Heater core bypass is another modification that you can do on your car or truck. In fact, it is so simple, even a totally newbie car do this task easily.
But you probably ask, why would I delete my car’s heater core? What are its advantages and disadvantages? Do I really need to do this mod?
There are several key questions that needs to be answered. And before you try to delete your heater core, you must be aware of its pros and cons.
With that said, I’ll discuss every advantages and disadvantages that I know regarding this simple modification.
What is a Heater Core?
A heater core is a radiator-like component that is commonly situated inside the cabin’s dashboard. It’s main purpose is to heat the cabin of a vehicle especially in winter months.
It involves hot coolant from the engine passing through a hose into the winding tube of the core, which is a heat exchanger between coolant and cabin air.
There are fins that are attached to the core tubes which serves to elevates surface area for heat transfer to air that is forced past them by a fan. This increases the warm temperature inside the cabin.
How does it work?
We all know that engines in most vehicles today are cooled by a water and antifreeze mixture, which is flowing continuously through the engine and radiator by the help of water pump. This enables the engine to dissipate heat to the atmosphere.
Read here to learn how to super flush your cooling system.
However, not all of those hot coolant are passed on to the radiator, but some are diverted through the heater core to give some of that engine heat into the passenger compartment. The driver may also adjust the temperature of the conditioned air to get the cabin warmed up.
A heater core is consist of conductive aluminum or brass tubing with cooling fins, just like a conventional radiator. Hot coolant that goes into the heater core is the one giving off heat to the cabin before returning to the engine and on to the radiator to cool it down.
The blower fan of the vehicle’s AC system forces the hot air through the heater core to transfer heat from the coolant to the passenger compartment. This is of course passes through the AC vents of the car’s dashboard.
How to Bypass the Heater Core?
Deleting your heater core isn’t rocket science. You just need to connect the two metal hoses with a U shaped rubber hose.
Or you may bypass the metal once entirely and run a separate hose from the top of the engine block next to the upper radiator hose to the bottom of the block near the lower hose (this depends on your car’s engine design).
Advantages and Disadvantages of Heater Core Bypass
Now why would you bypass your vehicle’s heater core if it was developed to be a useful feature in your car?
Well, the first reason why car owners bypass the heater core is when it starts to malfunction. A bad heater core can give you valid reasons to delete from the system. Here are the signs of a bad heater core:
- Produces sweet smell inside your car (coolant has sweet taste)
- Little to no heat coming out the vents
- Heater core leaks coolant
- Your car’s interior is foggy
- Overheating engine
But some gearheads just want to bypass their heater core for no apparent reason. Maybe be cause they don’t need heater in their cars which are common in tropical countries. Or, they just don’t want to bother adding more coolant into the system.
So no matter what your reason is for deleting your heater core, lets first see the pros and cons of this mod to give you a clear ideas if this is all worth the upgrade!
Advantages of Heater Core Bypass
First off, bypassing the heater core have no affect at all on the performance of the engine. The flow of coolant will be more efficiently inside the cooling system as it doesn’t need to go additional route.
The first advantage of having your heater core bypassed is that, it can help reduce the chances of overheating. As mentioned above, a malfunctioning heater core can cause overheating.
Next benefit that I see is the prevention of coolant leak. Most people can’t figure out why their coolant level is slowly decreasing. You can easily tell that there is probably a leak in your cooling system, but you can find any traces of coolant in the engine bay.
That’s because the leak is coming from the heater core. So deleting the heater core will negate this issue.
Say you have a bad heater core, you’re probably going to have it repaired or replaced. But hey, most heater core can cost about $550 all the way up to $1,000. Repair costs isn’t that far either.
So what most people do when their heater core goes bad, they bypass it completely.
Disadvantages of Heater Core Bypass
The most obvious disadvantage of having your heater core deleted is that, your car will have no heating capacity. This is a big deal especially if you live in cold areas like the continental US or in Europe where heater core bypass is totally a no no!
Plus, bypassing the heater core will make your defogger completely useless. So when you need to dissipate that fog in your windshield or rear glass, you won’t be able to do so as there are no heat coming out of the AC vents.
So I suggest that if you live in an area where not having heat isn’t a big deal, then bypassing your heater core can be a cool idea of an upgrade!
Summary
There you go! Did I miss a beat? If you want to add points to this topic then I encourage you to share your opinion by commenting below. Until next time!
Image Credits:
Greensky438
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tBKYucOUVQ
WikiPedia User Rpvdk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Rpvdk
