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Originally Posted by X-1  Hi guys. I have a '98 ti 5/spd built on 12/97. I got the car in '02 with a little over 10k miles. It now has almost 55k. A few days ago it was pouring rain late at night coming home from work and when I got home and parked in my space, I had to wait for the rain to stop. I was just sitting in my car with the A/C on talking on the phone when I heard a loud blast sound and steam came out from the engine bay in every direction. I shut motor off immediately! I figured I blew something and I would deal with it some other time since I have two other cars any way. I already knew I had to change the hoses (and a list of things) since they were the original from factory and I had already started to get the items needed before this happened. PERFECT TIMING! So now I was just wondering after reading the OP dilema with his heater: I live in Miami and have NEVER used the heater. Can I eliminate it and the two plastic pipes on side and rear of block along with the other hoses? Can I just cap off the bottom end of the rad under collant tank and those two openings for the engine block on side and rear? I would like to prevent the failure of this item since I don't need it and avoid future headaches by making it easier to deal with the cooling system. |
No I do not believe you can complete cap the back plastic pipe there needs to be flow to the center plastic pipe on the block to remove water from the head. Someone else might know different but I don't think you can. You can block the heater off if you want. I also believe there is a heat function to the intake manifold to warm the intake and help atomize fuel which is suppose to help with drivability but also hurts performance in high temp climates like Florida...