Running the heater with the fan on will help to cool an overheating engine.

John Flaherty
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: sg 
  To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM 
  Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2001 10:22 PM
  Subject: aiding cooling system by turning on heater blower

  hi list,
  just a curiosity issue here.  i always assumed that turning on the heater would help an about to overheat engine cool down.  the idea being that coolant will be further cooled down by being passed thru the heater core.  well, i also had this other thought, that maybe possibly, there is some counter effect by the extra stress caused to the engine by the electrical needs of the heater blower, ie the engine has to work harder to run the electrical motor, and thus get a little hotter.  my intuition says that the cooling effect will probably outweight the heating effect.  any other opinions on this?
  steve&buster

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