2000-04 S40 Block Heater Installation

Tracerec · Post by **Tracerec** » 11 Sep 2011, 01:42

Hi all,
I'm a Volvo newbie having recently purchased a 2003 S40 in excellent shape with low mileage from California and imported it into Canada. I love the car but was shocked when the local Volvo dealer quoted me over $700 Cdn to install a block heater. Searching the net I found a few parts suppliers that sell the block heaters for around $25. Is there something difficult about installing the block heater in the 2003 S40? If it's relatively simple can someone tell me where the block heater plug is located?

Thanks,
Dan

Post by **precopster** » 11 Sep 2011, 06:04

Hi Welcome to MVS.

Haven't heard of a block heater yet!! Do you mean a heater core? If so they cost a lot more than $25, around $125 for an OEM Behr brand and from what I've heard the entire dashboard needs to be removed to replace it.

$700 Cdn doesn't seem that bad if this is what you need. Unfortunately there are no write-ups on MVS yet. Try Volvospeed.

Tracerec · Post by **Tracerec** » 11 Sep 2011, 10:11

Thanks for the response. I suppose you don't have much need for block heaters in Melbourne

. A block heater is a small electrical element that plugs into the engine block through an engine core plug (frost plug) and heats the engine coolant. They're used in regions with cold climates. Where I live in Canada they're considered standard equipment for a vehicle.

I was hoping someone could tell me where the core plug is located.

Cheers,
Dan

Post by **precopster** » 11 Sep 2011, 17:41

A couple of the forum members from the colder regions discussing how thay deal with their cooling issues...... https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... er#p169655

Also this one on block heaters for the 850s/V70s. https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... =1&t=32050

Hope this helps