I live out in eastern Canada where its really frickin cold outside, and I notice in the mornings that when I start my car the starter has a really hard time turning over the motor after it has been sitting in the cold for a long time. Now I do have a Block heater but the thing hasn't been used in almost 8 years, and I just wanted to know if there was some way of testing to see if its 100% working . Because I have heard of electrical connections and the wires for the heater over time might crack and have a short?

Thanks for your time!

 

I personally would try it... unless there are any wires that look severed or if it looks like a fire hazard... I don't think that there is any other way to find out if its working. Plug it in and see

 

you can test to see if your block heater is working by sticking a thermometer in the radiator and see if the coolant is warmer than the ambient temperature.
I have a dumb question- I recently bought a '94 Honda with a block heater - do you plug in to AC or does it run off the battery? If plug, where is it?

 

if it's got a block heater there should be a cord or plug hanging off/around the front of the car, if you can't find one then look around the engine block (from under the car for easier viewing) and look for an electrical cord coming off the block somewhere then trace it to the front of the car, most common place is ziptied under the bumper or stashed next to the battery in the engine bay. And yes it needs to be plugged in to function