The plug broke off of my block heater cord, and it's starting to get cold here and I can't use my block heater. I bought an extension cord from Wal Mart rated at 1875 watts, figuring I could chop the plug off one end and graft it into the block heater cord, but I can't seem to get the block heater cord out of the heater itself, does it unplug? It appears to be held in place with a threaded collar but I can't seem to quite get in there..

Is it possible for me to make my own cord? Seems like it should be simple enough, and i'm good enough at wiring to make it weatherproof... Or do I need a whole new block heater? I found cords on line but they are for the newer trucks, haven't been able to find anything more than a part number :-(

 

You should be able to buy a new cord from a "big truck" parts store for about 15-20 bucks.

 

I got mine from a Freightliner dealer. You need to unscrew the collar then it pulls out. I went a step further and put a recepticle from a Kenworth on the fender of my pickup. I got sick of having a cord hanging out the grill or having to hunt around for it. Now I just lift the cover and plug it in like abig truck.!!

 

My plug was getting rather bad so I just cut the cord and spliced on a newer end. That has worked great for 2 winters now. It was 2 degrees this morning, still started right up and got toasty inside a lot faster then without a block heater.

 

I would do what Nuttymopar did and cut the cord somewhere in the engine compartment where it is easy to get at and then get some weather-proof wire nuts at Home Depot/Lowe's, splice in the new extension cord and voila, you're back in business.

 

I did a splice too, works great.