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I always wondered about that. I have been at car shows and seen old cars with a little spigot under the hood that would allow you to shut off coolant to the heater core. It does seem stupid to have it hot year round. I wonder if there is anything to gain by adding something like that to a car, it wouldn't be that hard.
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I don't know what year toyota switched over to getting rid of the heater valve. (I assume they have, I don't know.) I think cars that have a temperature slider that is a little hard to move use a cable and a valve. A car with "climate control" with rotary temp selector knobs that turn really easy does not have a valve as far as I know. Hopefully the heater core on-all-the-time is not used as a bypass to circulate coolant by some other part of the engine. I would not think so but you never know till you look at where the hoses go. I helped a buddy with a ford tarus that the heater core was clogged on, (they are made of steel to save money, and they rust closed?!?) and that car did not overheat with the core blocked.
As far as a gain by shutting it off, sure. Using more gas to run more AC to cool of the inside of a car that is being heated by the car heater..Durrr... I'd like to have a chat with whoever came up with that idea..