Block heater for TYM 353HST

RustyCannon

New member
Just wanted to warn folks not to try a block heater in your TYM 353.

I recently tried adding a block heater to my TYM 353HST. The engine in that tractor is a Mitsubishi 4 cylinder diesel model S4L2. I found that a company called Phillips and Temro makes one for that engine under the brand name "ZeroStart". The heater model they specify for that engine is 3100078. Their instructions specify that the heater should be placed in the frost plug hole at the right rear of the engine. It is the only frost plug hole that I could find that was big enough for a heater. It is 35mm diameter. Other plugs I found were all about 1/2" in diameter.

I bought the specified heater from Woody'sAutoSupply on line: http://www.woodys-auto-supply.com/online-auto-parts-catalog.asp?cat=ZRO-000.

The heater installed fairly easily. I followed all the instructions, including making sure the hole was clean and burr-free. Instructions said to lube the o-ring with silicone grease and I did that. I also put some in the hole as the instructions said. The only thing that didn't seem to go right on installation was that when I tightened the screw that uses a molly-type arrangement to hold the heater in the frost plug hole, I could not keep the heater oriented to 11 O'Clock as the instructions specified. It kept turning up to 12 O'Clock. I thought it was the torque of turning the screw that was causing it to rotate. It wasn't. I'll explain more later on that.

After I finished it, I refilled the coolant. The heater was leaking slightly. So I drained the coolant again, pulled the heater, tried to find something wrong, couldn't, and I did the installation over. This time it leaked worse.

Thinking that I had done something wrong, even though there was no visible sign of a problem, I ordered another heater of the same model number. That one would not even come close to seating in the hole. The heating element on it was 1/4" longer than the first heater.

It turns out that the reason the first one would not stay orientated correctly was because it was hitting the #4 cylinder wall on the inside of the engine. The second heater was also hitting either the #3 or #4 cylinder walls depending on how it was turned.

I contacted the retailer to see if they would accept a return on the heaters and they refused and said I would have to go directly to the manufacturer.

So now I've contacted the manufacturer and offered to send the heaters to them along with my hand drawn diagrams so they can figure out:
1. What heater might fit this engine, if any.
2. Is the problem that this heater is the wrong one for this engine, or is the quality control from the manufacturer so poor that the heaters are just way out of spec?

I am currently communicating with the Director of Sales for Phillips and Temro. I will keep this forum apprised of the outcome.

I'd like to share also that my brother is a long time diesel mechanic. He worked mostly on heavy equipment with big enginers - CAT and Cummins, etc. He was the one that recommended the ZeroStart heaters. He said that he had used them for years and never had a problem. I had hoped that the block heater would work because it would more directly heat the water near the engine head than a lower radiator hose heater.

In the meantime, I have replaced the original frost plug in the engine and I bought a Kat's lower radiator hose heater (1-1/2") from NAPA. It is installed and working. The radiator hose is infinitely more accessible than the RR frost plug and that installation took all of 15 minutes not counting draining and refilling the coolant.
 
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bczoom

Senior Member
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Welcome to the forum.

Well, that just didn't go right. I hope they make it right for you.

Call me lazy but I've had great success with the block heaters that are glued to the oil pan. Talk about an easy install. They've also worked flawlessly.
 

RustyCannon

New member
The ones that glue to oil pan are great and you don't have to drain all the coolant, etc. to install them. I actually have a magnetic one that I bought for an old Ford tractor that I had tried to use.

But on this tractor, there is simply no flat place to put a glue-on or magnetic heater. With the magnetic heater, I started at the bottom of the oil pan and went all over the engine trying to find somewhere to put it where it would stick and have enough surface area in contact to heat the motor and I just couldn't find a place. But if someone knows a specific solution for the TYM 353, that would be great information to share here.

I really like the idea of warming the oil to warm the engine.
 

bczoom

Senior Member
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
But if someone knows a specific solution for the TYM 353, that would be great information to share here.

While waiting for others to jump in, should you (RustyCannon) go get that rust off your cannon? Is there a story to your name?
 

bczoom

Senior Member
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Well, that is simple, isn't it.

So, where are all our 353 owners?!?!?
 

RustyCannon

New member
I have to assume that most of these are sold for light duty use and people just don't break them? Dunno. I had to have some warranty work done on mine once. The instrument panel went out... actually just the fuel gauge. The dealer replaced it pronto.
 

RustyCannon

New member
Latest on the freeze plug heaters:

The Sales Director at Phillips and Temro has been helpful. He said he will get their documentation changed. But he says that I need to return the heaters to Woody's, and Woody's has to return it their distributor and that distributor in turn has to return them to the manufacturer, Phillips and Temro.

So I'm going back to Woody's now. Sure glad that they're responding to email. If I had to do all this over the phone, I'd have given up long ago.
 

Joeyd

Member
Well, that is simple, isn't it.

So, where are all our 353 owners?!?!?

OK, here is a 353 owner, somebody had to step up. Last winter was my first with a tractor and I left it parked outside under a tarp. I had no trouble with it starting but I used the glow plug heater x2 trick I learned on one of the tractor forums. After you heat the plugs wait 5 seconds and hit it again before starting.

I have to admit this year I moved the wife's car out of our garage to a garage we have access to in town and put my truck in the garage. (I can drop her off in town and she can run errands to her hearts content. She doesn't like the 1.5 mile downhill trip to the road in the winter.) Now I can put my tractor in the pole barn which is set to 40 degrees. I should have no trouble starting the tractor again this winter.

The reason for moving it into the pole barn? Simple, I didn't like taking the tarp on/off with all the snow, 150" give or take. In the spring I will move things back around and bring the wife's car back up to the house.

One question, did you check with your dealer about any type of heater for your TYM before you went with the after market one?
 

RustyCannon

New member
No, I didn't check with the dealer. Actually, my dealer has gone out of business. I did, however, check with a nearby dealer after failing with the block heaters. The parts guy there got on the web and started reading me postings from forums where people said to use a lower radiator hose heater...

Thanks for the tip on the glow plug heater X2 trick. Hadn't heard that one before. While my tractor always has started, I found that with one cycle of the glow plugs, when the temp was in the -10 degree range, the tractor would have to crank for 10-15 seconds before starting which seems like a strain on the battery and starter.
 

RustyCannon

New member
To catch up on the story of the return of the block heaters: Woody's, the retailer, after much polite back-and-forth via email, has now issued me Return Authorizations for both orders. I will return them as "defective". I will update the forum with the final outcome.
 

Joeyd

Member
It's nice to know that Woody's will stand behind the products they sell even though it took some doing. I hope you get all your money back.

It would be interesting to know if your mechanic brother sees any problem with doubling up on the glow plugs before starting. Let me know if you ask him.
 

RustyCannon

New member
Well, I think this whole episode is about resolved.

First of all, I talked to my brother and his feeling on the double-hit on the glow plugs is probably OK. He felt that in the long run, it might shorten the life of the glow plugs, but if you're not starting the tractor like that daily or multiple times a day, the wear is probably going to be negligible. I tried that method one cold day and it seemed to help.

I've also been able to use my radiator hose heater a couple times and the tractor started right up in about -2 degree temps after letting heater work for 2-3 hours.

To recap my experience with Woody's Auto, returning the two block heaters, both of which I had tried to install, was against their official policy for electrical items. But since the problem was that the heaters didn't fit correctly, after I talked to the manufacturer and exchanged emails with Woody's on-line sales manager, I was told to return them as defective.

Woody's doesn't buy directly from the manufacturer, but through a distributor called UniSelect. My orders from Woody's were dropped shipped directly to me from UniSelect. So to return the items, I had to wait for Woody's to get the return authorizations from UniSelect. Once I was issued the RA's, I packed the heaters in the original packing and with the original paperwork. I made copies of the RA's and packed both heaters and the RA's in one box and shipped them back to UniSelect per the instructions.

I alerted Woody's sales manager and he thanked me for the heads up. I alerted him again when the packages were received at UniSelect (I shipped via UPS and I watched the tracking). UniSelect received the heaters on 11/30.

Today (12/13), I received emails from Woodys that my refunds have been issued. They are supposed to be credited to my credit card, so I expect that I will see those credits appear in my account in the next day or two, depending on how long the bank thinks they have to hold onto it to make their books look better.

Of course, they only refund the price of the product. If you deduct the price of the shipping back to them, I wonder if it was worth the hassle. I think my time in processing and dealing with trying to get the refund was worth more than the actual refund in the end. But truly, the reason that I started the whole process in the first place was in an attempt to tell the manufacturer that they have a problem with that particular model heater in this particular application. Hopefully, in talking to the manufacturer, I got that point across. They told me that they would change their documentation to exclude this engine.

And for any other HST353 owners, skip the block heaters! Get a lower radiator hose heater. They're cheaper and easier to install anyhow.
 

RustyCannon

New member
Thanks. If I can save someone else the headaches, it will be worth it. Most people don't have as much time as I do.
 
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