Well, looks like Darth will be spending the winter outside

Are the in-line heaters not very effective, or should I suck it up and try and pound one of the proper frost plug doo-hickey's in?

Will a universal one fit or do we need a particular one for our redblocks?

Something is better than nothing I figure, and nothing sure didn't sound good this morning.

Pussy. I've still got 5w50 in my car, outside, and I don't have a block heater at all.

I haven't change to 5w30 yet and my car just hated it yesterday

you guys suck. I don't use oil in my toyota.

what do you use?? a wish and a prayer?

I've got an inline one in the Canuck and when plugged in at -20 it will melt the snow off the hood! I'd run synthetic as Matt said - but with my car most of it would end up lubricating my chassis! Dino seems to stay in the pan longer. It fires right up and definately likes it better when heated (about 1/2 hour is all you need) - Go inline.

22R's don't need oil to run.

Just kidding. 5W30 in it cause its free.

the S40's,C30's etc. use inline block heaters. The I6's use one that you glue to the side of the block.

Yes, I'm a pussy, but I just want to protect my baby. You can't tell me using a block heater at -20 won't have some positive impact to long term engine life? Not to mention having the car warm up that much quicker. I run 10w30 mobile 1- I'll have to check what it flows like at -20...

10w30 M1 should still flow okay, but I'd use 5w30 in the winter. I've even used 0W30 M1, and it gives INSTANT oil pressure even at -40. A bit tougher to find. I've only got the 5w50 in there right now 'cause I can't get into the garage to change it. This weekend I hope to.

A block heater can't hurt, no. IMHO, it's not worth worrying about, though. Yes, there's a bit more time spent with the engine dead cold, fuel washing down the cylinder walls, etc., and you're increasing the warmup time a bit which will affect your mileage, but no matter how cold it is my car is showing temperature by the time I hit Southland and Macloud anyway.

Also, the way I see it is that I'd rather have problems getting my car started in my driveway than at the C-train station, the restaraunt, or at work. If you've got a block heater and you use it whenever it gets cold, you'll never know what's going to happen when you try to start it after sitting for 8 hours at -35 or so without one. You won't know that your battery is going weak, or that your cables are going bad, or whatever.

But I do believe that using 0wXX or 5wXX and no block heater is better for your engine than using 10wXX and a block heater.

I get 0w30 and 0w40 for free and i've had no issues in any of my vehicle starting in minus a quadrillion.

just dont be like me and let ice attack your intercooler...and you're all good!

intercoolers like ice...