Removed heater, question about coolant system

[nicmatney]

I removed the block heater that came with the bus and want to insure that I won't have issues with the coolant system in vehicle. There are cut off valves that seem to isolate the heater from the rest of the engine block and seem designed for cutting off heater so I just capped the end of the cut hoses and shut off both values. I saw some people connecting these hoses to create a full circulation system, but this seems pointless to me if I shut off the valves.

Would love advice on if this seems like a good solution or if I could have later issues with the coolant system. Thank you for your input!

[Veloc]

If the factory had cutoff valves, there should be no issue with just shutting them off other than those valves can eventually start leaking. You definitely want to cap them off and not depend upon the valve to hold against pressure. You also want to secure the hoses so they can't flop around and get caught in anything moving, making sure they aren't bent into a kink and making sure that there is some ability for movement so the engine can't pull the hose loose under torque.

If I were doing this on my own vehicle, I would try to run a single hose from one port to the other at the engine, removing the hoses that the valves are attached to. If the hoses terminate into a screw-in fitting on the engine, I'd remove that fitting and screw in a plug. Every fitting and every rubber hose is a potential leak, and I would eliminate as many leak points as possible.