How to: Winterize your car

[w/oarctic7g]

This is a fairly simple and inexpensive job that will protect your car on the coldest days. It is a necessity in my area and probably should be a high priority if you live where temps drop down in the single digits or colder.
First thing is to remove expansion plug which is not too difficult from the drivers side without crawling under the car. Simply pull the plug that lines up with cylinder 1 below intake manifold. Using a 3/8" x12" spike and 5lb mallet hit plug at the 3 or 9 position to cause it to turn in its cavity so it can easily be pulled with vice grips.



The heater may have to be modified to fit. I had to swap to a slightly smaller o-ring on the heater then it fit nice and snug. I have several blocks to compare so it was pretty interesting to see some minor differences in the castings. It is necessary to file a little bit on the outside edge opposite the element so heater can fit flush against block on the 1g,2g 4g63 and sohc 4g64 but not necessary for 4g64 dohc.



Clean the hole of debris, lubricate o-ring with vaseline, install heater with element pointing at 3 o'clock and push firmly against block. Tightening is kind of a pain as you need to push heater against block and hold in position as you tighten. A nutdriver works best as it keeps you from over torquing and its only supposed to be 15-18inch pounds. DO NOT use a ratchet to tighten!


Install power cord into heater and route cord towards front of car using plenty of zipties to keep it out of moving and hot components.

Install a silicone oil pan heater.


Simply clean the oil pan using brake cleaner just make sure its really clean. Spread high temp rtv on pad.


Slap it on the pan using duct tape to hold in place until rtv cures. Don't forget to remove tape before plugging in though. I like to mount it on the side of pan as it is a bit more protected from the elements. Route cord to front again using plenty of zipties.


Install fully sealed trickle charger. Do not install battery blankets or battery pads as they tend to do more harm than good.


Fits nicely here if you deleted factory airbox, just oblong the mount holes on charger a little.



Install hotter thermostat. The factory thermostat just isn't enough to keep the interior cozy and the parts stores will not sell anything hotter than a 180* for our cars. I like to get a 195* or 205* stat for an 80s truck like a Ford 300 6cylinder and grind to fit which is 56mm, use a file to remove burrs and install new o-ring.




Fill cooling system using 2 parts straight antifreeze to 1 part water which yields around -60 protection.


Route the cords to a central location and plug into a heavy duty 3 in 1 cord which can then be positioned and protrude under front bumper or wherever its convenient for you.
This tutorial is directly geared to 6g & 7g 4g63 & 64 but don't see why it wouldn't be same for 8g just different direction but you will need to verify. There is a lot of misinformation on the web, parts stores and especially the heater manufacturers catalogs so the heater used is not the one listed to fit our cars. I have done hundreds of block heater installs so it doesn't surprise me that the catalog is wrong, at best its correct about 50% of the time. So after a few trips and hours studying I made my final trip to the parts store and bought every 35mm and 40mm heater in stock that looked like it would even come close to fitting. Only got 1 to fit right.

Parts used-
block heater zerostart #3100057 $20
silicone pad Napa #HP75 $12
trickle charger Napa 85300a $38
2 gallons antifreeze $20
thermostat and seal $9

Cheap protection especially when thermometer is like this.

[oakrdrs187]

Im in the desert and we dont even see +28F temps so I would like to know what all this is for, what does each of these "winterizers" do? It seems like quite a bit of work, you have a good How to: I would just like to see the purpose of it.

[Galantman03]

in that cold of weather, its very very hard to start the car. keeping it warmer than the outside temps will mean easier starting and longer life of the motor. I have started the g in -20 below, the whole dam car shakes with the engine, because everything is stiff and just out right cold. also the colder it is, the less power the battery will usually put out.

[w/oarctic7g]

Im in the desert and we dont even see +28F temps so I would like to know what all this is for, what does each of these "winterizers" do? It seems like quite a bit of work, you have a good How to: I would just like to see the purpose of it.

Well you obviously don't need to winterize. Quick summary;
1.block heater heats the engine by heating the coolant.
2.pad heater on the oil pan heats the oil so it lubes where it needs to quicker(ever hear of pours like molasses in January).
3.battery charger maintains the battery at peak charge warming it slightly while doing so. Batteries are about 1/2 the rated amps at 0* and colder.
4.hotter thermostat helps keep me from shivering and window from frosting up.
It also helps to use synthetic oil, power steering fluid and tranny fluid. If there is a power outlet I know my car will start, drive and put out heat no matter how cold it gets. It only takes an hour or so to get the engine warm when its -5f or warmer outside. I realize most of you don't need to do this but the info is there if you do.