Service Engine Soon light came on last night. After looking everything over - I noticed nothing unusual. Van drove fine, no problems that I noticed. Drove it to Auto Zone and they checked the codes for me. (silly me) Gas Cap wasnt on tight - DOH!! :banghead:

Anyway - while looking at the engine, I noticed that up front by the grill on the driver side - there is what looks like an extension cord. its all coiled up and tucked away neatly. it had a cover on one end and i removed the cover and sure enough - it looks like a standard 3-prong plug.

what is this? is it to heat up the block in the winter for easier starts?

its a 2004 venture 3.4 engine

Yup. It's a block heater.

Service Engine Soon light came on last night. After looking everything over - I noticed nothing unusual. Van drove fine, no problems that I noticed. Drove it to Auto Zone and they checked the codes for me. (silly me) Gas Cap wasnt on tight - DOH!! :banghead:

Anyway - while looking at the engine, I noticed that up front by the grill on the driver side - there is what looks like an extension cord. its all coiled up and tucked away neatly. it had a cover on one end and i removed the cover and sure enough - it looks like a standard 3-prong plug.

what is this? is it to heat up the block in the winter for easier starts?

its a 2004 venture 3.4 engine

Obviously, you don't live in a cold climate state, or in Canada! Otherwise, you would surely be familiar with these life saver devices that we call: ''engine block heater" :lol2:

Yves

Obviously, you don't live in a cold climate state, or in Canada! Otherwise, you would surely be familiar with these life saver devices that we call: ''engine block heater" :lol2:

Yves

Well - Northern Michigan - cold enough - i suspected it was that, however - when we bought the Van in February, this wasnt listed on the "options" list, and I never noticed it before. it was more of a double check.