If I understand things correctly...the thermostat will not open until your car reaches operating temperature. So at first, you're just blowing air over a cold heater core. As long as that thermostat remains closed, and coolant isn't circulating, I suspect running the heater neither affects, nor is affected by, your engine temperature. Once that thermostat opens, though, and warmed coolant begins circulating, that's when you should have an exchange across the heater core, and that is the point where the heater being enabled becomes relevant..
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In other words if you leave your car running in the driveway to get it warm, it should begin to heat up just as fast with or without the heat going...you don't need to make a second trip out to the car just to enable the heater. While it might reach the warmest temperature somewhat slower with your heater running from the start, I think the difference will be negligible. (You could always test it.. :)
As to your other observation, yes you can enable your heater in the summer if you are experiencing overheating, and it will provide a secondary/auxiliary heat dissipation surface. But you shouldn't rely on it. I only do this when I see my temperature begin to rise above normal. I'll enable my heater, and I'll give it about 30 seconds to a minute to make a positive effect. Thirty seconds to a minute, tops! Then, if the temperature continues to rise with the heater enabled, I pull over before I truly overheat! By the way...if applying the heater in this situation works and your temperature decreases, it signals an immediate need for some cooling system maintenance. In my case it's usually been a low coolant level, or possibly needing to "burp" the radiator.
Final thought. Contrary to your first statement:
I know that you should drive off immediately to warm up your car..
I believe it is better for your engine to allow it to reach operating temperature under idle conditions, as opposed to reaching operating temperature under load (driving conditions). When you start driving away cold, you're effectively putting very conditional, yet very avoidable, wear on several moving parts. If it were an airplane engine, taking off without a warm engine would be considered downright negligent...I'm just telling you that to underscore the performance relevance of a cold vs. a warmed engine. Obviously, the consequences of a cold automobile engine failing, or not performing as expected, are very different than those of an airplane.
17:09 10 Aug 19
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I have told this story many many times but it is worth repeating.My husband and I were returning from vacation from Northern Minnesota to SW Missouri. Everything going great until we stopped to fill up with gas in Liberty Missouri.. Getting back on the highway the car, Toyota sequoia, began to shake and the dashboard light up like a Christmas tree.We pulled off the highway and being it was about 10:30 Saturday night we decided to get a hotel room. Our plan was to find a mechanic that we could get into on Monday but being my husband had to work Monday we world have to rent him a car and I would stay in liberty with the car.After getting into our hotel room we started looking in the phone book for mechanics.. I got on Google and searched also and saw great reviews for this company Toytechs.I told my husband to call and see if we could leave a message about our plight.But to our surprise Shawn answered the phone. My husband explained the situation and asked if we could we bring the car in Monday. Shawn said well you're not very far from me I will just ride my bike up there and check it out.Now my husband was a little shocked and maybe not thinking straight. He hangs up the phone and says the guy Shawn is close by and going to ride his bicycle over. I say okay and my husband heads down to the parking lot... Remember it is about 11 pm on a Saturday night.A short time later my husband comes back to the room and says that Shawn knows what's wrong and they are going to Toytechs to repair the car. Oh and by the way he did not arrive on a bicycle but drove up on his motorcycle. Too funnyMaybe 30 minutes later my husband returned with the car working perfectly. Shawn had the part needed to fix it right there in his shop.My daughter moved to kcmo and lives near the plaza but she drives to Toytechs in Liberty MO to get all of her car work done.Just recently my Toyota Prius hybrid battery went bad and it was cheaper for me to have it tolled from Greenfield MO than to get it fixed in nearby Springfield, MO. Not to mention that I only really trust Shawn who is honest, fair and my hero.Thank you Shawn. And if you need the best mechanic in the KC metro area you should go see Shawn at TOYTECHS
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