"Some have said that the heater can help with engine cooling a little. Not so
sure about that."
The heater core is basically a small radiator or
intercooler. The effect is probably slight, (especially if the fan is off and
not pulling air thru it, but it has to help cool to some degree even if only
slightly. If you have your intake hose running to the grill as originally
fitted, the effect is of course greater due to the fact that ambient air from
the front of the car is cooler than that of the engine compartment. I guess
if your cooling system is marginal, it can't hurt (except for your right foot
if you're wearing sandals) to turn on the heat and fan in an efort to get it
home so you can fix the problem. Just watch your gauges.
I once had the
heater core die in my '67 Mustang while away at college. It dumped a bunch of
coolant in the passenger floor just before I was headed home at the end of the
school term. I "borrowed" a foot of garden hose from outside the dorm I lived
in (it was already missing the end, so nobody noticed and I didn't ruin it any
more than it already was ruined) Used it to bypass the heater core by running
a loop from where the heater hoses went into and out of the engine/waterpump.
Made it the 90-something miles back to my parent's house. When I arrived, I
opened the hood and squeezed the hose which promptly fell in half and would
have scalded me if I was not using a rag to test it. This really doesn't do
anything to illustrate my point about the heater core helping cool, but I was
rather proud of myself for getting it home to where my tools were located.
That and I tend to ramble a bit in my writings...
David Booker
Long Island
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