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Just a quick question for some of you engine tech's. If you are running the heat in your car, does that make the engine cooler? Or when you run the heater, does it make engine hotter?

I heard that if your car is overheating, or you think the engine temp is getting hotter, you turn the heat on because that cools the engine. Just want to know for my own knowledge. Thanks in advance for your help.

maxedout95

iTrader: (1)

That is an old trick from back in the day to cool your engine by turnin the heater on.

190hpKiLLA

iTrader: (11)

Yes it will cool off ur car. Turn on heat full blast. But it should only be performen if ur cooling system is bad otherwise u dont need to do it. You could but why?

pocketrocket

iTrader: (1)

Because his friend was drying his shoes.

sil SE

iTrader: (21)

but then youd sweat like a ****. especially if its hot where you are like it is here in the summer. you'd faint behind the wheel. BUT thats the price we pay to keep our max pampered. i know i would

Eric L.

When you turn on the heat, you get hot air because hot engine coolant is directed into the heater core (sort of a small radiator) behind your dashboard. That in effect acts as a second radiator to dissipate heat from your engine, hence cooling the engine down.

sinewave

Just remember that the heater won't cool the engine any lower than the temperature rating of the thermostat.

Chuck Vaughan

I actually had to do this last week when my Max started overheating on the way to lunch (I guess I didn't torque down the bottom radiator hose enought when I did the hoses a few weeks back and had a slooow leak.)

It probably saved my engine, as it brought the temp back down from pegged full hot and gave me enough time there to make it 1/2 mile to the closest Sav-On for some Prestone and distilled water.

This is an old school trick; there's an equally old school trick to use if your heater core is leaking coolant all over your carpet, and that is to take a couple of hose clamps and piece of copper pipe about 3" long and 1/2" or so across and connect the two heater hoses together, thereby bypassing the heater core. Almost every old car that I've bought here in SoCal has had this done... people too lazy to change the heater core.

Wills98MaxSE

True, that trick may be un-necessary if everything is working well, but sometimes when after freeway driving w/ the AC on, and I'm back on a main road, I'll drive w/ my front windows down & run my heater, and even though my temp gauge tops out at a 'lil below dead center, it'll go a bit lower than that if I run the heater while driving w/ the front windows down on main roads.