2007 ES350.
I suspect noise abatement, but I wish they had just added more noise abatement to the hood. The clips get broken off or lost (or worse yet impossible to remove). Makes every job under the hood take longer.
can I get rid of it? What would I notice if I did?
He’s probably flung it away into oblivion..
My BMW mechanic and I had the same X5. When I brought mine in, he showed his off to me, and he said he took the black plastic cover off. His thinking is that it was un-necessary and that it might actually help cool the engine since there would be more airflow over the engine. (Granted the radiator probably does most of the work).
If I had to rationalize the black cover, my thinking for more modern cars reliant on electronics like BMW's, it adds an additional layer of defense against water intrusion. It seems that everything attached to the BMW engine is electronically controlled. And while it is highly unlikely that water will get up under the hood, it is another line of protection.
But really, when it comes down to it, it's just a stupid beauty cover.
I’m curious. Is that cover gone on Scotty’s wife’s older Lexus? Or is the noise abatement important enough for him to leave it on?
Scotty calls them "stupid" whenever he shows one in a video, so my guess would be that he takes them off.
The reason they put plastic beauty covers on engines is to charge you more money for useless junk, like auto start/stop and AFM.
I heard a long time ago that the covers came about as a cheap way to make the engine more eye appealing versus chrome valve covers, etc. that they used to put on engines. I see no harm in them. Maybe they do help keep the engine a little cleaner.
