Does Heater Core help with engine cooling?
 

Sooo a couple of questions around this one…my heater core is leaking pretty bad inside the car? I removed my AC as I never used it but I kept the heater core as I was told it would help with engine cooling. How true is that? Also do I have to remove it if it’s leaking or can I just cut the hoses and bypass it?

Also, I image a leaking heater core would effect engine cooling also correct? Thanks as always!

It really only cools the engine some when you’re forcing air through it with the heater blower fan on. Just as much as you’d expect a tiny radiator to cool a large passenger car engine, not much.

Otherwise no.

Bypassing it is fine. Think about how the factory built some cars with heater delete, bypassed completely because they had no heater core.

Thank b-man….I didn’t think it would make to much of a difference either but thought I’d ask being in florida and on the hot days I’d want all the help I could get….also, If I left it in and bypassed it would it still be sitting there leaky full of coolant? Or does it return or dry up? Thanks

There would be old coolant sitting in there unless you blow it all out using compressed air.

It’s nice to have heat and be able to defog your windshield, personally I’d want a working heater setup.

When you’re on the verge of overheating on a very hot day I suppose it’s a good thing to be able to utilize that heater core to try and take the edge off, and cook your feet a little at the same time. ;)

And nothing better stuck in traffic on a hot blistering day when it's also just as stinkin' hot inside the car to slide the heat lever all the way over and hit the fan on high and share in the 230+ degree engine heat.

That's another one of those things we all did once but most of us never did again...

Theoretically yes. Practically, not even a little.

How would you blow it out with it in the car? Just stick the air into the copper opening coming out of the firewall? For now I’m thinking just bypass it :cool:

You could bypass it for now and if the inconvenience of not having warm air for your defroster becomes an issue later, install a new heater core then. I've bypassed them before without blowing out the remaining anti freeze in the old core. I don't remember it causing any problems.

Yes, do this. I had a leaky one I didn’t blow out and left me with a little bit of rust in the floorpan. Also recommend pulling the carpet back and soaking up any moisture.

Family friend road raced an MGB for his setup the heater core made a difference in the temp the motor ran. Looked pretty cool with fender flairs and road race slicks!

The combination of the extra capacity and running the heater had a small effect on mine in the cold.

Last year if I drove the car in the cold with no coolant in the core and the water pump nipple capped off the car would still get up to the thermostat at 180 albeit slowly. This year with the heater hooked up and on it won’t get over about 155-162 degrees while driving. It’s actually annoying because I don’t think my Terminator comes off the cold enrichment until 160*. So to watch it sit there at 158* feels like it’s taunting me.

In the summer there was no notable difference.

My experiences with running the Heater to avoid overheat were not so helpful. Yet everyone should try it.

On hot days at the track I’d run the heater in the staging lanes for a few minutes until the air coming out cooled off. Started the engine to circulate coolant, shut it off, and turned the blower back on. Repeated as necessary. Seemed to help cool the engine down faster between rounds.

I would go for the correct repair before the delete option. You’re in Florida, say you get caught in a downpour. The windows are going to fog up for sure, especially if your clothes got wet from the rain, and you’ll want the defroster to be working. Why not just replace the heater core with a new, non-leaking unit? Have you investigated where exactly the leak is coming from? It could be an easier fix than you think. Consider the resale impact too if you fix it correctly or just delete it. My .02!


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Issue with is you leave the leaky heater core in the vehicle, where does the water that was in the heater core go? I know the answer.

It sloshes around and eventually rots out the floorboard on the passenger side of the vehicle.

Always replace the thing if it leaks but can't imagine unless you are in the panhandle you ever would need a heater in Florida in the winter time.

Or that you would drive your car in the rain.

Tom V.

I used to get stuck in the tapanzee bridge on my way home from E town. Every Pontiac day or NETO event. My 70 Chevy big block pick up would get hot. Right in the edge of over heating , I’d pop on the heat and fan and it would save the day every time . So absolutely it does help in a pinch . It’s just a small radiator w a fan blowing across it like any other radiator. My wife would have her feet up on the seat and I’d be burning my feet on the floor .

Thank you all you guys so much for all your replies….do you have any old threads or links to best ways to remove/replace the core? I’ve seen where it calls for removing the fender and seems quite a lot involved

To be fair the heater core is probably not much smaller than the radiator lol. My fathers TR6 certainly has a small radiator.

(Joking of course. Kind of)