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We use battery warmers and block heaters to help ensure that the battery is better able to start the car in extreme cold (the battery loses it's ability to deliver power to the starter when it gets too cold), and the engine will turn more freely and reach operating temperature faster.
However, unless you're living where temperatures are consistently far below freezing, I doubt the occasional use of a block heater would have a significant effect on the life of the car, especially given the number of times in the lifetime of the engine that it's started after a full cool down without use of a block heater.
Moreover, a battery warmer and/or block heater will not warm the transmission, or the wheel bearings, or the rear differential, or the steering components, all of which have lubricants that are less efficient when they are at extremely cold temperatures.
If you're willing to go to the expense of installing them, and covering the small but incremental cost of electricity that's involved in their use, then there's no reason not to use a battery warmer and block heater on very cold days. You will notice a difference (perhaps easier start, and the temperature gauge will begin to come up earlier than without a block heater), but I doubt the effect will be measurable in terms of the life of the car.
However, unless you're living where temperatures are consistently far below freezing, I doubt the occasional use of a block heater would have a significant effect on the life of the car, especially given the number of times in the lifetime of the engine that it's started after a full cool down without use of a block heater.
Moreover, a battery warmer and/or block heater will not warm the transmission, or the wheel bearings, or the rear differential, or the steering components, all of which have lubricants that are less efficient when they are at extremely cold temperatures.
If you're willing to go to the expense of installing them, and covering the small but incremental cost of electricity that's involved in their use, then there's no reason not to use a battery warmer and block heater on very cold days. You will notice a difference (perhaps easier start, and the temperature gauge will begin to come up earlier than without a block heater), but I doubt the effect will be measurable in terms of the life of the car.
