Do you open your engine comparment to cool?
 

Curious if anyone else opens the engine compartment to cool after you get home from a long drive?

I have been doing this for years, always felt since the car doesnt have any cooling fans, it would let the engine cool down much quicker, which is better for the car/engine?

Just curious.........


Later,

Rod

I don't on my '86 3.2L. On air-cooled airplane engines we also rather have the engines cool down slow to prevent shock cooling. This means even descending from altitude as slow as possible with partial power. The faster metal warms and cools (extends and retracts) the more stress it gets. There is no real benefit of cooling the engine as quick as possible unless you have a vapor lock issue in your fuel system.

I've done that at DE events...between secessions it makes sense to cool it down faster, at least that is what I thought.

Engine cool-down.
 

Yup, when I park I my garage, every litttle bit helps.

110K miles-Dry motor....

I do, particularly on a hot day. Shock cooling is a concern for airplanes leaving altitude on a rapid descent but there is no way you're going to cool down an air cooled car to the same degree.

I do this occasionally with my BMW on a very not day (here in Phoenix). On BMW forums many mention that when changing their valve cover gaskets that the rubber gasket is crispy hard and crumbles on removal. I changed mine not long ago (70,000 miles on it) and the rubber gasket was soft and pliable.

I only open the lid if I need it to cool so I can work on it. If I'm in a big hurry I break out the fan and try to accelerate the process.

At the track... Always. All of us guys racing with air cooled cars do.

Street driving should never require this unless it is apocalyptically hot outside.

Nope, never. I normally need to get to where I'm going and I don't have to stand there with the lid open. Besides I never get past 8:00 on the temp dial around here anyway.

Mine has a big gaping hole in the lid, so no reason. With a front engined car which has been driven hard, I have seen this done a lot at the track. With P-cars, not really.

How many times can you open your engine compartment before the pull wire breaks?? After reading the work-around to open the hoods when the cable snaps - I think any possible gains of routine cooling are nixed by the risk of loosing access all together!

100 mile cruzes at 120+ mph on 100-110 degree days never gave us need to be concerned in the Arabian Gulf area.

Diverdan.

I definitely do.

I also keep the key in the auxillary position, one notch towards starting position for a few minutes to help cool the system and to prevent vapor lock.

I only open it when I decide I am going to do some work on her. Most of the time I end up just closing it and taking it out for some fun. Me= slack :) It can be opened in the winter;)

I used to pop it open all the time at the track. That's about it.

Good point. With the vents on the lid, you can certainly feel the heat escaping easily. So I never bothered opening the lid, even at the track, unless I am checking the oil level.

I open it at the track, cooling seems like a good idea but better is simply to take a look at all between runs. Better to see anything leaking or hanging loose vs. happening without warning.

As previously stated I also open the engine cover after a track session (DE or race). Leave the engine running for a few minutes too. Track temps are usually higher than even hard running on the street.
Never have during street driving though. Might if temps were say upper 1/3 of gage.

I never have but we don't normally get the conditions here to cause unduly warm engines. However, last summer, I visited a buddy for a long weekend and took my 911. He had me park in his back yard on the lawn so I wouldn't have to be on the street. When I left, there was a nice gift of a four foot across area of dead, brown grass from the engine heat.

Every time I come home, and pull into the garage. No sense oven-baking.

Vapor lock on an 80s Carerra? The whole system is pressurized from the pump up in the front. There isn't any vapor lock issues on these cars.

As far as leaving the key on... What is that supposed to do? It doesn't run the fuel pump. That is controlled by the DME and it only turns on the fuel pump when it sees the engine is spinning. There aren't any fans in the engine compartment that run when in accessory position. The only thing it will really do is allow you to operate the windows and listen to the stereo. And it gives you the opportunity to forget it and run the battery down.