Considering the heart of winter is here once again, I was doing some thinking about starting in the extreme cold. Just curious to know if any of the non-US spec Maximas ever came available with block heaters or other cold-weather equipment. Perhaps on Canadian models?

Last year I borrowed a laser-operated temperature probe from work and aimed it at my car, I realized it was damn cold when the hood registered at -4F!

 

Ha! -4F is a warm day for my car here in Minnesota.

 

5th gen maximas came with them I think. 4th gen engiens have a hole for it but is plugged up by a bolt.

 

It doesn't get cold enough in NJ "on a regular basis" to require a block heater.

 

Didn't say I needed one, I was just wondering if they had them in areas that they might need them...like perhaps in Canada, where there have always been a few subtle differences from US Maximas.

 

No block heater on my 4th gen Canadian max.

I added my own to my old supra. Just knocked one of the frost plugs out of the side of the block and pressed in an immersion heater. They are a wonderful thing. Nothing like getting in your car when it is -35C (-31F) and having heat within 3 or 4 minutes of starting it up. However it does nothing for warming your transmission. Even with synthetic gear oil, it took a lot of effort to shift gears.

 

Is there any way to disable it in the summer time? or have it disabled once the car reaches operating temp?

 

Block heaters require an external 115VAC power source.

 

My 2K2 came equipped with a block heater standard equipment. I'm pretty sure that all 5th gens sold in Canada do come with a block heater standard.