ohms is a short and you probably don't have any power through your extension cord due to a tripped breaker. More ohms or "infinite" (like what the meter reads when the leads aren't hooked to anything) means that either the cord is bad or the heating element has an open circuit. To test the cord, unplug it from the block heater element (you'll see where it goes into the side of the engine just above the oil filter) and test each lead through the cord. An easy way to do this is to put a paper clip through the holes in each of the flat spades on the cord effectively shorting them together. Using the ohm meter, get under the truck and test between the two "eyes" of the round plug. If you don't have continuity, then the cord is bad. If you have continuity (around 0-2 ohms) then the heating element is bad.
If you're quick, you can change the element without losing more than a cup or two of coolant.
Let us know what you come up with.
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