It's gosh darn cold out...

Lots of words and few pictures this time.  I live in Wisconsin.  The thing about Wisconsin is that sometimes it can get cold.   Really cold.  The past few weeks, the average temp has been in the low teens, with lows below 0°F.  Normally, it's not such a big deal, I'm generally outside for all of a minute or so, on my way to and from the car.  But then two weeks ago, the heater fan in the Impala died. 

So I suffered for a few weeks, driving 40 miles a day, in a car with no heater.  Actually, not a new experience for me.  My '69 Beetle doesn't have a heater worth mentioning either, so I've driven my share with frostbite threatening.  But, it was a cold two weeks none the less.  The new replacements on the market use a smaller fan blade and don't put out the volume of the originals.  So, I replaced the fan with a used original. 

There's another thing that is a bit peculiar about these cars.  The heater cores are well known for plugging up.  When that happens, hot water can't circulate, so the heater doesn't put out much heat.  I flushed, and reverse flushed my heater core when I swapped on the silicone hoses from the Caprice back in October.  But, with the new fan, I noticed that my heater wasn't blowing hot, just warm.  And, when I'd hit a stop light so the car was idling, the temp would drop even further, down to tepid.

So today, I braved the 9°F weather, and flushed/backflushed(and repeat a few times) my heater core.  It's not hard to do, just clamp off the heater hoses(I use needle nose vice grips wrapped in electrical tape so I don't chew up the hoses), then disconnect the hoses at the firewall and shove the garden hose on the heater core fittings one at a time.  Reconnect the hoses and be on your way.  You probably won't even need to add any coolant, though you'll want to check to be sure.  And try not to do it in the driveway, you'll end up with an ice puddle...

With the new fan in, and heater core cleared, the heater pumps out more heat than most people will ever need.  How much heat you ask?  Well, here is my dash vent after a 15 minute drive...