No Block Heater option on 2.0 Turbocharged engine (HHR SS)?

[mr.nice]

About to pick up my brand new HHR SS. We live up in Canada, and the block heater is standard on most Canadian ordered vehicles, and is used 4 or 5 days in the winter, every winter.

However, there is no block heater option available on the 2.0 turbo charged engine, currently in the HHR SS and soon to be new Cobalt SS.

Being new to turbos, the turbo technology seems to be the only difference between the usual normally engine.

So, is the fact that its a turbo the reason that a block heater isn't a factory option? I can't imagine what it would conflict with with a turbo charger and an engine block, but there also has to be a basic reason a block heater is not an option either like it is on virtually all other GM motors, to my knowledge.

If there is no technical issue, I assume the dealer can install a block heater?

TIA.

[daves87rs]

I'm pretty sure that you can get one installed..

Though I guess they thought that people might not be using their SS in the winter (at least all winter)...and that is also considering that both cars have summer rubber also.....

[PurdueGuy]

chance that some hardware is in the way of installation, not sure. Talk to the dealer about it.

[vonVeezelsnider]

Well That's Dumb. It was -50 for a week and a half that winter- if not for a bock heater, my car would not have started.

[mr.nice]

I'm pretty sure that you can get one installed..

Though I guess they thought that people might not be using their SS in the winter (at least all winter)...and that is also considering that both cars have summer rubber also.....

Well, Chevy.com states them as all season tires, but for the sake of the rims, and it being the first new car I've actually owned (am 32, have had 5 GM leases over the past 10 years), I'll be putting better winter tires with either steel wheels or hubs caps come the fall, as its technically our second car that the wife will drive to and from work, at least in the summer, unless of course I need to drive to work!

I will ask the dealer, I just figure boards like this often have much more reliable information then the dealer.

Edited April 5, 2008 by mr.nice

[CARBIZ]

A block heater has become optional on the Cobalt, Malibu and other models for a couple of years now. Most people don't use them. When I lived in Collingwood (about 2 hours north of Toronto), I used to plug my (then) '91 Caprice in with a 'Noma' delay timer (no point in having the power on all night.) The temperature rarely goes below - 10 C in Toronto where I live now, plus I park underground. Today, with the onboard computer and fuel injection, vehicles will start even in the nastiest weather. Not like my '82 Dodge Rampage that made me resort to prayers when it was - 32 near Parry Sound, back in '84!

Idling for more than 13 seconds is just burning gas. More and more vehicles are equipped with remote starters from the factory now. I am not sure about the SS Cobalt, but on the rest of the models the factory block heater is a cheap order option. There is no point in equipping block heaters as standard equipment when probably 95% of the motoring public doesn't use them. (Most of the trades we see still have the plug neatly coiled up with the factory twist tie!)

[mr.nice]

Well, back in the day while borrowing the parents car (which were 14 years old vehicles at the time) I saw the value and need for a block heater.

Ok, those cars would 30 years old now, but have always used the block heater since when it dipped below -20C (5 -10 nights a year here in Calgary) and the car was parked outside (cirrently we just a single car garage) on all my new and used cars since.

Since this is (picked it up today!) the first new car I've owned and not leased, and we plan on keeping it for a long time as a result, and less stress I can put on the starter from Day 1, means by year 10, there will be that much less stress in that cold weather.

Bottom line, we would use it.

Problem is, I don't think it is going to work on the HHR SS. The salesman showed me that the turbocharger is attached to the back of the block, and thats where the blockheater would usually go.

Basically, he doesn't think its going to work because there's simply no room to put it anywhere.

I really won't worry about until next winter...plus by then maybe there will be a solution, as this is a very new engine variation, and when more Cobalt SS's start rolling up, there will be more info on this engine.

[2005 EquinoxLS]

Why not look to the aftermarket. There are heater hose heaters and lower hose heaters also. The factory ones use one of the frost plugs.

[daves87rs]

Why not look to the aftermarket. There are heater hose heaters and lower hose heaters also. The factory ones use one of the frost plugs.

[Avinash]

Why dont you use synthetic oil 0-30 W Mobil I and do not have to worry about it.