During recent cold snap my wife unplugged my block heater and the end of the extension cord came apart and arced on the bumper. The breaker in my house panel did not blow but the block heater is not working.

Is there a relay or reset somewhere, I can't locate anything? Or is the heater fried?

I would just go buy a new block heater cord. My gf drove away with her car still plugged in and ripped her block heater cord in half. we just bough a new one for $15 down town it works great now.

it you have a multimeter you can turn it to continuity and if you have some wires left hanging out your front bumper you put the one lead to one of the wires and the other lead from the multimeter to the other side, you should get continuity if it is good still.

hope that helps if you understand what i explained.

I would check the block heater fuse.

sounds like the breaker tripped but the switch didn't move. If you no what breaker it is. turn it off and then back on. If that doesn't fix it, it sounds like you may have a bad extension cord.

I would check the block heater fuse.

Seriously?

sounds like the breaker tripped but the switch didn't move. If you no what breaker it is. turn it off and then back on. If that doesn't fix it, it sounds like you may have a bad extension cord.


I'd assume he was smart enough to make sure the cord had power first.

Seriously?

I'd assume he was smart enough to make sure the cord had power first.

You never know. My mom works at a Hampton Inn and she told me the other day it's remarkable how many calls they get about the hair dryer's not working. They walk up to the room and plug the things into the wall.

I work for a major printer manufacturer. One of the first questions our tech support center asks (in a very nice way) is whether the printer is plugged into the wall. You'd be amazed how many people - intelligent (?) people - think a wireless printer doesn't need to be plugged into the wall. :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Ockham's razor... the simplest explanation is quite often the best one. There are no stupid questions... but by gosh there are some really stupid answers. :crazy:

Okay fellas, thanks for the responses.

Yes, I changed extension cords and checked the house breaker to make sure I had power.

The cord on the truck was not damaged, at least not visibly, it was the extension cord that was damaged and caused the arcing when a frayed spot contacted the bumper.

I will try the continuity check, I hadn't thought of that.

Seriously?




I'd assume he was smart enough to make sure the cord had power first.

you know what happens when you assume right? you make an ass out of you and me :D

just thought of another thing. I don't know if your plug that your plugging your extension cord into is a GFI or not but if it is, then it would have tripped instead of your breaker and would need to be reset.

Some people forget about GFI's so I thought I'd throw it out there