Swarthy :: 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage DE (Garage entry)

[Eggman]

Get yourself an engine block heater.

[Daox]

Like this one? Kats 1000W circulating tank heater.

[Eggman]

How's that working for you? I think I would favor an engine block heater or an oil pan heater.

[Daox]

I've had OEM cartridge style heaters in other cars that plug into the block like the Mirage. They work pretty well and I would recommend them. But, I honestly love this heater. Its 1000W vs OEMs that are typically 300W heaters. In 20-30 minutes in winter, I can get the coolant temperature up to ~100F which means I've nearly entirely eliminated fast idle in winter which is really nice for fuel economy. 40 minutes with the block heater on means I pretty much have heat immediately. With the 300W block heaters, I usually set them on a timer to start ~3 hours before I leave and they only get close to 100F. The aluminum engine blocks do a great job at dissipating that heat. So, the 1000W heater is not only more efficient, its actually just a lot nicer period. It also costs about the same. These are going on amazon for $44 shipped right now. There are downsides to this type. It is more of a pain to install because you do have to route hoses. You also have to find a place to mount the heater, and it has to be mounted low compared to the engine so it circulates properly because it works off of natural convection. But, in my opinion, its totally worth it.

[Daox]

This weekend I added this nice remote control outlet. This gets plugged in before my block heater. That way I can plug the car in when I get home. Then, in the morning I just hit the button on this thing from inside the house and the block heater starts up. Then, I unplug the car when I go outside to leave.

[Eggman]

I'm really psyched about that as now I can go get the alignment checked.

Did you ever get the alignment checked? I couldn't find where you did.

[Daox]

Nope! I still have not had it checked. I keep forgetting.

[MetroMPG]

No wonder you're only getting 45 MPG !

[Daox]

With the cold weather kicking in lately, I've been using my 1000W kats block heater. I must say once again how wonderful this thing is... I plug it in for 20 minutes and I have heat by the end of the block basically. If I let it run for 30-40 minutes, I'd probably have heat instantly. Today I got to the end of my driveway and it was almost at 100F coolant temperature. I start getting usable heat at about 120F. This was only another half a block down the road. The OE cartridge style heaters are nice too, but you have to run them for 3 hours to get the same results.

Just as a note, they're also pretty cheap on amazon now at $37.66 shipped. They're usually more like $45.

1000W kats block heater on Amazon

[Daox]

Hah, called it. Now that is cold out, the price on that block heater has shot up to $65.99!