nah, 180 is still good for the heater core.
The problem here is that the clutch fan doesn't put much strain on the motor at idle, and I personally think it kicks off too early when you start to drive too. I can suggest you turn the AC button on after each trip, the compressor will put a bit of strain to warm it up faster. I think the defrost mode uses the compressor too to remove moisture from the air, so that should work instead of the AC button.

Be glad you have a clutch fan though, my Kia Rondo is electric, and it takes twice as long to warm up as my Dakota. When I swap to an HHR electric fan, I'm gonna be hating life in the winter. But power is comfort too

 

mine takes the same time to warm up with my e-fan as it did with the clutch fan. I also have the 180 t-stat.

 

to warm up you must first warm the vehicle to summer temps, then from summer temps to operating temps.

for it to take longer in the cold to warm up than when it's warm is completely normal.

congrats, your truck obeys the laws of physics!

 

I've noticed that if I leave the heat off till it warms up then it will warm up faster but when its -20°f like this morning no matter how long it takes it's not fast enough.

 

Yea, the heater core is just a small radiator. Don't remind me of those temps! I remember the moisture freezing in my nose as I breathe and the crunch sound it made when I squeeze my frozen nose lol.

 

Yeah, it definitely helps if you're patient to turn on the heat and I feel like using the defroster with the heat all the way up does warm up quicker because of the compressor being active. All I know is I miss summer..mainly how I wash my truck once a week or whenever I get bored (;

 

Temps sound right! Quicherbichin!

Wife and I took the truck snow-shoeing last weekend. So cold that the snow-shoes did the squeek-squeek in the snow. When we got back to the truck, my wife was surprised how quickly we got warm air in the cabin - 1/2 as long as her volvo takes.

 

I've never driven a vehicle in winter that didn't take at least 5 minutes of idle or a few miles for the air to warm up. Nothing unusual there...you've got 300# of cold iron and a few gallons of freezing cold fluid!

 

right now at -20 to -30 it takes almost 10 minutes of highway driving to get near operating temp. if im just idling it in the driveway about 15 minutes.

the worst thing with the truck is how bad it freezes up though, can'y put my windows down and it sounds and feels like a tractor when i fire it up cuz of the coating of ice and crap on my exhaust hitting the underside of the truck vibrating.

 

I remote start mine 15 minutes before I leave. Its never cold. Lol