The Benefits and Considerations of Engine Block Heaters: A Guide for Canadian Car Owners

When it comes to navigating the harsh winters of Ontario, Canada, having an engine block heater can be a lifesaver. The concept is simple: plug your car into a power source, such as a park ranger station's electrical outlet, and warm up your engine before embarking on a drive. This technology has become increasingly popular among Canadians who live in areas with extreme cold temperatures.

Engine block heaters are designed to keep your engine running smoothly, even in extremely low temperatures. By warming up the engine, you can improve its performance and reduce the risk of damage from prolonged exposure to cold weather. However, it's essential to consider a few factors before investing in an engine block heater for your car. Firstly, you need to assess whether your vehicle is suitable for this technology. Engine block heaters are typically designed for cars with carburetors or fuel-injected engines that require premium or high-octane fuel.

One of the key considerations when using an engine block heater is the type of oil your car uses. Synthetic oil is often recommended, as it provides better lubrication and protection in extreme cold temperatures. However, not all oils are created equal, and some may not be suitable for use in extremely cold weather. It's crucial to check your owner's manual to determine the recommended temperature range for your specific engine oil.

If you're planning to move to Saskatchewan or other areas with harsh winters, it's a good idea to consult with a local dealership that specializes in cars used in those regions. They can provide valuable insights and advice on whether an engine block heater is necessary for your vehicle. Additionally, they may be able to recommend the best type of oil and fuel for your car.

For example, when I was a kid, my parents took me and my siblings on a week-long trip to our family cabin in Ontario during a particularly harsh winter. The temperature was a balmy minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit (that's around -29°C for those who prefer Celsius), and we had to leave our car at a ranger station, where the park rangers kindly allowed us to plug an engine block heater into their electrical outlet. Luckily, this clever technology helped warm up my old Volvo Wagon, which might not have started otherwise.

Fast-forward to today, and I'm thinking about my friend Claudia's plans to move to Saskatchewan. She doesn't own a car with an engine block heater, but I wanted to offer some guidance on whether she should consider investing in one for her future Canadian adventure. The answer depends on several factors, including the type of fuel she'll be using and the temperature range specified in her owner's manual.

To determine whether Claudia needs an engine block heater, she should examine her car's manual and look for information on the recommended oil weight. She should also research the type of synthetic oil she'll be using to ensure it's compatible with her engine in cold temperatures. Reaching out to a local Mazda dealership that specializes in cars used in Saskatchewan could also provide valuable insights into whether an engine block heater is necessary for her vehicle.

In addition, there are other factors to consider when preparing your car for long periods of storage or extended travel. For instance, if you're planning to leave your car sitting for an extended period – say, a year or more – it's essential to drain the fuel tank and siphon out any remaining liquid. This will help prevent damage to your engine and ensure the longevity of your vehicle.

Finally, some might wonder whether using premium fuel versus regular fuel affects performance in cold temperatures. According to my friends who are experienced track day drivers, the difference between 91 and 93 octane is largely irrelevant when it comes to cold-weather driving. The real concern lies in preventing engine damage due to prolonged exposure to cold temperatures. They also emphasized that, even if you're using premium fuel, it's essential to drain the tank and siphon out any remaining liquid before storing your car for an extended period.

The importance of proper storage and maintenance cannot be overstated when it comes to protecting your vehicle from damage in extreme cold temperatures. By taking a proactive approach and understanding the nuances of engine block heaters and fuel stability, Canadian car owners can enjoy safe and reliable transportation during the harsh winter months.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthank you hi everybody welcome to another episode I'm Mike Monticello I'm Jennifer stockberger I'm Joe vesselak so uh buckle your seat belts folks because you're in for one heck of a show because well first of all we got Joey and Jenny and anytime you got Joey and Jenny it's going to be a good show but also because the car we're talking about today is the 2023 Nissan Z Now eagle-eyed viewers will know that we've already discussed the new Z once on the podcast but that was a version that we rented from Nissan with an automatic transmission the one we're talking about today is the one we bought for our test program with the manual transmission yep and I'm looking right at you Joey I don't know why why I like your Mustang's Emmanuel it is not a good one either but yeah so uh the one we bought for our test program is the 2023 Nissan Z performance um and it's it's you know the mid-level and the sport model which is the base model starts at just under 41 000. uh the one we got has hardly any options other than like uh a uh floor mat uh package which is that are optional isn't it but they're actually it's a really we'll get into the floor mats later they're actually really nice um and with the 1025 destination charge the total price of our test car is fifty two thousand one hundred twenty five dollars so Jen and Joey I mean it feels like the Z's been gone for years but really it's only been a few years it's just that the the last time the 370Z was updated was 2009 was its last full redesign so the fact that we do have a new Z is actually a pretty big deal and before we get into like the driving Impressions and everything Jen uh just give us an overview of what is really new with the new Z right so so we use the word reincarnation three incarnation of the Z and you're right there was no 21 or 22 models but the last redesigned 2009 so uh rear wheel drive still now 400 horsepower from a three liter twin turbo V6 you got to say that with some Gusto um uh and that's a significant increase over even the last 370Z which was 332 horsepower even 350 for the Nismo version so it's quite a quite a jump in Horsepower people said you know this it starts at around 39 000 so people were saying a hundred dollars per horsepower for that base sport trim that's a lot of car for the money as you said Mike 51 000 maybe not quite as much car for the money but still a big jump in Horsepower um at 39 000 it still undercuts um the base Toyota Supra for example so with value it's two liter with its turbo four-cylinder right it's undercuts the super with the turbo four-cylinder that's crazy yeah right so rear wheel drive um three trim levels but still pretty much Z ish no 370 no 350. it's just the Z I said like Zoro just see I like that that's it just like that Sergeant just like that I'm in a good mood now but as you listen to me I'm gonna sound pretty curmudgeonly as I go through this well there's a little here's a four warning yeah Fort warning you'll get a little cranky but oh yeah um so it's kind of funny because the Z it's kind of like new but it's not really all new they told us that it actually is used the same platform as the 370Z um you know immediately yeah and the six-speed manual is essentially carry over the nine speed automatic is uh sourced from the Titan and Frontier pickups and um but they did go from uh hydraulic uh steering to electric power steering and there's two components one of them is kind of funny and one of them is kind of a big deal they have a telescoping steering wheel now which is okay that actually is important for your driving position and guess what a second cup holder oh man um so but like we said the reason why they did this you know it's not not like a brand new from the disease ground up that's how they were able to get it at such a low cost to be able to undercut the Supra uh with its turbo four cylinder which I think is pretty impressive that they were able to do that so uh those are the mechanical aspects but Joey I mean the the car is pretty exciting to look at tell us a little bit about what you really find distinctive about the new Z yeah so I've always liked how the Z looks the design of it exterior design and um yeah and this one it's cool because they have a lot of retro um Throwbacks to the original Datsun 240 like you'll get the the rear tail lights like in a three-piece section like tri-glow thing going on there and um yeah there's also the Z emblem the circular emblem on the rear d-pillar which is reminiscent of the original 240 had that um on there and then there's a bumped out Hood you can tell it's a z from a mile away absolutely I love the rear styling uh more than the front the like the side into the rear I just think looks so cool I mean I would just when it was parked in my driveway I would just go go out and look at it just because I thought it was so dreamy so cool looking yeah dreamy um Okay so Joe let's get into the the driving part of it and uh I don't know where there's some forewarning from Jen here but uh let's start with you Joe and let's let's talk about the big deal right the 400 horsepower twin turbo V6 what's it like to to drive that thing yeah so the power delivery is really nice in it it's the best way to put it has long legs long gearing so you actually you know that power is really linear and it draws out and comes on really nicely and it really revs out and sounds great so yeah I think the power is excellent in the car and an improvement upon what it used to be in the past yeah it's it's actually in a way it's kind of amazing that they were able to do this this much power for this price yeah and I love the VQ the three five to the three seven always love that motor how it sounded and everything and um yeah I was curious to see what I think of this but um so far pretty impressed I like it yeah I go ahead please no I was just gonna say and this is probably where I'm gonna end agreeing with you that I do think the power delivery is we just started the show but it's so much that we had a couple like Misty great rainy mornings when I had it if you even in my modest drive that rear end will break loose fairly easily in the wet right so I noticed that same thing with the electronic stability control fully on it will allow for some tail out action which I would really enjoy I I thought that was really interesting that it that they allow for that of course you can turn it fully off as well uh with that I was just talking about the power you know we get in some of these cars and and I know everyone around here likes the the Subaru BRZ and the Toyota gr-86 but I mean they just don't have much power yeah and you know you have to downshift literally like if you want to make a two-lane passing zone to get around some slower traffic you've got it uh literally shift down like two gears right this thing you could be in fourth gear at like 3000 RPM just floor it and the thing just goes yeah I mean it's just an impressive amount of power yeah it has decent really decent torque so you're not having to drop a gear all the time when you really need it right so let me get so you want a manual but you don't really want to shift it is that what you're telling me oh I like it she's so feisty today she's feisty son I don't always want to show okay I'm calling you lazy okay that's a fair point I hadn't thought about it that way just saying well sometimes well actually let me put it this way no when I want to do a passing zone yeah I hear you it's potential danger situation there like you know if you're like just barely going faster than the car that you're getting around and the passing zones in our car is coming towards you then yeah I want to get around that zone quickly on a back road I'm I love so let me ask you though yes would you probably downshift anyway you don't have to I hear what you're saying I probably would yeah yeah but I'm just for testing wise I said I want to wonder what would happen if I just floored it right here um uh but before we get to the gearbox which I do want to talk about yeah uh I feel like you don't love the sound I just didn't you say you don't there's something about the turbo sound or something you don't like about it right so I don't get it I don't get why anybody likes turbo wine just the word wine it's not a very positive word so I don't like it in a big truck you know when people like listen to that turbo wind up and it's just that high-pitched annoying isn't that more like whistling or whooshing yeah but it's so high it's like is there a mosquito in my ear that's good I don't like turbo wine I don't like the noise of Turbo wine and again we're jumping to noise but this has a lot of road noise too again Joey said you know you say you're sitting nearly on the rear axle you know it because you're getting a lot of road noise in that cabin I don't get the turbo line and this has plenty one so yeah so that's kind of interesting and I'd love to get your input too Joey is that when I first was driving the car I thought I was hearing gearwine you know from the from the gearbox and I do think it is more much more so the engine I I don't I think it's more engine than the turbos uh but there is some kind of odd yeah whatever kind of whininess to it but it doesn't bother me and I thought the whole thing actually sounded pretty good we said enough turbo sounds are a present to excite but not annoy and I guess that's where my commercial they annoy yeah for me it reminds me that I have 400 horsepower so exactly all the time yeah um okay so let's talk about uh you know like we said we this is the 6 speed manual we rented the automatic before Jen what did you think of this gearbox I think it's clunky I think it's close so she is disagreeing with us on everything that she's talking to him I'm going to be that negative yeah we want no we want you I noticed you wrote negative yeah are you looking at my notes it's clunkier it's definitely clunkier when you look at the manuals we've had of late absolutely the Civic the GTI the the BRZ this is just clunkier and I missed shifts um push over to get to reverse yeah I had to keep checking am I in six or am I in reverse because you go over to the right to infuse those two no and it I would have to say am I going to move forward or a rearward so I just find it much more clunky it also Joey I asked you it has this rev matching selection that you can make and not just on this car but by the time that it flared and did your rev matching I was not shifted yet it was just kind of wasted on me it was just another source of noise right so the rev matching being you're you're downshifting and uh for people who don't know how to heal until downshift uh it will blip the throttle for you so you don't have to you don't have to worry about trying to blip the gas yourself correct again but it didn't actually work properly for you is what you're not well enough it was so quick that I was too late maybe I don't shift quickly enough but again I'm looking at all these aspects of why a manual is engaging and wouldn't you want to do that heel and toe yourself absolutely and I know you can deselect that yeah I think yeah I can't explain why people don't learn how to heal and toes so that's for that's a subject for another show okay uh when Monty gets deep inside people's brains okay but uh I mean I've been to track days where people didn't know how to heal until yeah which is crazy that someone's trying to do a track day with a car not with a manual and not he'll tell but Joey I want to hear your opinions on the gearbox because I think I I agree with what Jen's saying but just I look at it a little different way than she yeah so and you drive to family both of you yeah I agree as well I think you just need to be a little more assertive with it and the harder you kind of drive this car some of that stuff goes away a little bit it's not perfect the GTI is better the Civics better they're all way more slick but um the the gates are well defined I didn't really have too much of an issue with anything other than yeah reverse maybe now and then which is a little frustrating but I can live with it because um yeah I'd call it bulky not what did you call it I called it um I call it bulky meaning yeah the two three and the four or five shifts uh just there it's not as fluid as you I didn't miss any right and I know people are going to fact check and say no you missed how did they know if I missed the shipment it reminds me so much of the lazy which right which is the it is and I didn't love that I didn't love that gearbox either but anyway enough about your boxes let's move it's not perfect but I would still take it over the automatic every day of the week yep so Joey uh I mean when you talk about the Z one of the things that's it's always been known for since it first came out in the late 60s was handling and how is this one as far as handling yeah so far I think it's um just as good if not better I think it's better um we'll see once you get to push it around the track and that really starts to you know battle really separate things I think whether or not if there's big differences or it's um the same but I always like how it handled it's always been well balanced and on the on the roads this is well balanced um I like the steering and um yeah I I think it has a lot of potential yeah quite often when uh an automaker switches from from uh hydraulic power steering tool electric usually we have very negative things to say but I thought Nissan actually did a really good job with with how crisply this steering turns into corners and of course it has hardly any body roll uh great grip from the tires so I mean it's it's a fun Back Road car but what about the ride oh this is oh I'm curmudgeon gen okay rides really firmly like I guess livability this isn't a car I would live with I mean so it actually absorbs single disturbances relatively well relatively well for a sports car but you get a constant like jiggle you get the micro touch yeah it's busy so when you say a back road car uh no okay a super smooth background car yeah I'm putting caveats now you have to search out that super smooth background there you go it's a compromise I feel like the Z or the 350Z when it first came out it rode like a brick and then was stiff we complained about it they softened it up yeah that one rode much better and then I think they bounced back and forth to stiffening it up and then they'd back off make it a little more yeah they came back in the opposite direction to make it more civilized this feels like it's the best blend so far for me um but yeah I it's tolerable yeah nothing you're always going to be compromising ride when you're dealing with a sports car and I'm willing to you know deal with a rougher ride if it's worth it if the performance and holds up that's so if it does I I'm I think it's a great option yeah same with me I thought it was tolerable it definitely is no question it's it's it's tense on the highway you you but most of the time I wasn't thinking about it it was only when I hit those you know rougher sections of road that I noticed it um we already talked a really really loud interior I don't think it's much quieter than the last one to be honest with it's still very boomy in there we discussed that it's like a cacophony of noises I wouldn't know that okay Birds um so let's talk about let's let's talk about the driver's seat I mean that's obviously we're going to spend all your time Jen uh is this the most comfortable seat you've ever sat in or talked to me so this is the self-deprecating part of the podcast in that I almost think that these sports car seats sometimes are developed more with men in mind so and I say that because the cushion bolstering not the back I usually fit the back really well okay but the cushion of the bottom yeah is narrow enough that my wider butt actually sits on top of the bolsters not in them so my left thigh and my is literally not very comfortable ever because it's on top of the bolster not inside of it I'm suspecting you too tall thin men are loving this seat no that's the first time anyone's ever called me tall first of all uh and we'll take the thin any day of the week honestly the seat that is one of the worst aspects for me it just doesn't work for me the uh first of all it's very hard which I could put up with except that the you had a problem with the bottom cushion I have a problem with the seat back it's too it's too narrow so again I'm kind of more like on the bolsters than in I think it's because I'm so like my lats are so jacked up yeah is that what these things are yeah actually there's nothing there so my rib cage is oddly weird and wide so just that's another word it just doesn't work for me Joey how about you I'm pretty one of us any of us actually fit in this car um yeah I fit decent in it I I'd say maybe I I agree with it being a little firm the seat's hard but yeah I don't have the issues with the seat back um yeah I fit pretty good in it it's got good bolstering to keep you in the sea especially this thing's going to be handling on Rails and you're going to be falling out of it exactly if you don't have bull string like that but yeah it fits me well I'm gonna tell you another this may sound really picky but that whole long nose design when you're kind of tucked into the pedals a couple of things so I love the extra telescope you mentioned that at the beginning but the reach to the petals is fine for me driving it but to start it you know I have to have the clutch all the way in I have to lick almost lay back a little bit to get it far enough so I can use the push push sorry push button start to get it started and the dead pedal I say you know you're driving in a manual that left leg and foot are much more active yeah so I will tend to use the dead pedal instead of tucking my leg back like I would in an automatic yes I can't reach it only my little toes reach it all right so I hate to admit it but I had uh I could reach it but it's it's a it's it's like angled forwards more than I would like it and also it's a little narrow for a performance car I I it just doesn't it's not as good as I think it should be but uh taller people it's probably absolutely fine yes I find I don't I agree with you I find myself searching for the pedals feel a little deep but um we since we're talking about the seat let's talk about some of the oddest seat controls ever yeah uh I mean that they're on this on the side of the seat just like they were in the 350 and 370 Z so for the driver they're on the right side of the seat right and so first of all I never remember that they're there right and second my leg is covering them up so it just seems like such an odd design but maybe we can think of it as a retro Z thing and let's just live with it and yeah you know blame it on that yeah but yeah to me that ice keep going for the left side of the seat reaching for controls that aren't there no matter how long I drive this car yeah all right and part of that is our switching but it just I remember switching back and forth I really like when things of like function be it climate or seat controls are in a similar location giving my headlights my climate my seat controls you mean you want all automakers to design the cars to be the exact exactly the way you want them well true yes but also intuitively designed together I shouldn't have to do my lumbar over here on the left in my for aft and my yeah right yeah or or you know and Mercedes you know I don't see controls up here Lombard down here further seat controls in the touch screen so right this isn't anywhere near as bad as that so you'll have to we'll have to take a win where we can um what did you think about the interior quality same kind of same old Z as before which is good but not great anything exemplary it's it's a functional not fancy car for sure uh again you're at a reasonable price point yeah well relatively so 51 000. let's talk about uh active safety and Driver assistance features Jen what it comes standard with and what maybe is missing yeah so I you know all of the big ones that one that that we know consumers like blind spot warning we're a cross traffic warning and the ones that are so important a b with pedestrian detection Etc and I think it's worth noting aeb with pedestrian detection standard even with the manual we've had other manufacturers who have manual cars who say ah aeb doesn't really work and I was thinking about this because what happens when that aeb kicks in is you're going to stall right because you're not on the clutch and I was thinking about the old days what that meant so say you the aeb activates you you avoid hitting the car in front of you in the old days you might have to put the clutch in re-key backwards and restart now it's just a push button start you just put the clutch in and well if you can reach it okay and hit the button and you restart so it's actually a simpler implementation and restart without a key then it might have been in the old days if you stalled with a key and so and if the option is if the option is uh potentially hit a car in front of you or not hit a car in front of you but your car stalls I'm gonna go with the with the with the ladder absolutely you know absolutely even you know yes absolutely and the restart is quick if you do need to quickly move ahead because the car moves ahead or something okay so yeah um so to wrap up Joey kind of where you are right now before the car goes through the test program how are you feeling about this news are you liking what you're seeing yeah I mean yeah I like it a lot excited to test it it's exciting to get a car that's a manual sports car we've been seeing so many EVs and things that are kind of not as Enthusiast based you know right so I'm really excited uh negative Nelly how about you it is not for me I get everything you enjoy some aspects of it not many okay so you don't enjoy when you say get out onto you know the you know a faster moving Road and you just floor it and start going through the gears that's not exciting to you I can do that with another car that I like better okay with another guy we appreciate your honesty and also if you don't like the gearbox then that's that's part of the ruining part of it for you I personally think uh in a lot in a lot of ways it's very similar to the old Z you know still a stiff ride super noisy interior uh okay but not great shifter but the new engine is fantastic and it does it's I love driving this car so much much because of that engine and the handling is of course is fantastic yeah not in the wet be careful uh so we have lots more information up on our website consumerreports.org including a full first drive so check that out and of course stay tuned yeah uh to the track here to the website to see what Joey ends up with numbers wise and what our whole group ends up with you know when we fast it really come up with all of the numbers from all the different you know 50 plus tests that we do here so make sure you stay tuned to consumerports.org for our full road test results so now let's move on to our audience question of the week yeah folks don't forget to send those questions comments 30 second video clips of talking cars at icloud.com that's the best way to to reach out and talk to us okay and our push you know our our constant push for we love your video seems to be working because as you said we have a video today and it comes from Claudia in Surrey British Columbia Canada so let's see uh what Claudia is asking us today hi talking cars greetings from beautiful British Columbia I have a two-parter question first part is regarding engine block heaters I'm going to be moving to Saskatchewan later this year where of course it gets much colder in Winter I've heard conflicting advice some people say that on a new car like my 2019 Mazda CX-5 I don't need one because it's pretty new and it uses synthetic oil other people have said oh no definitely get one so what is your guys's advice on this and the second part of my question is in regards to fuel stabilizer I'm going to be going away a little bit before my move and want to put fuel stabilizer in my car now usually I I take a regular gasoline and I was wondering uh is premium more stable should I get that for the one fill up where I put the stabilizer in my thank you so I know a little something about engine block heaters and of course this is a two-part question so we're going to go to you Joey first but my my parents thought it would be a great idea when I was a kid to uh lug me and my brother and sister up to our family cabin in in Ontario Canada for Christmas one winter for a week and you know it was like minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit which I don't know what that is in Canadian or Celsius but it's it's cold and you know two two feet of snow three foot drifts anyway so we had to leave our car out at this ranger station and luckily their the park rangers let us plug an engine block heater because I don't think that old Volvo Wagon was ever going to start in those cold temps but Claudia has a newer car Joey uh she doesn't have an old clunker Volvo Wagon so does do you think when she moves to Saskatchewan she's going to need an engine block heater or what's the deal with that yeah so it kind of depends she needs to look at she mentioned synthetic oil she needs to really look at the weight oil she's running and then looking in the manual and seeing as the seeing what the temperature range is that that oil's waited for and you know kind of go from there I think what I would do is also reach out to a local dealership in the area Mazda dealer that's dealing with these cars in this climate a ton of cars and they have to they're dealing with it all the time so yeah I think that's where I would start okay that's a great idea and I can't imagine that a lot of Canadians don't stay there for those harsh harsher winters yeah so yeah you live where you live right so uh and then for the second part Jen gonna go to you you know it's it's funny the the you know regular versus premium we kind of had something interesting like that when I lived in Southern California we could only get 91 octane right uh premium instead of 93 we we can get 93 here and you know my car and motorcycle track day buddies would you know they called the 91 crap fuel they were so mad because their thought was it it degrades more over time than 91 versus the 93. so what about regular versus premium first of all did my friends even know what they were talking about Jen and does Claudia should she be should she put premium in before she leaves the car for a long time right well when you were talking if I understand the 91 versus the 93 was about performance not about no it was about that you know restoring your story because if you have a track day car or a motorcycle you don't drive or ride it all the time right so you end up having that fuel sit and especially with carburetors which some of my motorcycles Incorporated uh that's a problem so that's what they were complaining about right so I I admit I had to reach out to Mike and and John and ask some of these questions but anyway essentially their their take is that the octane does not matter they're both going to degrade over time and the additional octane 93 doesn't necessarily 491 or 91 to grade any slower than regular fuel um and then yes and even Mike said if it's a couple of months she's away everything will probably be fine with or without the fuel stabilizer um but it can't hurt so the fuel stability can't hurt put it in there no problem he said though he went on to say she was going to be away for much longer I mean if you're talking a year or more that you're gonna have that car the real answer is drain the fuel out of it yeah like you don't want to leave any fuel sitting in there for a super long time just siphon it right outside because people do that all the time yeah yeah um and also maybe put it on uh lifts so that the tires aren't on the ground yeah if you leave your car sitting for a year anyway all right well that's good information see I learned something too I didn't I wasn't sure that's what we always thought was that the 93 was so much better than 91 and and turns out the 87 and 91 is not even as far as stability is fine um that's going to do it for this episode if you want to learn more about the cars and the topics we talked about you can click on the links in the show notes don't forget to send those questions comments 30 second video clips the talking cars at icloud.com this episode was produced by Dave Abrams and edited by Anatoly schumsky and the Andrew Belize thanks so much for watching and we'll see you all next week foreign\n"