[stochastic]

Hey, I often take my car on a 500k (each way) trip north for a few days.  As the colder months are upon us I'm starting to worry about cold weather mods to the car.  When I bought it it did not have a block heater in it, but I am thinking that would be a smart addition.  I checked with the dealers and the majority of the cost for the mod is the installation cost (part~$30  installation~$100) and I was thinking it might be a job I could undertake myself to save a few thousand pennies.  Has anyone installed one or located the frost plug on the engine block?  Any advice would be great.

[Phil №❶]

Is it worth doing that, or can you use high concentrate anti freeze instead. 

PS Current temp here 24.5 Deg C 

[FatBoy]

I think where stochastic is going, the anti-freeze would freeze!!  A friend of mine spent some time in Winnipeg, and they celebrated when the temperature got above -30 C!!  They had been below that for two months!!!

Sorry, but can't help you, the coldest we get here in Australia (well, where the majority of people live) is about 0 deg C.

[stochastic]

Here in Vancouver, we're lucky if we get more than two days of snow in the year, but drive 500k north and Jan/Feb sit comfortably around -15 to -30 celsius.  Cars sold up north regularly come with block heaters installed from the factory.  I've seen one or two pics from Finnish and Sweedish users here that have plugs on the front of their car (obvious block heaters).

[stochastic]

So I stumbled/googled upon this thread describing the process in an '08 Elantra: http://www.hyundai-forums.com/193-hd-2006-2010-elantra/94006-08-elantra-block-heater.html#post676248  am I correct in understanding the same engine is in both the Elantra and the Elantra Touring?

[Dazzler]

So I stumbled/googled upon this thread describing the process in an '08 Elantra: http://www.hyundai-forums.com/193-hd-2006-2010-elantra/94006-08-elantra-block-heater.html#post676248  am I correct in understanding the same engine is in both the Elantra and the Elantra Touring?

I believe it was .. The new Elantra has a 1.8 litre instead of 2.0

[stochastic]

I ended up going to the dealer to get this done as I would hate to break something while attempting this process (and in turn voided the warranty).  In the end the dealer had some troubles with "an air bubble they had to blow through the system" (I should have asked for more details but was in a hurry).

Out of curiosity does anyone with one know what the wattage of the block heater is?

[Argus]

Out of curiosity does anyone with one know what the wattage of the block heater is?

Only block heater is 600W. Block heater with interior heater is 1600 or 2000W -data from DEFA (for Hyundai I30).

[stochastic]

Out of curiosity does anyone with one know what the wattage of the block heater is?

Only block heater is 600W. Block heater with interior heater is 1600 or 2000W -data from DEFA (for Hyundai I30).

What/where is DEFA?  I've been reviewing some docs looking for that info but couldn't find anything about a block heater.  Would love to be enlightened.

[Argus]

DEFA is a Norwegian company producing complete sets of electrical auxiliary heating.
http://wup.defa.com/en/wup_products_preheaters.html

[stochastic]

So I talked with the dealer who installed it and they said it's a 1200W block heater (no I didn't put any interior heater in).  That seems very hot to me, I guess it's not something that needs to be plugged in for long.

Does anyone know at what temp it's useful to plug in the heater?  -10C,  -15, -2, -40?  I imagine it will start fine at many lower temps, but will it wear the engine out much faster with viscous fluids?

Edit: Today I was in looking through the engine and took a closer look at the new block heater.  The outside is clearly marked with a 400W stamp.  Thanks dealer for the accurate information.