The weather outside is frightful. I don’t think it gets like this in Japan, and though Subaru decided that block heaters would be standard equipment for Canada, this car isn’t from Canada.
It needs one of these:
The Subaru block heater is the same for nearly every Subaru through the ages, and therefore I was able to find one for $5 at the local junkyard. The gasket wasn’t reusable, so I found a replacement at the local Subaru dealership. I really can’t explain how I managed this one, but when it came time to pay for the gasket the parts guy told me to “just take it”. I’m sure it isn’t an expensive part, but it surprised the hell out of me not to have to pay for it.
The first thing to do when installing the heater is to drain the coolant. This needed to be done anyway, because Japanese cars don’t come to Canada with Canada-cold coolant (also, alliteration is awesome) and they tend to crack radiators when the temperature drops and the coolant freezes solid.
Subaru fitted a nice drain valve on the bottom of the radiator, which was nice in theory but poor in practice. You can see it here in this picture, located on the right-side bottom corner of the radiator - I have added a hose to the nipple to drain it into a container:
The valve doesn’t really work. At best, it dribbles out, but what I eventually had to do anyway was to completely remove the valve and let the coolant flow out into a bucket.
The frost plug that is replaced by the heater is located on the left side of the engine just behind the exhaust header. I apparently neglected to snap a picture of it before it was removed - sorry! The biggest part of this job is getting that plug out. It is glued in place, and requires an uncommon tool to remove (a huge 14mm hex/allen key). After researching prices on 14mm hex keys I decided that I could do without it.
An old trick for big hex keys is to just use a bolt instead. A bolt is just like a big hex key if you thread a few nuts onto it and stick it into a socket. I found out that regardless how much I tightened the nuts onto the bolt, they would invariably come free from the bolt before the frost plug came loose.
No problem, I thought - I’ll just stick a tack weld on the nut to keep it from turning:
The bolt had other ideas - namely: breaking. This is in part due to poor metallurgical practice on my part. Impatient for the weld to cool, I doused the bolt in water to get it to a reasonable handling temperature. This makes the metal more brittle.
I ended up getting a much shorter bolt and welding two nuts onto it, with proper welding techniques instead of a rushed kludge. It required a little bit of cleaning up with the grinder to properly fit the socket and frost plug:
But out it came, finally! It took a lot of leverage, which was slightly complicated by having to use a socket extension to reach up beside the exhaust pipe. It went easier with a big breaker bar and a wooden block beside the oil pan to keep the extension from flopping over:
You’ll be treated to a green shower after the plug comes loose, as regardless how much coolant you drain from the radiator, more is left in the engine.
I used a combination of red RTV silicone to help the gasket seal, and a nasty old tube of plumbers’ dope to seal the threads of the heater:
Installing the new heater turned out to be problematic, as the access around that exhaust pipe is pretty limited. My new 34mm socket, purchased just for this job, would not fit up in there:
I finally managed to get enough bite with the socket to tighten it up. I vainly attempted to remove the exhaust heat shielding for more access, but 15 years of exposure has made those nuts and bolts permanently fixed.
I have heard that there is a smaller block heater available that only requires a 27mm socket, and that likely would be easier to install but may be less effective at heating the engine in our cold Canadian weather.
I decided to route the cable to the fog light opening in the bumper. This way I can tuck it away behind the fog light in the summer months.
The last thing to do is to replace the coolant with some fresh stuff, mixed 50/50 with deionized water. Subaru engines can be temperamental about coolant bubbles, so it should be filled slowly to capacity. Once it’s full (seemingly), it needs to be “burped” to push out any air still trapped inside. This is done by warming up the engine with the cabin heater turned to maximum. When the thermostat gets warm enough to open any remaining air should bubble out.
Having extra coolant in a funnel helps you spot the bubbles and ensures that there is plenty of coolant available to replace the air that comes out. Apparently you can buy funnels that will seal into the coolant filler hole, but I just used my regular old funnel and put some rubber o-rings on the neck to form a seal:
Letting the engine warm up fully and then cool down should ensure no bubbles are trapped.
And there we have it. The Subaru has just received its honorary Canadian citizenship.
Cost breakdown:
$5 - block heater
$free - block heater gasket
$18 - coolant + deionized water
$0.88 - nuts + bolt
$11 - 34mm socket and ¾ to ½ socket adapter
==$34.88
Incidental supplies:
Welding wire + gas
RTV silicone and plumbers’ dope
zipties for cable routing
Thanks to RoadRunner at RS25.com for this helpful thread with lots of pictures
It needs one of these:
The Subaru block heater is the same for nearly every Subaru through the ages, and therefore I was able to find one for $5 at the local junkyard. The gasket wasn’t reusable, so I found a replacement at the local Subaru dealership. I really can’t explain how I managed this one, but when it came time to pay for the gasket the parts guy told me to “just take it”. I’m sure it isn’t an expensive part, but it surprised the hell out of me not to have to pay for it.
The first thing to do when installing the heater is to drain the coolant. This needed to be done anyway, because Japanese cars don’t come to Canada with Canada-cold coolant (also, alliteration is awesome) and they tend to crack radiators when the temperature drops and the coolant freezes solid.
Subaru fitted a nice drain valve on the bottom of the radiator, which was nice in theory but poor in practice. You can see it here in this picture, located on the right-side bottom corner of the radiator - I have added a hose to the nipple to drain it into a container:
The valve doesn’t really work. At best, it dribbles out, but what I eventually had to do anyway was to completely remove the valve and let the coolant flow out into a bucket.
The frost plug that is replaced by the heater is located on the left side of the engine just behind the exhaust header. I apparently neglected to snap a picture of it before it was removed - sorry! The biggest part of this job is getting that plug out. It is glued in place, and requires an uncommon tool to remove (a huge 14mm hex/allen key). After researching prices on 14mm hex keys I decided that I could do without it.
An old trick for big hex keys is to just use a bolt instead. A bolt is just like a big hex key if you thread a few nuts onto it and stick it into a socket. I found out that regardless how much I tightened the nuts onto the bolt, they would invariably come free from the bolt before the frost plug came loose.
No problem, I thought - I’ll just stick a tack weld on the nut to keep it from turning:
The bolt had other ideas - namely: breaking. This is in part due to poor metallurgical practice on my part. Impatient for the weld to cool, I doused the bolt in water to get it to a reasonable handling temperature. This makes the metal more brittle.
I ended up getting a much shorter bolt and welding two nuts onto it, with proper welding techniques instead of a rushed kludge. It required a little bit of cleaning up with the grinder to properly fit the socket and frost plug:
But out it came, finally! It took a lot of leverage, which was slightly complicated by having to use a socket extension to reach up beside the exhaust pipe. It went easier with a big breaker bar and a wooden block beside the oil pan to keep the extension from flopping over:
You’ll be treated to a green shower after the plug comes loose, as regardless how much coolant you drain from the radiator, more is left in the engine.
I used a combination of red RTV silicone to help the gasket seal, and a nasty old tube of plumbers’ dope to seal the threads of the heater:
Installing the new heater turned out to be problematic, as the access around that exhaust pipe is pretty limited. My new 34mm socket, purchased just for this job, would not fit up in there:
I finally managed to get enough bite with the socket to tighten it up. I vainly attempted to remove the exhaust heat shielding for more access, but 15 years of exposure has made those nuts and bolts permanently fixed.
I have heard that there is a smaller block heater available that only requires a 27mm socket, and that likely would be easier to install but may be less effective at heating the engine in our cold Canadian weather.
I decided to route the cable to the fog light opening in the bumper. This way I can tuck it away behind the fog light in the summer months.
The last thing to do is to replace the coolant with some fresh stuff, mixed 50/50 with deionized water. Subaru engines can be temperamental about coolant bubbles, so it should be filled slowly to capacity. Once it’s full (seemingly), it needs to be “burped” to push out any air still trapped inside. This is done by warming up the engine with the cabin heater turned to maximum. When the thermostat gets warm enough to open any remaining air should bubble out.
Having extra coolant in a funnel helps you spot the bubbles and ensures that there is plenty of coolant available to replace the air that comes out. Apparently you can buy funnels that will seal into the coolant filler hole, but I just used my regular old funnel and put some rubber o-rings on the neck to form a seal:
Letting the engine warm up fully and then cool down should ensure no bubbles are trapped.
And there we have it. The Subaru has just received its honorary Canadian citizenship.
Cost breakdown:
$5 - block heater
$free - block heater gasket
$18 - coolant + deionized water
$0.88 - nuts + bolt
$11 - 34mm socket and ¾ to ½ socket adapter
==$34.88
Incidental supplies:
Welding wire + gas
RTV silicone and plumbers’ dope
zipties for cable routing
Thanks to RoadRunner at RS25.com for this helpful thread with lots of pictures
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