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Hello, I've been looking into getting a block heater for my insight to help with the warming up process so the engine gets into optimal temp range so my FE is decent.

The problem is that I've been trying to find the right part for my car. I've been to several websites that claim to have the correct part but it seems they are listing two separt block heaters as the correct one.

Now the kicker... It appers that sometime around 2003 or 2004 they "changed" the part number and the one that is listed for my 2006 insight costs ~$75 as opposed to the ~$35 for the other model.

Am I missing something here? I've read both install manuals and they look identical to each other. Is there really a need to get the $75 one over the $35 one?

Here are the part numbers I've found.

2000-2003 Honda Insight
Block Heater - 08T44-SV4-100
Block Heater Attachment Kit - 08T44-S3Y-100

2004-2006 Honda Insight
Block Heater - 08T44-SEC-200
Block Heater Attachment Kit- 08T44-S3Y-100


What Changed in 2004 to necessitate a different part?

hondaautomotiveparts.com seems to only offer the $75 one (for $52.50). They don't specify that it is only for certain years, and the diagrams in the install manual look identical to mine. I have a 2003, and I think I paid in the $30 range. I know of no changes to the engine block in recent years, and I think the same heater fits some other Honda models as well. It could be the newer one comes from a different manufacturer, hence the change in part number. Who knows why the price is so much higher. If you can find one of the earlier ones, I say get it.

thats what I thought. I just ordered the cheaper part from http://www.handa-accessories.com/ since they had both parts. :)

Now I just need to get my windows tinted so I dont have to bake in the heat because I dont want to run my AC ;)

My '01 got the 08T44-SV4-100, that you mentioned above. Installed back in '05. Got it from HandA-ACC. Invoice says 31.20USD.
I'm pretty sure they didn't change the blocks, probably suppliers, as Fenrir said.

Randall

Now I just need to get my windows tinted so I dont have to bake in the heat because I dont want to run my AC ;)
I had to do a bit of searching to find Huper Optik ceramic tint. The idea is to reflect the heat back out. If the tint simply absorbs the heat, it will transfer that heat the interior of the car (since it is on the inside of the glass). As I understand it, the ceramics reflect infared and perhaps also UV.
A secondary benefit of tints is that they protect the electric defogging element on the rear window from damage when you wipe the inside surface.

Theres a local shop that installs ceramic tint along with other high quality tints. They quoted me $429 to tint the whole car with it. A bit more than I wanted to spend but I guess you get what you pay for. I'll just wait a bit longer and install the good stuff instead of getting a $99 tint job and having to pay someone to fix it.

What did you pay for your tint job?

I've been looking into tint as well. I was considering the silver reflective tint, but I think charcoal looks better with the black trim around the windows. I liked the way Billy's Insight looked when I saw it at Hybridfest. He says it does a good job of cutting down on interior heat. Lightfoot, you don't happen to have photos of your Insight with tint, do you? It is difficult to find good photos online to compare different films.

Sorry, I was at work and didn't have my car stuff there. I paid $160 a year ago to have the two hatchback windows filmed with Huper Ceramic 40. I was thinking about having the rear quarter windows and the side windows done but haven't gotten around to it (and the hatch window is the main worry anyway). Tinting the front window is illegal in some states, including this one.

Ceramic 40 transmits 42% of visible light, so it cuts the apparent light level about in half. Noticeable but certainly not annoying. The usual legal limit is 40% so this is legal in most places.

More importantly for our purposes, it rejects 80% of infared light. It also rejects 99% of UV but I'm not sure what they mean by that. Glass eliminates short-wavelength UV so maybe they are referring to long-wave UV? Anyhow it rejects 55% of total solar energy.

Huper also makes Ceramic 30 which rejects 84% of infared and 61% of total energy. It passes 34% of visible light, so you might get away with it. To me the modest gains didn't seem worth the risk of getting hassled.

Website is huperroptikusa.com

I was sure that Huper was what I wanted, didn't know an installer, and didn't want to deal with someone trying to sell me something else. So I just phoned Huper (888-296-3456) and a nice lady there gave me the name of a good installer in my area.

Sorry fenrir, I don't have a digital camera and (gasp) don't have ANY pix of my beloved Little Beast.

Here are the part numbers I've found.

2000-2003 Honda Insight
Block Heater - 08T44-SV4-100
Block Heater Attachment Kit - 08T44-S3Y-100

2004-2006 Honda Insight
Block Heater - 08T44-SEC-200
Block Heater Attachment Kit- 08T44-S3Y-100


What Changed in 2004 to necessitate a different part?


What is the Voltage of this block heater. ?

Just to be sure if it will work here in Europe where we have 220 V. in our wall plugs.