Over the weekend, I drove Jutta up to Big Bear (approx 7200 ft) for a weekend of skiing.

Driving up (in a never-ending rain) she ran about 170 in slow moving traffic. No probs climbing 7K in about 37 miles, car was running around 175 tops.

I get to the the rented cabin, park, and let her sit overnight. The freezing rain that turned to snow did a number on the locks and doors (not to mention the 12F temps), but I got her started without any problems.

I noticed, driving around big bear, the temp would stay around 130ish. The heat would work fine after I let her sit for a while, but after driving around in the cold (around 9F), the heat pretty much stopped working and the temp stayed really low.

I'm running about 30/70 mix in the rad, and was wondering if this was the prob with the low running temps? If I increased the mix would I get higher running temps, thus heat?

Shouldn't the engine regulate the temp regardless of airflow over the radiator (i.e., maintaining a basic running temp @ 175 via the thermostat) ? I know when I lived in canada as a kid the parents would put cardboard over the rad when the temps hit -20C or so, but should temps running around 10F affect her this much?

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Joshua

'71 250 - daily driver