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I got the starter changed and it started without hesitation after sitting for two weeks in -30 / -10 degree weather. Pretty cool. I had to drop the vented plastic panel to reach the bolts for the positive and negative connections and the short bolt on the starter. The job wasn’t too bad, I only needed a few different sockets, and two socket extensions to reach the two bolts holding in the starter. They were pretty locked in place though. I ended up putting my biggest socket on the 18 inch extension and putting it over the handle of my ratchet to make an on the spot breaker bar. The only other thing that gave me trouble was reaching the 10mm bolt on the dust cover more toward the front of the car. The bolt holds down the cover and a little wire clamp. The wire guard housed inside the clamp is right in front of the bolt and hard to move. In total, in the snow, it took two hours to get the old starter out, a cup of hot chocolate, two old ladies asking me what I was doing outside, and about fifteen minutes to put the new one in and get everything back together.

I just happened to see this today 😄 "This is not parallel parking, Christine; this is magic!" Cagney and Lacey, season 7, episode 20. May 2, 1988

That was your opportunity. Stand up and take a bow like yah planned it. Those 15 minutes of fame can come in small increments🤣

Get into diagnostics immediately upon a cold start to watch for the indicator it has achieved closed loop operation. I suspect that is what is happening and the heater fan engagement is coincidence. The closed loop temperature is programmed into the PROM but there is also a timer and other modifiers that kick in if there is a fault in that system.

Most of the snow is still here because the temps aren't getting above freezing yet. Tomorrow it's supposed to get up into the 40s and continue to warm up to the 60s by the end of the week. The snow will be gone soon... I hope. Day before yesterday we got just enough freezing rain that it froze to the top of the snow. The snow is now like a solid sheet of ice. You don't even break through that frozen layer on top of the snow when you walk on it. You have to stomp really hard to break into the 6" layer of snow below the ice. I learned that the hard way today. I was walking around on my driveway and decided to try to break through the ice by stomping my foot really hard. When I stomped my foot, it broke through the ice and went deep into the snow, throwing me off balance. I started falling forward face first. I hit the ice with my my knees and the palms of my hands at the same time as I stretched out, ending up on my belly as I slid across the ice. I looked like Superman flying through the air. 🤣 I wasn't hurt at all. I was embarrassed because I'm sure my neighbors were looking out their window at this fool in a red t-shirt (no coat) sliding across the ice on his belly. I won't be doing that again.