Meh.
It’s 4:30 in the fucking morning, I just went outside with my first cup of coffee to have a smoke and I see all the rigs have ice on the windshields.
I knew this was coming last night before I went to bed so I rummaged around and dug out my Harbor Freight cotton glove liners, some leather gloves I had out in the garage, the can of De-Icer that was in the Caballero and dumped it all in the front seat of The Truck.
As I’m standing out there watching my breath hang in the air, the thought of freezing my ass off going to work every day all Winter turned most unpleasant .
Even with a new thermostat in the thing I can barely get any heat out of that truck and it won’t even start to throw any until I am 3/4’s of the way to work anyway.
This is when a block heater popped into my head and immediately after that I realized that I must be getting old and soft.
The first part is undeniable, the second part is too if I want to be honest with myself.
As long as I have been around and as much shit as I have been through, I may just say Fuck This and get one anyway.
What the fuck.
Winter hasn’t even really started yet. Do I really want to subject myself to that misery every fucking day or do I spend the fifty bucks or whatever it’s going to cost and nip this problem in the bud now?
Now that the idea has presented its self, I may just look into that shit.
I got no problem being called a pussy, as long as I am a warm and toasty pussy.
Get a block heater.
Also get a frostblocker too. Seriously, I love mine. No more scrapping a wind shield and mirrors before putting the thing in drive.
This is the one I have. Works perfectly.
https://www.costco.com/FrostBlocker-Windshield-and-Mirror-Cover,-2-pack.product.100504960.html
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Kidme37 is dead on, Phil. I learned all about block heaters, tank heaters, and oil dipstick heaters when I was stationed in Minot, ND – the all work, but the most efficient and best bang for the buck is the block heater. Loses the least amount of energy, too.
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Freaking amazing weather. You are getting frost and freezing, we are at 75 degrees by mid day in Michigan. WTF? No worries though, it is coming our way. I guess a heater unit that goes into the coolant circuit would be a good idea.
They are pricey but there are some options:
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My uncle lives in Grand Rapids and he called yesterday afternoon and gave me a shit razzing about the snow falling here in Central Idaho he saw on the news. He told me he was having mid 70s temps and just loving it… asshole uncle.
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GEvery family’s got at least one, Cederq – WE here at Bustednuckles have John-o… right?!
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I have uncle egorr to make me think before swearing! Oh well, it is springtime in north Qld, guess I’ll have to set the a/c a bit lower tonight. Beat away with a stick all the busty bikini babes trying to score a coldie from my Eskie, life’s hard in the tropics!
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Good on ya, mate! ;P
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A coolant heater like this might get you a warmer ride in the morning, a cheaper frost plug heater just makes it easier to start the engine when it’s really cold.
What you need are heated seats…
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I think you’ll enjoy retirement, where being a pussy comes guilt free after 48 years of busting your ass.
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Phil, go buy a good quality set of rubber front floor mats, the thicker the better. On nights when you think you’re gonna get iced up windshields, put the floor mats on the windshield under the wipers, covering as much of the glass surface as you can. The ice / frost will accumlate overnight on the floor mats, not on the windshield. In the morning start the car up, turn on the heater/defrost, throw the floor mats in the back cargo area, and you’re off. No scraping, no ice, no problem. Did this all through school in the midwest and never had to scrape ice.
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The frostblocker someone posted above is the same concept.
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Frostblocker covers the wipers too. A much better option and the blocker is very light and stores well. If it’s covered with snow I put it on the back porch to recover then toss it back on that evening. The straps that go around the side mirrors holds it in even in very strong wind.
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They hadn’t invented that yet in the ’70s when I was in school. I’m a traditionalist, old school kinda curmudgeon so I’m sticking with my floor mats method.
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No prob!
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When I was stationed up on the Northern Tier, I also used a small catalytic tent heater to warm up the cab. Kept a window cracked for ventilation, and it kept things nice and warm while driving.
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Block heaters are good to have, napa sells one which installs in the lower radiator hose that has a regular 115v power cord, it ain’t cheap, but it’s worth it. Are you talking about no heat in the truck meaning the caballero or the new truck?
As for being cold, take your skinny ass to bi mart and get some insulated coveralls.
Good morning.
chuckling
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I got sent on a job for a month-long job in Hanford CA. Cold as
fuck! I roomed with my foreman who had a Ford F350 Super
Duty diesel utility truck. The idiot burned out three starters
trying to start his rig in the morning. To make matters worse,
several of the glow plugs were FUBAR. He did not even know
that the truck had a block heater. My boss knew I always
paid up my rent in advance and always kept a wad of cash on
me. On every out of town or out of town job, I established an
account at a check cashing center.
A forklift park took a shit and I bought it. An SDS hammer drill
took a shit and I bought it. When we discovered we brought
the wrong concrete anchors, I bought them. When the crew
bitched about refreshments, I bought a cooler and soft drinks.
In the end, I got a check for my expenses: $3,000+
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Ummm….
Gloves? Usually never wear any until it stays below 20F. I can never find any in XXXL, so I have to constantly look around and buy the first pair I find – which is normally the only pair available, kind of like trying to find size 13 snow boots.
No one here plugs in their vehicle until it hits 10 F.
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I have a small 110V electric heater. I put it in the cab and run an extension cord. cab gets warm enough to melt the frost off and I’m toasty warm.
Older should mean smarter, too. No sense being miserable if its easy to avoid it.
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Yep, I used to do the same thing when I lived up north. Works great.
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I remember blowing my breath and it bouncing off the windshield as a kid. But now? Nothing wrong with a block heater. We use them down here for standby generators, and it rarely gets below 30…
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I bought one of the magnetic ones years ago and it works great. A little trial and error showed that it took about 2 hours to get all the water in the block warm enough for me. I plugged it into a kitchen timer and set it to two hours before I had to leave, and Presto!, hot air. It’s been in that truck over ten years and hasn’t come loose yet.
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I did the same for an old diesel Mercedes car. The timer would turn on while I was still sleeping. Two hours later I would step into the car and find the temperature gauge halfway up to normal running temperature. And, the heater would give hot air immediately.
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I’d say get the block heater.
“It’s for the engine.”
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Actually, it really is! Oil flows better at startup, the engine cranks easier, saving the battery and the starter, and you get heat Real Soon Now. Anything helps, but the block heater (and the magnetic one looks like a winner) is the best way to go. It don’t get THAT cold in Vancouver, Phil! Sorry, it just doesn’t.
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Yeah, moving to South Dakota in 2008 I had a block heater put in my truck, I pussied quite easily It was nice having heat pour out a block away from the house at -20 degree or colder. My ex-wife got the garage and my truck got the outside the garage, funny how that works… No heat until 3/4 of the way? Check your heater core or the upper blend door in the heater/defroster, Chebies of our vintage are notorious of the upper blend door taking a Johno. My truck is a gas rig but since it had two factory battery trays, well I put in two dual post batteries and connected them with ought gauge cable in parallel and replaced the side terminal wire to the starter with 1 gauge, I do not have any problem with starting at nut-fucvking -cold assed temps. My last set of batteries lasted 11 years in South Dakota winters until I had to replace them last fall before I came out here.
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Cedreq, it’s not too uncommon with hard working rigs here, that the owners construct an insulated battery box, with ducting running from the a/c setup. Rarely essential, but out west it does stop a battery boiling all day until it cooks itself to death.
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I installed one on my 76 Duster. in was spliced into the lower radiator hose. left the heater setting on defrost and my windshield was relativly ice free. Not sure that will work on cars with electronic heater controls.
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Haven’t seen anyone mention putting a new heater core in. Yeah, block heaters and all are fine for the engine, and windshield/cab heaters are fine to start out, but your heater core is where you’ll see a world of difference in operating down the road.
If your heater core is more than 15 years old, don’t attempt to “flush” it–that’s hopeless. And when you tear down the heater to get at it, make sure the blend door seats at both ends of its swing.
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Tanker’s quilt-lined overalls…no batteries required!
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You could just move to Texas. I think you’d fit in pretty well around here!
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It was getting a little cold for a few weeks but the past two days it has been
colder than the heard of bitch that broke mine 40 years ago!. Over 5 years,
the worst we got resulted in a thin layer of snow in two Winters. I’d rather
freeze my nuts off than move back to the Los Angeles Country area though!
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“I got no problem being called a pussy, as long as I am a warm and toasty pussy.”
What was that line that Richard Pryor would say ? THERE IS ONLY TWO KINDS OF PUSSY – YOUR FIRST AND YOUR LAST. THE REST IS GRAVY.
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A great mechanical meme and it goes a long way to explain the younger generations:
https://maddmedic.files.wordpress.com/2020/11/123610049_3338664399536714_5242180667008045595_o.jpg?w=636&h=915
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That’s freaking awesome
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I can’t help but think stuff like that is in the owner’s manual because somebody, somewhere has done exactly that.
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I grew up in Ohio so plenty of cold, wet winters. We only lived about 5 miles from the plant where dad worked and he was a hard sonofabitch who didn’t worry about comfort, his or anyone else’s. He would only leave about 6-7 minutes to 7 and his only concession to cold was to leave a battery charger on his 1956 International pickup overnight so he had a warm, charged battery and a pan of hot water to pour on the windshield. No, it never broke no matter how cold, nor or on the 70 Chevy he had. That one bit him though. I wrecked that when a guy pulled out in front of me. He got cited but I figured I’d be killed, that’s kind of how the old man was. “You should have known he was going to pull out.” But I wasn’t beaten and the truck was fixed as good as new. A few months later dad was driving to work with about 2 minutes to spare, a footwide field of vision on the windshield and zero everywhere else. Being half deaf from all the years in the papermill, the radio was all the way up so he could hear Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs on the 5 minute Martha White show. Then the big ass headlight in his frosted left door window caught his attention and he became aware of a train horn. He said he enough time to realize what it was and hammer the throttle. The train caught him at the back tires and knocked him around in multiple circles. No seatbelt but he wasn’t hurt other than sore ribs for a while. Funniest thing about it is that was the first time dad was late to work in 15 years (he went to work after finishing up with the deputy) and about 7:10 one of the guys called the house, “Helen, has Dave left for work yet?” “Why yes, he left at the usual time.” “Oh well, don’t worry but Dave ain’t here yet and a train has hit a truck right here at the plant. But don’t worry.”
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I know basic math bit I sucked at the advanced stuff. At one time as a junior
computer geek could recite the powers of two to 16 bits from memory (32768)
Now consider the odds of 450,000 ballots being “discovered” in a district
without a single ballot for President Trump. Somewhere between the 2 to
the 28th power (268,435,456) and 2 to the 29th power (536,870,912) lies the
answer of this occurring naturally. As Sgt Barbrady said in South Park:
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Well, yannow, you could keep the truck IN the garage…….
OK, I’ll show myself out……
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I could barely get the Sprite in there, no way a full size truck would fit.
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Phil, whichever workaround you choose, until then after your missus cooks and serves your brekkie, send her out to start your Chevy and sit warming your seat too.
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Lol! She doesn’t even come out of the bedroom until after 11.
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PHIL: you know damn good & well that vehicles ARE SENTIENT BEINGS, christ knows you’ve worked on enough of the damn things as have i over the years. get a block heater, i’d stay away from the lower rad hose ones & go with a frost plug one or better yet a pump one that forces flow thru the engine & the heater lines,a bit more pricey but warms much better. 24 degrees F now been snowing like a bastard all day up here in north central B.C. your truck will love you for it & that’s what it’s all about keeping the rides happy. CHEERS DAN
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Boy howdy, Dan do those pump style frost plug heater are spenddy! When I moved to South Freakin ass cold Dakota I looked at one and it was about 450.00 installed where as just a frost plug heater was about 60 bucks installed.
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Warm and Toasty Pussies need love too Phil. Never forget that.
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