Engine Cover On or Off?

[Mark72]

I own a 98 Oldsmobile 88. Way back in the day there was a recall to replace the plastic valve covers due to warping and in the process they removed the engine cover and got rid of it claiming it trapped the heat and wasnt good doe the valve covers. Should I leave mine off also? At least in the heat of the summer? By the way..this is GMs V6 3800 series motor

 

[oldhp]

Off. The cover is mainly for engine noise. The engine cover that came with my 2019 Charger 3.6 is hanging on the wall. Come winter I'll put it back on.

 

[hatt]

Trust the engineers!!!!!!!!!!

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted by oldhp
Off. The cover is mainly for engine noise. The engine cover that came with my 2019 Charger 3.6 is hanging on the wall. Come winter I'll put it back on.

+1 I have a 2016 Wrangler, I take the engine cover off in the spring and put it back on in the late fall.

 

[ron350]

The 3800 II motor has the cover there for two reasons.

!. Noise damping.

2. Scatter shield if the car back fires from a leaky injector it can throw deadly plastic shrapnel

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Originally Posted by Mark72
I own a 98 Oldsmobile 88. Way back in the day there was a recall to replace the plastic valve covers due to warping and in the process they removed the engine cover and got rid of it claiming it trapped the heat and wasnt good doe the valve covers. Should I leave mine off also? At least in the heat of the summer? By the way..this is GMs V6 3800 series motor

The radiator provides the overwhelming amount of cooling so theoretically it doesn't matter.. Since your question isn't about cooling but the warping of the plastic valve cover then I would adhere to the automakers recommendation unless they've revised the part making it more durable.

 

[Mark72]

When you say trust the engineers. Which one would you trust? The part when they built the engine and it left the factory with the cover on? Or. The part where the dealers removed them and advised ppl not to use them anymore due to heat retention?

 

[carviewsonic]

I have owned four GMs with the 3800 series 2, currently own two. One had 250k miles when sold, the another has 200k miles on it now. Always left the covers on, with no apparent issues.

 

[hatt]

Originally Posted by Mark72
When you say trust the engineers. Which one would you trust? The part when they built the engine and it left the factory with the cover on? Or. The part where the dealers removed them and advised ppl not to use them anymore due to heat retention?

Trust the engineers is a joke.

 

[Mark72]

Originally Posted by hatt
Originally Posted by Mark72
When you say trust the engineers. Which one would you trust? The part when they built the engine and it left the factory with the cover on? Or. The part where the dealers removed them and advised ppl not to use them anymore due to heat retention?

Trust the engineers is a joke.

Oh..my bad...LOL... so true

 

[Audios]

Ive been taking them off on the BMWs, to release the trapped heat around the coils, which are known problems on the newer ones. I also leave it off on the GL, since it has a "hot V" the turbo is on top and covered, so I like to think its gets a nice shot of air. Its a bit louder now.

 

[Ihatetochangeoil]

Off per GM recall. The proper term is "fuel injector sight shield." https://www.wholesalegmpartsonline....assembly=401312&ukey_product=2667801 Although after typing that, I see that GM in their recall also calls it "The engine's plastic "beauty" cover," and their recall states to remove it and discard it. (Step 1.4) https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2015/RCSB-15V701-1922.pdf

It's purpose is as ron350 stated; it is noise dampening and a scatter shield if the car back fires from a leaky injector it can throw plastic shrapnel.

IMHO, running it is optional; it's not going to hurt anything, but removal is necessary to do most anything on the top of the engine. I currently run 3 cars with this engine, two of them have the fuel injector sight shield in place, the 3rd one doesn't because it interferes with my supply lines feeding my bypass filtration...All 3 of mine are high milleage (150K+) and burn/leak NOTHING; run well.

Off topic, I'll get back. I've owned GM 3800 powered cars since 1994; myself and others LOVE these "bulletproof" engines. But the valve cover GASKETS were so notorious for leaks (causing engine fires when hot oil dripped of the exhaust manifold) https://www.detroitnews.com/story/b...27/general-motors-engine-fires/74668924/

On later vehicles, GM "fixed" the fire problem by adding metal heat shields around the spark plug wires, but they're still absolutely notorious for leaking valve cover gaskets as they age. I've replaced all of mine with fel pro gaskets: https://zzperformance.com/collections/3800/products/l36-l26-valve-cover-gaskets Tighten the valve cover bolts to 89 in. lbs.

I'm getting long here, I can tell you more about the "quirks" of these engines if you want to pm me.

 

[buster]

They are mostly cosmetic. I keep mine off.

 

[Eddie]

It appears that some engine covers provide an air path under the cover to keep things cooler when driving. The sides are open to let heat escape after shutdown. A blanket statement that we should always remove them is foolish. Ed

 

[92saturnsl2]

I keep mine on, if for none other than the engine bay(s) usually look like crap without it. On my Odyssey, I took the cover off because it makes getting to the oil fill hole even more impossible than it already is. Only vehicle I've ever owned where a funnel is a must, and I'm pretty good with my oil aim! I will put it back on maybe closer toward winter if I get around to it, but it's certainly not a priority.

 

[Kestas]

I take mine off and put it on the shelf for a number of reasons.
- Part of its function is cosmetic. I don't care what it looks like under the hood. I drive with the hood closed.
- I know modern engines have a difficult time shedding heat. It takes a toll on the materials.
- It gets in the way when I maintain the car
- More noisy?.... meh.

 

[earlyre]

I've always been in the " Well that's Unnecessary BS, get rid of it" camp when it comes to engine covers.
the C-max is the First car I've had with one, and i was ready to chuck it on a shelf...until I noticed...

THEY BUILT THE AIRFILTER HOUSING INTO THE ENGINE COVER...
which makes it an absolute JOY to do something as simple as changing the engine airfilter.

 

[ron350]

The upper plastic intake manifold exploded on my 96 Regal in 2007 with 67K miles.

This happened because #2 Bosch injector leaked fuel over night. The explosion happened just as soon as I turned the key. It was so bad it pushed #2 injector out of the lower aluminum intake manifold and bent the steel fuel rail. Of cource it blew out the upper plastic intake manifold sending sharp pieces of plastic every where under the hood.

If I had not removed the motor cover there would not have been a fire or any dents in the hood from pieces of the plastic manifold. The motor cover had only been off for about a month because some expert on a GM forum said they were only there for noise control.

The lawyer I talked to told me you can be sure that motor cover would not be there unless it had a safety function.

 

[Dave9]

It has lasted 22 years so far. Trying to make some big difference now is just silly.

 

[pkunk]

A different slant. I removed the engine cover on my ML320 because it created a hiding place for mouse nests. No changes in heat or function since and the mice moved on.