I just bought this beautiful dakota and live in the snow country/sierra. I bought a water heater hoping to avoid warmups in the morning idling when it's freezing out. I was going to put it on the lower hose but now see that the thermostat is on the bottom of the motor. Anybody running one of these inline heaters?

 

This is an inline heating element that plugs into a 120v outlet. It keeps the water warm for easier starting in the cold weather. I was going to splice it into the bottom hose but the thermostat will prevent circulation. Anyone running a similar type?

 

I've thought about doing the same thing. I do not know the answer to your question, but wouldn't the heat cause the T stat to open up?

 

The installation instructions say it must have direct access to the water in the engine block. I'm thinking it will open it slightly after a while but will be heating the radiator first which is a big "heat sink".

 

Return it and get a block heater - done. No problems.

 

That's what I was thinkin'. I'll have to check out the access to the freeze plugs before I go that route.

 

They make a circulating pump/heater for the coolant which would be more effective then the block heater. My block heater in my ram gets my coolant pretty warm. If its be on about 3 hrs the heat will be luke warm when I get in. I also have different options on faster warm up tho being a diesel. If it were me I would prob just go with a block heater weather it goes in a freeze plug hole or if they have a dedicated hole on the block for them