My 4x4 Limited came with the Engine Block Heater. Does anyone know how to find and use this feature?

Just look under the hood for a cord and plug it in when it's cold.

Just be sure to unplug before you drive off....:smiley_thumbs_up:

Look on the driver's (left) side, front, just behind the radiator support, for a black power cord with a plug on the end. It is a heating element, in the side of the motor, which will help it start easier when frigidly cold, and warm up faster. Probably not needed until temps in the 20s (F) and below. And yes, don't forget to unplug before driveoff.

Below 5F or around -15C is when I would plug in the block heater... All it does is warm the coolant that is in the block so your block doesn't crack (when the coolant freezes)

50/50 mix Coolant is typically good for temperatures down to -34F (-36C)

I thought the block heater was in the oil pan and it keeps the oil (and engine) warm so that the oil is less molasses-like when you start the engine in say minus damn-that's-cold weather (4 months of the year up here). A good idea is to plug it into a heavy-duty timer to come on 2 or 3 hours before you have to start the car. I always plug in at -10C or below. I also put the extension cord to the heater in front of the drivers door as a reminder to unplug before driving away.

I don't know when you should plug it in but I know up here in frigid Massachusetts none of my friends have them and we regularly start up out cars in -10F weather without any problem, it helps to have remote start though so you don't have to get into a really really cold car in the morning!

Here's a decent description of the block heater from WIKI (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Block_heater)

For all of the vehicles I've seen the heater is a little plug that screws into one of the freeze plugs on the engine block.

"Plug it in when it's too cold" yes,but remember it has to be really cold outside.Unless you live somewhere in Minnestota or in truly cold climate region then you probably won't ever need to use this feature.Here in Canada only drivers that park their vehicles outside in places like Ottawa or Winnipeg will plugh in the block heater on a very cold night. Minus 15 degrees celcius or less.

Toirtap is right on the button; Block heater does keep the engine oil from getting too cold (I use it at -15°c and less). Another great thing for our cold Canadian winters is synthetic oil. even at -25°c it keeps it's original viscosity. I always put that in my 2000 TJ. I plan to do the same with my Patriot (7 weeks, 4 days, 14 1/2 hours till delivery :-)

In general, engines don't wear as much with synthetic oil which means it takes a lot longer for them to break in to their best fuel mileage. It's usually a good idea to use a regular oil for the first few thousand miles before switching to a synthetic.
Synthetic oils, besides holding viscosity under low temperature conditions, also don't break down under high temperature conditions which would cook regular oil. This means much longer intervals between chnages. In fact if it weren't for the additives (which absorb moisture and such) wearing out, one would hardly need to change them at all so long as the oil filter remained good enough to continue to trap accumulated contaminants.