Echo 2000 block heater cord torn apart!

[Canolababa]

Hello!
It's that wonderful time of the year...yes, we are prepping for the -40C in the Canadian prairie now!
So, this morning I noticed that two of the wires coming from the block heater cord are torn near the plug (left the plug dangling from the corner of the hood all summer...what a bummer!). This will be the second winter for this car with me and the cord may very well have been torn when I bought it.
Options:
1. Splice the cord and reattach the plug - can do, but heard the lack of insulation can cause fire!! But is that realistic?
2. Put a new cable all the way from where the heater attaches to the block. Problem is I can't find a diagram that shows how the cord attaches to the block. According to some posts I read on the net, it can be a royal pain to replace the whole cable. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[denman]

Your option 1 is OK if there's room on either side of the damage to get a good reattachment set up. I solder this kind of connection and use shrink tube insulation or lots of tape. What I'd do is cut the cord at the good side of the damaged area and splice in the male end of a heavy extension cord. You can often copy the wire colors for reattachment, or if you're handy with a multimeter just make sure there's continuity between the plug blades and between the ground and the car body or (-) battery terminal. Before attaching the plug find a convenient place to run the cord out the grill so it can survive lots more summers,