Happy Holidays to all my forum brothers and sisters!
I recently returned from a Thanksgiving visit with my brother and his family. My younger brother and I decided to drive out from the SF Bay area to Houston so of course we took my Jag. We made the mistake of not checking the weather extensively and got caught in a major snowstorm while on Hwy 40 in New Mexico. It got down to 12*F. and I found to my dismay that the heater was not putting out any warm air. It appeared I had been bitten by the dreaded DCCV bug at the worst possible time. We kept warm by wearing our coats and covering our lower body with a sleeping bag. The driving conditions were pretty slippery and we passed by many vehicles that had spun off the road. At times it was like driving through a war zone. I thought that we would get out of the snow once we got out of the NM mountains but the snow and ice persisted into Texas and remained until about halfway to Dallas. Enroute we had to stop and replace my windshield wipers and remove my front spoiler. The spoiler was dragging in the snow drifts and would have caused damage if we had not removed it. The severe conditions forced us to slow to a claw at times but we kept goving and still made the trip in 2 days.
We had a nice visit with my older brother. I bought a new DCCV from an O'Reilly's Auto Parts and replaced the faulty unit. Kudos to this forum and Gus in particular for his great guide on replacing the DCCV.
I drove back on 11/29 but decided to take HWY 10 instead. Thye new DCCV worked great but of course I didn't need it much as the weather was much warmer. The trip was uneventful except for the horrendous traffic on Hwy 10 as I crossed from AZ into CA.

Despite these issues I remain in love with S-type. It handled the snow and ice extremely well and even though we had the heater problem it kept the cold outside the cabin. As usual, it also had great fuel economy with 30mpg+ tankfills at over 70 mph. Grace, Pace, Space and Efficiency , what more could you ask for!!

 

Glad to learn that you made it through what was indeed some very tough sledding for a very long time. And congrats upon successfully replacing the notorious DCCV yourself. Not a fun task and I do not look forward to it. Thus far ours is holding up well, but I know that sooner or later just about all of them eventually give up the ghost....

 

Good story, thanks for sharing.

 

Thanks Guys! The DCCV removal and replacement was tough but having the pictures and details on the guide were a huge help. For S-typers residing in warmer climates, I suggest you test your heater on a regular basis to avoid the nasty surprise that I found when I really need the heat.
Merry XMas and Happy