Jerky

What purpose does the black plastic covers on your 3rd gen engine do?

What would happen if you removed them?

Do you have them on your car?

Isn't amazing how cool the 3rd gen engine is? It doesn't get that hot!

A-TLvic882

Good ???

MaX800XT

Yesterday was the first time I've ever even looked at the engine since I took delivery of my TL two weeks ago. I didn't know the hood used hydraulic pistons to hold itself up. Very nice touch. Those black plastic covers give it a very clean and finished look. This car keeps on impressing me. This car just smokes the pants off my 2002 Altima 3.5SE in quality and craftsmanship.

Jerky

Thanks!

So my question is, Would it improve performance (head reduction and cooling) if we removed the engine covers?

or do they have a speciifc usefulness..

(sorry if my questions were not clear above)

can any experts answers this?

kosh2258

I understand their purpose is two fold:

Appearance and noise suppression.

You don't need them there. If you take them off the engine area looks pretty much like any other Honda product but the car might be somewhat noisier without them.

srhewes

The plastic cover over the engine also acts as a "fire extinguisher." If you have a fire under the hood (hopefully never), the plastic will melt and douse (totally?) the fire. At least this is what I've been told. Might be an interesting question to post on acura.com when you log in sometime.

MaX800XT

Plastic is flammable. Unless the material under our TL's hood is some type of flame retardant composite, I would say whoever told you about the plastic acting as a fire extinguisher is very misinformed!

ITL

rofl....haha, plastic "dousing" a fire!!!

VTEC=happiness

I took mine off for a while..I thought it looked cool at first, but finally ended up replacing the stuff

check out pics... photos.yahoo.com/ucsbchris2001

cM3go

whoever told you that is feeding you some

J RIDE 81

Tried that, do you have a link?

J RIDE 81

BTW, I think the covers give the engine a classy look. I would never consider taking them off.

terse

hahaa..you said retardant

speedydoctor

Actually, the material "mesh" attached underneath the hood itself is the fire suppressor (didn't want to say "retardant", see above).

vtechbrain

Absolutely right on both counts

Road Rage

The plastic would put out a fire - that is hysterical.

Mfrs have learned from customer tracking that people partly gauge a car but how "clean" the engine bay looks, in terms of clutter. The higher the SES and the price of the car, the more so. Lexus was one of the 1st to get this right, and BMW and Audi also stress clean looking engine bays, with the various cladding.

I think it may also affect noise a bit, although the "jute" type material attached to the underside of the hood plays a stronger role in doing that - drive-by noise regulations are an issue in Europe and somewhat in the US.

The claddinjg alsp keeps radiated and convetced heat from thermal cycling the paint on the hood, whoich can lead to cracks and damage to the clear coat - but again, the hood's "carpet" does this more effectively.

By reducing the amount of heat lost to thre atmosphere, I would also surmise that the cladding helps keep the coolant and oil warm during short engine shut downs, reducing emissions and providing better mileage during re-starts. Plus, nice toasty feet int he Winter.

Some of the systems would benefit from letting the heat escape, such as the ABS system - i plan to remove much of the cladding for one other reason reason: unlike most TL owners (not the geniuses on this Forum), I like to eyeball my car, looking for tell-tale signs of trouble. A drop of oil here, a wet spot near the compressor there, etc. Having everything inaccessible make that a hard thing to do - like a pilot, I believe in pre-flight checks.

On the S2000, every 6 months, I go over every major component's bolts, torquing them to spec. Special attention is paid to the suspension subframers, shock and brake mounting points, etc. This is not just needed for tarck safety, but is a best practice for any car.

If anyoine wouold find it useful, i will post the result of my "underhood shielding analysis". Let me know in this thread if there is interest, and perhaps a future Journal entry will emerge.

Good question by the way. Points awarded.

RR.

J RIDE 81

^--- Would love to see it.

Jerky

Road rage, that was AWESOME

Fantasic feedback thats what i was looking for

POINTS FOR YOU!

GunnmeTaLCURA04

hey road rage...

since we are discussing engine parts right now.. i been thinking of something that the salesman at the dealer said that i HAVE NEVVEERRR heard anyone here talk about.

He said that our engine mounts are built so that if were ever got in an accident head on, that they will like dismount or just do something so that engine will fall on floor instdead of crushing in the cabin.. now i was ok. cool dont care since i dont plan on trying it out.. but is this true or what.. now he said that it only happens if an EXTREME head first collision i asume going at 80 or 90 mph or more.. dont know.. but what you think.

Jerky

GunnmeTaLCURA04

Most cars are designed this way for the engine to go beneath the passenger

I highly freaking doubt it just "falls on the floor" however...

Repecat

I think a further analysis of the benefits? of the underhood cladding would be beneficial and I would encourage such development. I believe the sole purpose of this stuff is cosmetic, except perhaps in limited circumstances. For example, in my Saab, the battery is enclosed with a plastic cover to protect it from excessive underhood temperatures generated by the turbocharger. As Road Rage has stated, the covers on the TL do prohibit a cursory engine bay inspection which is essential to a proper maintenance program.

Road Rage

Utter nonsense - the engine of course figures into the frontal crash system, as it represents the highest mass non fixed element - engineers use FEM (finite element analysis) and CAD to model this system, to help reduce injury to the passengers. The engine is designed to deflect downwards, but it certainly does not have mounts that "drop it to the floor" - besides, wouldn't that be "to the road" unless one has a major garage accident? Verbage goofs like that are often dead giveaways that BS is being flung.

Ever seen styrofoam blocks behind the bumpers, or to the sides. Mst people think they are their to reduce NVH, but they are actually there to slow down and/or guide parts affecting the crush zone rate. In these situations, a fraction of a second can make a big difference.

Styrofoam also played a part in the development of the first thermonuclear bombs - anyone care to guess how? (This is extra-credit).

I examined the motor mounts on the TL, and aside from their active hydraulics, they look like most every other mount in a modern car. The engine is guided by the bedning sheet metal, the subframe, etc. If you look underneath the bumber in between it anmd the condenser, you will see a honkin' big piece of metal - this is part of the "crush-zone" system as well.

The TL is a very well-engineered car from a safety point of view, but the engine drop sounds to me like someone trying to impress someone else by inventing or distorting the facts. Often, non-mechanically inclined salesmen will also misintepret something they see or hear in the sales books, or at training seminars. Happens all the time.

Here is some good info on the topic. I searched for "dropping engines" but somehow it was not mention.
http://www1.tpgi.com.au/users/mpaine/offset.html

P47ch

I've noticed my TL seems to stay warm MUCH longer than any other vehicle I have experience with. Once the coolant comes up to normal temperature it appears to stay that way for hours. If I drive for 20 minutes, park for 3 hours, and then restart the TL, the temperature gauge will immediately indicate normal operating temperature. (This, of course, is with fairly mild outdoor temperatures. I'm sure the coolant would be nicely chilled after 3 hours in freezing temperatures.) The hood will also stay warm to the touch (not hot, but decidedly above ambient) for hours. I've wondered if the plastic covers are trapping the heat and keeping everything in the engine compartment warm for a lot longer than it would without the covers. I've also wondered if this is a good thing, but I suppose there's no harm as long as nothing is getting hotter than it should in normal operation.

subinf

didnt it have something to do with keeping all the different parts of the bomb separated until impact??

kosh2258

While the plastic shields don't dampen the engine noise in the same way the hood liner would, what those panels do accomplish is redirecting the engine compartment noise towards the ground where it becomes less noticable.

The typical Honda product is pretty quiet under the hood to begin with, so those panels just put a bit more icing on the cake.

Those panels are also very paintable, so a person could get creative and liven up the appearance under the hood with some custom paint work if the basic black doesn't do it for you...

Repecat

I think it related more to the ability of the styrofoam to absorb gamma radiation from one of the bomb components to somehow speed-up the fusion process. (Boy, that's reaching back in the old college memory.)

DallasTL

I had to jump start my wife's car this morning and it took me a while to figure out how to remove the plastic cover that hides the battery. There are 4 clips that hold the cover in place and they are not clearly marked. No mention of this in the owner's manual.
Use caution when removing these covers so that the clips aren't damaged or snapped off. I can already hear the rattle....

A-TLvic882

I think it's works like a termos.

ITL

what's a termos?
















oh, he meant...thermos

Rexorg

The purpose of the covers is to keep Arm and Awl in business, and the Acura techs an extra 1/10 hour of labor to take them off.

When I picked up my TL some dumb AH put that AA crap all over my steering wheel. Took forever to get it off.

SBTL

You put the hot stuff in...it stays hot!
You put the cold stuff in...it stays cold!
How do it know?

ITL

Arm and Awl? Never heard of this before...still don't know what it is.

Anybody care to fill me in?

SBTL

I believe he is phonetically spelling "Armor-All"

Road Rage

Pretty good - a B+. One of the most vexing problems to be overcome by Teller and his colleagues was the fact that a fusion reaction needs something like 100,000,000 degF, and tremendous pressures!!! Those can only be produced with today's technology using a fission bomb - which is the trigger for all thermonuclear weapons. Obviously, the issue is to how to initiate the fusion process before the fission bomb destroys the fusion device? Hmmmmmm?????????????????

http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Library/Teller.html

I am told that Teller (who has a pretty big ego, and claims more of the credit for the H-bomb than he probably deserves) and his team got the idea when they handled the styrofoam cups which were pretty new in the late 40's - although ubiquitous today. Styrofoam (like vulcanized rubber, nylon, PTFE, LSD, etc.) was the result of someone discovering something while looking for a solution to something else - in this case, it was a chemist in the 1940's looking for a new flexible insulation material).

Road Rage

They have little removal displays molded into them, no? And slots for your index finger to pop them out.

And I recall they are covered in the Owner's manual - that would be a pretty important topic to ignore, esp since messing with the battery is a safety issue.

pabound

And yet another reason for the plastic partitions, as I was explained..

Supposedly, they also help to keeep the actual engine/running/moving exterior/accessories parts clean, i.e. from leaves, dirt, etc...

Kinda makes sense..It is much easier to wipe down the plastic (If your anal about cleaning the engine bay) than to try to keep clean the other parts...

Used to have a 93 Cobra, heavily modded; you could eat off the intake it was so clean...

Repecat

But it's not the plastic covers that need to be kept clean, it's the stuff (engine, trans, accessories, etc) underneath that should be clean to be able to observe fluid leakance, loose fasteners, and other nasty things.

kevin922

So was silly putty, it was developed by a GE engineer looking for an alternative to synthetic rubber - later GE sold the rights for $147 bucks to a guy who turned the product into an entertainment piece, when he died he had over 140 million to his name. Only after it became a "toy" did actual legit uses for it come about, was actually used on the Apollo 8 mission to hold tools in place.

But I digress.

Casper42

The Ginsu knife had a similar thing with it. Had a diff name and didnt sell worth squat. Some marketing guy who was into martial arts did a new commercial for it. Grabbed a random asian guy off the street and stuck him in a chef's outfit, did some board breaking using his martial arts skills (comparing breaking a board with his foot to slicing a watermelon, also with his foot) and put together a commercial for TV. Knife started selling like hotcakces. Only in the v2 of the Ginsu did it say Ginsu anywhere on the knife.

Gotta love those marketing guys. (Sorry to go so OT in here)

Pro Stock John

The covers dress up the engine. Easier to clean the covers than the nooks and crannies of the engine.