cold weather starts - Please HELP!

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nightwynd

1/14/2007 8:21:44 PM

Hey guys, I'm writing here in desperation.

I have a 1994 Mazda B3000 pickup that is absolutly refusing to start in cold weather. It is currently -26 celcius, and the whole problem started when it nearly hit -50 a couple of nights ago. The engine will turn over, and I've currently got my car boosting it's battery to keep trying. Every once in a while when trying to get the engine started it sort of lurches like it's trying to start, but it will just NOT keep going. I HAVE to get this truck going by tomorrow if at all possible so both my wife and I can get to work! Our car had the same troubles, but after about 30 minutes it eventually started. We did the prudent thing and got a block heater installed that day. I went to my local Mazda dealer and spoke with a tech there and he said that all the north american models made have block heaters included in them... I've looked and looked, but I cannot find anything like what he was talking about. Can anyone point me in the right direction to see if my truck has one or not? If it does, where can I find it, and get the cord out?

cdnmazda

1/15/2007 11:44:12 AM

Hopefully you can crawl under your truck and look at the bottom of the engine block. You will see in several spots there are metal caps pushed into the casted block. These are the spots you are looking for dependent on engine size the number of caps will vary. There should be a cap between each cylinder on the bottom half of your engine. When you find the cap with a cable running out of it that is your block heater. Follow the cord to the plug there you go. Some people have been known to zap strap the cable to the front frame rails particularily around the engine mounts. The cable(cord) should have an orange end where it plugs into the block heater. If you do not find the cord but find the block heater assembly you will have to get a new cord, buy the whole assembly because the cable is usually quite pricey and the whole assembly is usually a buck or two cheaper than just the cord. Then you will have a spare block heater if you need to switch out the old one that may malfunction.

Kelly