Thread: valve cover, intake manifold and engine bay are too HOT.

Recently, after driving for a while, I open the hood and around the engine is very very hot.
I cant touch the intake manifold. Time ago, the intake manifold don't got too hot like now. I remember that the intake manifold felt cold warm.

It's the same with the valve cover, before that, I could touch the valve cover with the engine hot, now I can't put my hand for seconds,
The temp meter always shows a normal temp, never moves beyond from the middle.

2 years with my car, and this is the first time that I felt that.

I know that the engine must be hot, but I think that this isn't normal.

it's normal, in the summer time engine temps go over 200 degrees, 200 degrees= too hot to touch comfortably

It's normal. Trust me on this one

Yeah, i have a scangauge and my car hits 200-205 degrees on a really hot day.

I've never been able to touch engine components, other than on my Maxima that had the dead thermostat.

If you want to be safe just change the thermostat out with an oem one from Greg V, I blew an engine in february because of a stuck thermostat (granted it was 80 degrees in florida at the time). Its not fun. Trust me.

My det will get to 220 then the fan kicks on if it sits in the sun and idles. As soon as I hit the highway it drops right back down to 180-185. I have a big mishimoto radiator too.

ohh! I like this topic! I have a few tips to get things cooler.

Of course bigger radiator, electric water pump, fans, straight distilled water and water wetter or Evans coolant, those are easy ones ( the fans and e pump can rob around 10hp each so keep that in mind). There are Thermostats that run around 10* cooler you might look around for. You could get a little more involved and box in your radiator, make an undertray, air damn, make an exhaust for the air coming from your radiator through the hood. Wrap your intake pipes with some kind of insulation ( like the fiberglass with tinfoil they sell at Home Depot, and that tin foil tape). Fiberglass exhaust wrap the woven stuff. There are some coatings that you could coat the exhaust with in addition to the wrap. Set your fuel system up to run at 4bar or higher, VE oil pump and oil cooler. Relocate your air intake to a fender well with minimal bends. And there is always water injection too.

DIY Water Injection

Do It Yourself Water Alcohol Methanol Injection

Running the engine cooler will result in worse fuel economy. There is a reason why most modern engines are made to run at 200deg. Modern cars are also meant to self-regulate, so if your car is overheating, fix it. Otherwise, leave it alone.

A cooler air intake charge is beneficial, however, wrapping your air intake pipes is a waste of time and money unless you have a cold air intake that is made of metal. Plastic insulates the heat of the engine bay enough. Wrapping your exhaust past the engine bay is also a waste of time. That heat needs to radiate off those pipes.

It does not sound like there is anything wrong with this guy's car. Thermostats are designed to stick in the 'open' position, meaning that the car will flow more coolant than necessary, causing the engine to take *forever* to warm up, and will run too cold on the freeway.

If it is not broken, starting to break, or lacking in any way... don't fix it.

And if you want to know what temperature your car is running at, i recommend a scangauge II, or a device like it. Also helps you track your fuel economy and read the sensors of any OBD2 car. neat gadget. Saved me many times.

Obviously you neptronix are a sour puss and don't like to have fun. If you did like to have fun you might do something like not drive your car like a grandma.

If you had ever driven your car like it was meant to or god forbid raced your car you would have come into the problem of your car running too hot. As in to the point where the oil no longer keeps metal friction at bay. Where you have engine wear that makes your car no worky (get it yet nep?) Yes if you are a grandma and just like to get groceries in your car then don't change anything on your car leave it totally stock.

Fact A cooler running car makes more power. Since when is anything "enough" especially when we are talking about perform oriented cars and having FUN with them. On top of that there is absolutely nothing wrong with making the cooling system more capable of maintaining factory temperatures

Wow, talk about taking what i said out of proportion.

Engine temperature needs to be steady, a cooler intake charge is what creates more power, not a cooler running engine. Notice that fuel economy end emissions are at their worst until about 5-10 minutes after a cold start. That gas going out the tailpipe is wasted due to bad fuel atomization.

If you've ever had a car with a busted thermostat, you'd know that running your engine 30 degrees lower does not create power. Gas seems to disappear quicker though. I experienced this personally on 2 used cars that i've owned.

This board, and more particularly, sr20forum.com has plenty of threads started by people who have done stupid mods to their car, and have had problems as a result. Like removing the EGR and wondering why you didn't pass smog. Removing the carbon canister and wondering why your fuel seals blew up. etc.

If you want a fast car, do it the right way, don't go unplugging things hoping for a power gain, that's what ricers do. Do it right with an intake, header, exhaust, cams, tune, ETC.