I went to plug my car in lastnight, and I noticed something a little different. Lots of smoke, as apposed to a little smoke. I popped the hood, had a look, and rather than that plate that goes around the 2 spark plugs turning red, the whole block was turning red. I went and looked again this morning, to be sure I wasn't seeing things, (it was 4 am when I looked at this) and I saw correctly. Makes me nervous having a red hot block, melting rubber comes to mind. Has anyone seen this before, or know what I am talking about? Is it normal for the block to turn red? Please help. Its cold. Thanks.

 

What kind of block heater do you have? Dude, that sounds like your heater is WAYYYYYYY too hot. Are you serious? the engine was glowing?

 

This sounds scary. That block heater (sounds identical to the one I have on my GSL) is mounted onto the ALUMINUM front rotor housing directly over wher the spark plugs are. (It has holes in it to accomodate the plugs, and the mounting bolts go into the cast iron front end plate).
Aluminum DOES NOT glow red--- it melts at around 1100 deg.F. Are you saying that the front or intermediate plate is glowing red? (both are cast iron).
BTW, the block heater itself is supposed to glow red, but only the input leads, not the heating pad itself.
Another thing about these block heaters--- when they're new they smell like burning oil and/ or burning paint. This goes away once the surface contaminants on the engine and coating on the heater burn off.

 

Yes, the block was glowing red. I never noticed it so much until lastnight. I wish I had a digital camera... underneath the plate where the plugs go thru, its red hot.???????? not been a good couple of days for the 7..

 

Man that sounds scary. Please be careful with your 7.

 

Luckily, right now, its not tooo cold out so I dont have to plug her in.... but I am worried once it hits some seriously cold temps.... I guess I will have to remove it and investigate whats goin on. What is that housing part of the block made out of? aluminum or cast?

 

The parts where the plugs are is aluminum. The other housings are iron. Got a pic of this heater?

 

That's funkatronic. My block heater glows red, but certainly not the engine. It freaks me out enough that the heater glows, I don't know what I would do if my whole engine was cherry red!

 

Your coolant seals =

 

Nah I don't have any pics of the heater... its wierd tho... at first, mine just heated up the outside part, red hot, not the actual engine... Maybe its where I have it plugged in?? Giving too much juice somehow? I am baffled. Gonna go try it right now and see if it still turns red......

 

still doing it..... was hoping that there was some kinda airlock in the antifreeze that was causing it, and I was hoping that it woulda worked itself out today when I was driving it around.... just a shot in the dark.....

 

First off, don't use the silly thing if it's really making your engine glow. I rarely use mine. My car will start in -25 weather without it. Second, if you really think you need to use it, snap a pic of it doing the glow thing and post it. At least then the experts can take a gander.

 

Well after removing the block heater and examining it, and hammering on it.... I would have to chalk this one up to my own stupidity..... I have been trying to clean the engine bay abit, and I guess I removed alot of the grime behind the block heater, leaving it clean, with a thin coat of oil, cause of the dowl pin leak, and the element was just reflecting off of the shine of the oil... I am 90% sure thats what it is. Its a pretty damn good illusion tho... looks like the block is gonna melt... but, this is the only logical conclusion I can come to.... Thanks for all the responses, sorry for wasting you guys's time. Later.

 

here's the stupid test..touch your block with your finger! if it's red hot..your fingertip should remain attached to the block after you've removed your hand.

 

lets hope that is all it is!

 

I thought about doing the "stupid test", but cosidering that it hurts when you touch hot stuff, i opted against it. So far the car hasn't burnt down, and it still runs, seems good enuff for me.