Really cold drive to work this morning.

[BLE 'BURBAN]

The temp this morning was 2*F so I started the truck up with my trusty remote start to let the burb warm up before leaving for work. Go out about 15 min later and leave for work (maybe 8 mile drive if that)
2 miles from home, my heater's putting out cold air.... Hmmm... I look at the temp gauge and it's reading 240*
Middle of traffic and I have 14 stop lights to go through before I reach work (GM Dealership) Usually I can catch these lights all green or just turning yellow when I hit the intersection so I figure ok it's real cold out, and I'm travelling along at a fairly good pace so let's hope I can make the lights.... WRONG!!!! EVERY SINGLE LIGHT IS RED!!!
Now the longer I'm driving/sitting at a light the higher my engine temp is getting...245*...250*...255*... Finally get to work and get the burb checked into the service dept. punch in and get to work at the back parts counter. Couple hous later the tech comes up and informs me that the heater pipes goig back to the rear auxillary heater have rusted thru and my rad cap was weak. Down to 11psi from the indicated 16psi.
So I looked up the heater lines and YUP THEY ARE DISCONTINUED WITH NO STOCKING DEALERS ANYWHERE!!!

So for now I had them install a reducer/coupler in the hoses under the hood that lead back to the rear heater (3/4" hose to 5/8" hose) to bypass the rear heater, refilled the radiator and replaced the cap. They then did a pressure test on the system and thankfully it held pressure just fine with no indications of coolant leaks into the oil or cylinders. All I can say is the ONLY thing that saved my burb from a catastrophic event was the REALLY LOW outside temp helped keep the engine just cool enough to reach work.

So now I gotta find something to make the hard lines out of to run back to the rear heater. Sounds like a summer project to me. Maybe if I can find some 5/8 and 3/4" o.d. copper pipe. We'll see.....