Ford 1500 block heater

bc

Well-known Member
Hello guys. Got another issue. Bot a 45 mm block heater for the ford 1500 with the 2 cylinder shibaura engine. Thought I read something about it going in on the left side which has a 45 mm plug. Well I knocked it out this afternoon and there was the camshaft behind it. Looked around and there are plugs on the right side in the side of the block and the head between the glow plugs. I don't really see any place there for an block heater. The plug in the head is 45 mm but I pulled the intake hose and can see the valves and there is no room I can see on the inside to put a block heater. The plug on the lower side of the block is larger than the others. Luckily Oreillys had a replacement plug for fifty cents (the cheapest thing I ever bot there.)

Question is whether there is a place for a block heater or not?

If not then I'll get a lower radiator hose (1 1/2") heater. Thanks.
 
You are beating a dead horse. Absolutely no need for a block heater on that little engine. With working glow
plugs and a good battery that engine will start in any weather. And lose the ether unless you want to lose
the engine.
 
BC - It seems this issue has been covered several times over the past few weeks... I have a TC21D that I wanted to put a little preheat into. As stated by others, it starts up fine, but I thought it
would be good to have everything warmed up a bit. Decided on a oil pan heating pad, that is just "glued " onto the pan. No need to break into cooling system. And it heats the oil, which (I think) is
much more beneficial to reduce engine wear than heating the coolant. Further, as heat rises, I have found that it really heats the entire engine considerably.
 
Thanks guys. I've got a radiator hose heater coming. I've already drained the antifreeze solution so I'm shut down till then.

I'm not much of a tractor expert but I am an expert at overthinking, overkill, and beating dead horses. lol

So maybe I'll add the tank heater and just mount a power strip to plug in the trickle charger as well. The front wheel drive shaft is about an inch below the pan but one should work. I just don't know how hot the 600 watt radiator hose heater will get the temperature raised to. My stock tank heaters just keep ice from forming and don't really heat the water too much from what I can tell.

My wife accuses me of overthinking things all the time. She give me heck a while back at Menard's when she sent me to the tape aisle to get some tape to wrap presents. She came over about 15 minutes later as they had a whole aisle of tape and I was reading labels to see what they were good for. She just grabbed one and left.

Probably doing too much overthinking for gauges since I don't trust the idiot lights. I've found some metric tee adaptors so I can add gauges and keep the senders for the lights. Just need to pull the senders and make sure I've got the right thread, either M12 or M16, and then figure out where to mount the gauge cluster.

Another project is to find a 1.5" exhaust pipe extension about a foot or more long as I just catch enough in the face to get a headache when on it for a while. Get the pto figured out for the snowblower and the list goes on and on.

Have a 3 point lift extension about 5' long that I was using to pull around some 35' long 12" power poles and they will pull the front end up off the ground unless I short couple them and add a pull strap.
 
My 1720 starts at minus 10f, but it takes a battery charger to get the battery to warm enough to have enough juice flow.

I feel bad for the little fella at those conditions. I’ll run a magnetic heater on it when I have time, but they are not super effective.

Paul
 

Update. Put the lower radiator hose heater, 600 watt, on Saturday and that didn't seem to help it start on Sunday after a couple minutes of cranking. Got my glow plugs in on Monday as the P O delivered packages that day. Put them in and used them for 30 seconds. Then cranked on it for close to a minute before it finally started. Been taking 45 to 60 seconds to start with the temps from 40 to 60 degrees. Looking for a pan heater now. Going to try a hair dryer down the intake tomorrow to see if that helps.
 
How long did you let the heater work? I have an Allis Chalmers backhoe with a coolant heater and it takes 3 hours to get warm enough get the diesel to start. After the 3 hours, I can feel the warmth in the engine itself.
 

I leave it on full time. Yesterday it got up to 60 degrees and it started in 25 seconds after running the glow plugs for 30 seconds. I can feel the hose is very warm but when I touch the block next to it not so much.

One thing that has me wondering though is that the glow plug indicator glows red and then starts going dim after about 20 seconds. Any idea what is going on there?

I unplugged it last night since I had to plug in my pickup that has a battery that keeps running down. I have to hook up the multimeter and start pulling fuses to see if I can find what is draining it. Expedition has the same problem.
 
Something's not right. My Allis diesel is very particular when it comes to temperature. Won't start under 65 degrees at all. She's old and crabby like me :) I don't use it much, especially in the winter, but after plugging it in for 3 hours, the block is warm and the engine will fire in 2 seconds like it's 80 degrees outside. Does yours start quickly in the summer temps?
 
You say that you got a "radiator hose heater". Is the radiator hose the only part of the tractor that it's connected to?
 
(quoted from post at 12:30:01 01/22/21) You say that you got a "radiator hose heater". Is the radiator hose the only part of the tractor that it's connected to?

As the name says it just goes in the lower radiator hose. You cut the lower radiator hose and insert the heater where you cut the hose. They do work; if all is right. Ideally the heater should be in a hose run going up to the block/water pump, not flat or pitched towards the radiator, so that the heated coolant rises towards the block. Circulation is not as good as a tank heater, with an inlet and outlet, by any means.
mvphoto68728.jpg
 
(quoted from post at 18:04:29 01/22/21)
(quoted from post at 12:30:01 01/22/21) You say that you got a "radiator hose heater". Is the radiator hose the only part of the tractor that it's connected to?

As the name says it just goes in the lower radiator hose. You cut the lower radiator hose and insert the heater where you cut the hose. They do work; if all is right. Ideally the heater should be in a hose run going up to the block/water pump, not flat or pitched towards the radiator, so that the heated coolant rises towards the block. Circulation is not as good as a tank heater, with an inlet and outlet, by any means.
mvphoto68728.jpg

Not much can circulate with that thing if the thermostat is closed, and that heater isn't going to get things hot enough for it to open.
 
(quoted from post at 20:52:01 01/22/21)
Not much can circulate with that thing if the thermostat is closed, and that heater isn't going to get things hot enough for it to open.

I agree.

Yep. I am finding out. Had the extension cord plugged into my pickup battery charger all night. So I tried the 1500 this afternoon at 45 degrees without the hose heater. Glow plugs 30 sec, cranked for 90 sec, nothing, glow plugs again for 30 sec, cranked for 45 sec, nothing and battery started going down. Plugged in the heater and battery charger, waited 2 hours, glow plugs for 30 sec, cranked for 45 sec till battery slowed, nothing.

One day I got the mapp gas torch out and heated the head before my glow plugs came in and that didn't help. Tomorrow I got a hair dryer I'm going to stick down the air cleaner, tie down the trigger, and see how that does with the glow plugs and lower radiator hose heater on all night.

I can feel the hose and it gets hot but the block where it goes in is barely warm to the touch. That 2 cylinder diesel doesn't have a bypass for one of those circulating ones use unless I cut the top hose also and that may be my best bet. I'm looking at a magnetic one for the oil pan but am waiting to see what else works first. With a magnetic one, I can switch it over to my other tractor and warm other things too. The silicone pan heaters are cheaper but permanent.
 
That 2 cylinder diesel doesn't have a bypass for one of those circulating ones use unless I cut the top hose also and that may be my best bet.

Unfortunately that's not going to help much with the thermostat in place. It will just circulate through the radiator and heat that up.
 

Update. Took the air cleaner top off and stuck the wife's hair dryer in the air intake. Ran it on low since the breaker went off on high. Glow plugs for 30 seconds. Then it started in 20 seconds. Then took the dryer out. 42 degrees at the time. Will try again tomorrow without the hair dryer first.
 
I had the glow plug controller go bad on a 1988 Chevy diesel truck a while back. I took off the air filter and used a MAPP torch to heat the air going into intake manifold as I cranked the starter and it started right up, on the first crank. It was around 30 degrees at the time. I used it that way for a couple of days while I waited for the new glow plug controller to come in to the dealership.

Update. Took the air cleaner top off and stuck the wife's hair dryer in the air intake. Ran it on low since the breaker went off on high. Glow plugs for 30 seconds. Then it started in 20 seconds. Then took the dryer out. 42 degrees at the time.

If it won't start within a few seconds after that then it's got more problems than just not getting warm enough. I would suspect the injectors need attention or the compression is low.
 
(quoted from post at 09:12:23 01/24/21) I had the glow plug controller go bad on a 1988 Chevy diesel truck a while back. I took off the air filter and used a MAPP torch to heat the air going into intake manifold as I cranked the starter and it started right up, on the first crank. It was around 30 degrees at the time. I used it that way for a couple of days while I waited for the new glow plug controller to come in to the dealership.

Update. Took the air cleaner top off and stuck the wife's hair dryer in the air intake. Ran it on low since the breaker went off on high. Glow plugs for 30 seconds. Then it started in 20 seconds. Then took the dryer out. 42 degrees at the time.

If it won't start within a few seconds after that then it's got more problems than just not getting warm enough. I would suspect the injectors need attention or the compression is low.

Well you are probably right. Was kinda thinking it almost seemed like a fuel starvation issue as it didn't really want to act like it was firing (smoke out the exhaust) unless warm. Haven't really messed with fuel injectors and would need to read up, but is this something where I can easily pull them out, clean them up with carb cleaner, and screw them back in without a whole lot of trouble? Been reading some threads about sending them in for a rebuild which I don't want to do just yet as it runs ok after starting.

Since I don't really have much of a history on this tractor, I plan to pull the valve cover and check the valve lash as the manual says. Guess I haven't checked valve lash since I had the 57 chevy bookoo years ago but I have the feeler gauges and the manual says to check it at idle. Probably won't spend the cash for a compression tester and not sure how on a diesel anyway. If that is an issue then I may just take the head in which should be a cheap rebuild. Gotta get the 2606 running first.

Thanks.
 
A compression test is done basically the same way on a diesel as on a gas engine, just connect to where the injectors came out instead of where the spark plugs came out, and a diesel has much higher compression so there re different testers for each. Ask at your local auto parts store if they have a diesel compression tester available for loan or rent.

If compression is good then you already have the injectors out and can have a diesel shop test them at least. The injectors need to be tested (and rebuilt if necessary) by someone who knows what they're doing that has the proper testing equipment.
 
Probably won't spend the cash for a compression tester and not sure how on a diesel anyway. If that is an issue then I may just take the head in which should be a cheap rebuild.

Poor compression might or might not be something that a head rebuild would address. It could be the rings.
 

Thanks, I'll check into a rental as I thing oreallys does that. Basically pay the price for a new one and then get a refund was how it worked the last time I rented there.

I suppose if it needed a ring job then I'd still do the valves at the same time.

Gotta watch the Chiefs today but I will pull the injectors and try some spray cleaner. Might see what the tractor dealer gets for a rebuild. Just looking at the injection pump I think it might be a replacement as it doesn't have any blue paint on it.

I don't really know how many hours it has. Got it with a working original hour meter at 112 hours. So I don't know if that is 1112 or 2112 or 3112 hours. It really doesn't look like it was used for more than mowing so I assume it is probably the 1112 hours. I don't really know what the life of one of these engines is. Any idea?
 

Tried again today about 36 degrees. Radiator hose heater on since yesterday. Glow plugs for 30 seconds and cranked for 45 seconds. Nothing. Waited a couple hours. Put the hair dryer in the air intake for a couple minutes and kept it on. Plugs for 30 seconds and cranked for 90 seconds straight. Best I was getting was some puffs of white smoke out the exhaust. All this at full throttle. Will try something different tomorrow when the snow hits. May see if squirting some diesel in the air intake makes a difference.
 

Update. Watched a couple utub vids on cleaning injectors. Today was 32 degrees with snow blowing around. Hose heater plugged in since yesterday. Tried the glow plugs this time for 45 seconds. Then it actually started at full throttle after 30 seconds. With the extra time on the glow plugs, it was puffing white diesel smoke at first crank so that give me the idea that maybe the injectors aren't that bad. Going to try it for a few days yet but will probably still clean the injectors as it should still do better and it isn't really that cold out yet. Thanks.
 

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