Never really had to plug in the block heater on my 2015 Ltd until this past week, and I didn't like closing the hood on the cord - couldn't really find anywhere that it wasn't super tight once shut. Once it was in the garage again I got down and looked around for a permanent cord route, and also concluded that the Ford engineers that designed this system never once actually checked to see how it worked when needed. There are very few convenient holes in the radiator shroud and grille mounts, especially since I didn't want to add any extra cord to the factory one. I did find a workable solution though, and with some minimal cursing and loss of blood, have it routed and working with no reason to ever open the hood again.
Block heater cord location per factory:
Cord unhooked from other cables:
Disconnect cord end at flat connector:
Put a trouble light in the engine compartment passenger side. Looking through the lower grille in front, passenger side - see the small squarish hole left side of radiator - that's where we're headed!
I removed the cable hook from the connector end of the lower cord - it's not needed anymore, it will just be in the way, and mine was broken anyway. It's just attached with a few wraps of electrical tape:
Now came the fun - run a chunk of coat hanger through the grill and square hole, bent slightly upwards, up into the engine compartment:
Attach the flat connector end of the lower cord and pull through - this takes some patience, a gentle touch, and just the right amount of profanity ...
Once it's pulled through, reattach the flat connector (it can only go 1 way), then secure the cord inside, so it can't drop into the belt. I zip-tied it below the flat connector to a hole in the frame, so that if someone backs away with the extension cord attached, it should separate at the extension cord and not the flat connector (hopefully).
I also hooked the remaining cable clip onto another cable higher up, so it's not going anywhere:
The final result: Not much sticking out, so won't drag on the ground, and easy to plug in when needed. Hope this helps anyone else in the same predicament (ultimately caused by uncaring automotive engineers who live somewhere that never sees negative temperatures).
