LIQUID-COOLED INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE

The invention relates to a liquid-cooled internal combustion engine (1), comprising: at least one cylinder block (2), which is connected to at least one cylinder head (3); at least one first cooling jacket (4) in the cylinder block (2) and at least one second cooling jacket (5) in the cylinder head (3), wherein the first and the second cooling jackets (4, 5) are arranged in a coolant circuit and are connected to each other with regard to flow; and at least one control element arranged in the coolant circuit. In order to achieve the same flow conditions in the cylinder head in every operating range of the internal combustion engine, the control element according to the invention is formed by a switching device (8), which blocks a bypass flow path (12) far the first cooling jacket (4) and opens a coolant inlet (11) of the first cooling jacket (4) in a first switching position (A) such that in the first switching position (A) the entire coolant is conducted through both cooling jackets (4, 5) in series, and which blocks the coolant inlet (11) of the first cooling jacket (4) and opens the bypass flow path (12) for the first cooling jacket (4) in a second switching position (B) such that in the second switching position (B) the entire coolant is conducted only through the second cooling jacket (5) while the first cooling jacket (4) is bypassed.