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You may remember opening the hood of a 1980s car or truck if you were a vintage repairman, where most of the parts were covered in a sea of semi-gloss black paint. Hoses, cable looms and intake manifold exposed in the engine bay. Under the hood, it’s monochromatic, like a black and white film.
In the 1990s the engine room underwent a makeover or at least a new wardrobe in the form of a plastic engine cover. This cover became a plague for technicians, and only got worse. In my opinion, every year they get bigger and harder to get rid of.
They used to “clean” the engine bay, hiding the unsightly wire harness, piping, and intake manifold. My first experience with them was with a Buick 3800. The cover can be removed by turning the oil cap and pulling the corner strategically. Anyone can delete it in less than five seconds.
Immediately, I started noticing more of these covers. Like the 3800, it doesn’t take any tools to remove it, or maybe just turning a few screws like on the Cadillac Northstar.
It got worse; I started paying more attention to insulation and fasteners. Some automakers such as Hyundai saw the cosmetic and comedic value of the enclosure by making a transversely mounted V6 look like a longitudinally mounted V6.
Most machines can operate without a cover. When I visit a repair shop, there are often piles of engine covers in the shop waiting for the owner to return. Most customers never notice that the cover is missing because they never open the cover.
Over the past decade, more and more of these enclosures have turned into sound suppression devices so that drivers are not exposed to the clank of injectors, the roar of camshafts or the drums of the high-pressure fuel pump. Some OEMs even mold a resonance chamber into the enclosure for air intake.
On one recent model machine it took me over five minutes to figure out how to remove the cover. Worst of all, it made the engine bay look like something that could do laundry or bake cookies.
Unfortunately, this cover adds one more step to the repair process. In my opinion, that doesn’t make it into the employment guide. There may be additional labor costs if the engine does have a shutter.
What’s your worst engine cover? Send email to [email protected].
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