Hood vents

[btm24]

would adding hood vents or hood "louvers" effect the heat in the winter? just a thought

 

Brandon

[airspeed]

If your cooling system and thermostat are working properly, under normal conditions, no. If you were in extreme conditions -40, maybe.

[akamcbird]

hmmm... now I'm not so sure i want vents.... i do see -40, but even -10 effects the temp

[dasbulliwagen]

would adding hood vents or hood "louvers" effect the heat in the winter? just a thought

 

Brandon

 

Not in Florida. :banana:

[mkbruin]

It lets heat escape the engine bay, but thats it. It otherwise doesn't help with cooling the engine itself, and introduces a greater chance of hydrolocking if you hit the water hard, of frying your ECU if you see heavy rains, etc.

 

Its not too expensive to get a great cooling setup, so vents should not be used, IMO.

[Motion Offroad]

We have been using vents (Lebarron one's) on our XJ's & MJ's for several years (close to 6+ years now).

 

To date we've never had an issue with any electronics, or water getting into the vents. A couple of them even sit outside all winter with snow directly ontop of them. All the vents do is help the underhood temps get out of the engine bay faster; they have no relation to how well your heater works in the winter.

[btm24]

Ok thank ya'll and btw it was 26 degrees out brr :( any ways almost all hood "louvers" come with drip pans right? so I really don't see what mkbruin is takin about with "hydrolocking if you hit the water hard, of frying your ECU if you see heavy rains, etc." is that somthing to worry about when getting hood vents? because i have had my fair share of water in the engine :fs1:

 

Brandon

[ParadiseMJ]

...any ways almost all hood "louvers" come with drip pans right? Brandon

 

No, the 2 sets of LeBaron vents I have didn't come with any drip pan. XJ has a pan that I fabbed and remove in the summer (doesn't rain much here from May - Sept.). MJ has vents with no tray yet but it's covered, it lives in the carport as it's still "under construction".

[HOrnbrod]

Some hood vents come with drip pans, some don't. I used 98 ZJ 5.9 vents for awhile w. the drip pans, pics below. Water entry was never a problem w. this setup, but the drip pans didn't help the real purpose of why I did the vents originally - get the heat out of the engine bay. The stroker was running warmer than I wanted in traffic, and these vents really didn't help that much. The drip pans impeded the air flow.

 

 

 

I've since installed a cowl hood, and this is the way to go. No H2O entry, and great evacuation of hot engine compartment air in all conditions. And no problemo w. heat in the winter. :D

[xjrev10]

Ok thank ya'll and btw it was 26 degrees out brr :( any ways almost all hood "louvers" come with drip pans right? so I really don't see what mkbruin is takin about with "hydrolocking if you hit the water hard, of frying your ECU if you see heavy rains, etc." is that somthing to worry about when getting hood vents? because i have had my fair share of water in the engine :fs1:

 

Brandon

We have highs in the single digits and lows in the double digits below zero at night. 26 would be a heat wave!

[mkbruin]

We have highs in the single digits and lows in the double digits below zero at night. 26 would be a heat wave!

 

 

Meanwhile, Denver (usually 30-40 with white stuff right now) is hovering between 50 and 60.

[1990 Pioneer 4x4]

The cowl hood is definitely the clean and easy way to go.

 

 

Although this fab piece that I found on craigslist awhile ago, looks pretty cool.

 

[btm24]

Well the cowl hood looks great and I'm sure that it works great to, how ever that is way more $ then I am willing to pay. Not only do I like the look of Hood louvers but I like the idea. My only concern is the water going into the motor. So now from what ya'll have said i can assume then with drip pan's that can make the point of a hood vent (which is to take heat out of the engine compartments) non effective but also keep most water out of the engine bay? which makes hood vent's pointless other then looks. Am I right about that?

 

Brandon

[1990 Pioneer 4x4]

Well the cowl hood looks great and I'm sure that it works great to, how ever that is way more $ then I am willing to pay. Not only do I like the look of Hood louvers but I like the idea. My only concern is the water going into the motor. So now from what ya'll have said i can assume then with drip pan's that can make the point of a hood vent (which is to take heat out of the engine compartments) non effective but also keep most water out of the engine bay? which makes hood vent's pointless other then looks. Am I right about that?

 

Brandon

 

If i lived in Florida, i wouldn't worry about it, but If you lived in the rainy NW...

[MJCARENA]

This is what I did to my XJ. Works good and have not had any issues with water/rain. Best part was it didn't cost nothing but time. I borrowed the punch tool from an electrician friend. The holes are 1 3/4 inches across. The hardest part was making the template to space out the holes.