PilotKD

The military has been nice enough to assign me to Grand Forks AFB, ND, flying the KC-135R and needless to say, that is not a very good place for an S2000. At least from about November to April it's not. I'll probably get there sometime next March by the time I'm done with 135 training. Anyway, I hear everyone's got block heaters up there and just discovered Honda has one for the S2000, available from HandA for $31.20. I'll probably install it myself. I was just wondering if anyone's got one installed.

Kris

Slows2k

Xviper has one. It threads into the coolant drain on right side of the engine block, under the exhaust manifold. The plug is in pretty damn tight. Otherwise it's a straightforward install.

I've seen self adhesive heaters that stick to the bottom of the oil pan as well.

It could be worse, You could be going to Minot AFB.

PilotKD

I'm not quite sure how much worse Minot could possibly be.

Cool, maybe XViper will chime in and if you do, is this a DIY install or a its-not-worth-it-take-it-to-the-dealer type of job?

xviper

Like Slow says, it's very tight in there and the drain plug is VERY tight. The block heater also needs to be installed with high torque. If you have the tools, then you can do it at home. My problem is I don't have a socket that big. I was trying to remove it when I did my coolant flush but I simply didn't have the right tools to turn that sucker. It's in quite close proximity to the passenger side engine mount.

With an '04, you can collect, save and re-use the coolant if you wish to be frugal. If not, just discard it and put in fresh stuff.

BTW, the block heater for this car works like a charm. When it's been plugged in, the engine fires up like it was summer, even on days when it's -30*C. An added bonus is that you get heat inside very quickly. If it's not REAL cold or if you don't have to, it only needs to be plugged in for about 3 to 4 hours (timer). After that, you're only using electricity. I use it anytime the temp gets below about -15*C.

A final note: If the temps in ND don't get consistently below -20*C, don't worry about a block heater. Just put in a 5W30 full synthetic engine oil for easier cranking and maybe consider getting one of those solar powered battery trickle chargers. In cold weather, you need two main things to get it started: an engine that is easier to crank and the juice to crank it with and to then light it up. I'm almost convinced that our high compression helps it to fire in the cold better than a low compression engine.

PilotKD

Cool, thanks for the info. I just ordered the part from HandA. I think I'll bring it to Honda and have them do it. I'm sure I'm capable of doing it, but I don't feel like screwing anything up. Then again, I'm not so sure how many block heaters this dealer has installed here in MS. I can't see them charging me much more than $100 to do it and I think it's worth it. I've already been running synthetics and will continue to do so.