Engine Block Heater for a 2019 Chevy Colorado without Thermostat

Question:

I ordered this block heater from your outfit. It has arrived and has bulb-ish section of the cord near the plug for the 120 volt wall supply. The installation instructions with KH11484 say that it has a thermostat inline. GM wants the thermostat to go on at 0 degrees F. There is some concern that if the thermostat goes on above 0 degrees my 2019 Colorado would show a CEL and then a PO116 code indicating the coolant temperature is too much different from incoming air temperature. The truck could run poorly because of the PO116 and might require reprograming by the dealer. I would prefer a block heater that comes on when plugged in above 0 degrees. Could the thermostat be disables or could it be cut off without harming the truck. I live out here in Western Washington and it rarely gets below 0 degrees, but I would like to warm the engine slightly for a short commute.

asked by: Brian

Expert Reply:

There are two different versions of the Kat's Heaters Custom Engine Block Heater part # KH11484, one with a thermostat and one without a thermostat. If you have a bulge in the cord then you have one with a thermostat. In order to disable the thermostat feature you would just simply need to replace the cord with part # KH28500 as I can't recommend you modify the one you have now.

When GM designed the block heater for this vehicle, they placed the thermostat outside of the engine block on the cord so it reads ambient temperature. Therefore, the block heater would not come on until the ambient temperature dropped below 0 degrees. In order to run the block heater sooner you would need the cord without the thermostat but as you mentioned this could cause a CEL to appear.

expert reply by: Conner L