Block Heater warning.... I brought an Int'l Scout II with a diesel from Oregon to Maine a few years ago to use as my everday vehicle. With the winters here I figured I needed a Block heater, so I pulled the frost plug and put one in. This one was like a rubber cork that had a bolt you tightened to seal it in place. It worked great for the first few weeks in the fall. Then one cool day in November maybe 40 degrees, on my way in to work I was headed up a hill on the local interstate and the heater started blowing cold and I happened to look in the rearview and noticed
a lot of fog or steam behind me. It took my brain about 1/4 of mile to put 2 and 2 together and I then immediately pulled over and shut the engine off. Sure enough the block heater had been blown out of the block and it lost all the anti-freeze in a hurry. Luckily there was a stream right there and I refilled the radiator after putting the block heater back in. It took a lot of ether to start it and it ran terrible, but I got it home. The next weekend I pulled the head and 2 of the 6 pistons had dime sized holes melted right through the tops. Needless to say a gas engine took it's place. So if you put in a block heater you better check on it often.
