Quote:
Originally Posted by Formula413
As far as I know the heater core is just a second radiator that operates in parallel with the main radiator, except that it does not have a thermostat regulating coolant flow through it, hence there is always coolant flow present. In my Escort the feed line is in the thermostat housing before the thermostat, and the return line goes to the water pump. So I don't see any reason you couldn't just put a valve on the input hose and shut it off.
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I guess I see the above as exactly the reason you can NOT shut off the heater core flow, but instead bypass the core if you don't want heat in the pass. compartment. Shutting that flow off means your engine has zero coolant flow until (and if, a big IF with no flow to it) the thermostat opens. I could imagine some pretty nasty local overheating in the heads, especially by the exhaust ports, with zero flow.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Formula413
As far as air conditioning goes, I don't know if the heater core is really a huge obstacle to cooling the car, it should be isolated from the vent system by louvres when the temperature knob is all the way to cool. I suppose it is possible that it's presence inside the dash could add some heat, although I would think it would be well insulated to avoid this.
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Mine seems to. After a hot soak the vent air coming out, with the temp. control set to full cold (no A/C) is much warmer than the outside air. Some of that heat could be from the ducts, heated from sun on the hood, but I suspect most of it originates from that hot core warming up the whole works.