I wish they made a replica of the JK 10th Anniversary Rubicon hood for our TJs. That hood is the best looking vented hood I've seen!
well let me ask this . I do like the looks of the hood vents and I do think venting the engine bay could help in several ways. The reason a roof on your home is vented is to get rid of the heat so your roof will last its expected time and your a/c can be cost effective.
But what about all the rain water? where does it go and will it ruin things under the hood??? i cant image that water on the engine being good for anything.
But what about all the rain water? where does it go and will it ruin things under the hood??? i cant image that water on the engine being good for anything.
Quad City Jeep
Member
This is good to hear. Having just moved to Ridgecrest where I'm a daily driver of my 97 TJ in the Mojave desert, I was thinking it would help (bit of prevention). From what I gather, the engine temp is not effected, but under hood temps might be reduced. Any advantage to that? Don't want to spend the money as I think my TJ looks fine without them. I'm not looking for a cosmetic upgrade.
Ted
TJ Enthusiast
It will reduce the temps considerably. I installed mine because I made a deal and had $10,000 credit towards parts. Got many things I didn't need and some I really didn't want to just spend the credit.
C.J. Roberts
TJ Addict
Vents won't affect engine temp, but they will help let hot air out of the engine compartment. I have a set of long/narrow Gen Right vents on my hood. I have the left vent over the exhaust manifold. In the Tucson Summer heat, I've had a few incidents of heat soak. Since installing the vents, I've had none.
Quad City Jeep
Member
Quad City Jeep
Member
BTW - read a build thread by a guy that put in the spyder louvre who said he'd never had done it if he didn't park in a garage. Leaving it outside in the rain the water just runs in. On older models like mine with distributors, that sounds like a bad idea. I'm still torn on if there is an advantage living in a desert and using them with the idea they drop the engine compartment temp and thus drop the temp of air being pulled into the engine.
C.J. Roberts
TJ Addict
When you're running in a hot climate, such as Arizona in the Summer, when you shut the engine off, the fuel in the fuel rail vaporizes. If you start the engine before it has a chance to cool, and the fuel is still vaporized, it causes a miss in the engine, usually cylinder 3. It only lasts a few seconds and doesn't cause any permanent damage, but it will throw a "P0303" code for a few engine cycles.
The factory solution to this is to wrap some sparkplug wire insulation around the number "3" fuel injector. Vents work too, and they look cool.
Quad City Jeep
Member
Thanks. Never heard of that, but something to watch for this July and August when they tell me it can hit 120 here. After reading the reviews, I have pretty much decided vents are 99% cosmetic and I don't want to spend money trying to be proactive and fix a problem I don't have yet. Guess I'll wait and see what happens when the temps here really fire up, and if I run into problems, vents will be a solution I will think about again.
XJ's had the heat soak issue, so much so that Jeep had a part# for a piece of insulation to cover #3 injector. Wish I hung on to the part#, but reason I mention this is it happened on my TJ once a while back during the summer while traveling in higher elevations. I ended up buying the insulation piece from the dealer and installed it. Haven't had the problem since.
Heat soak happens to me in Florida. Local guys have installed the hood vents and eliminated it.
The insulator sleeve is Mopar part number 56028371AA and costs about $7.00. It didn't help my Jeep.
The insulator sleeve is Mopar part number 56028371AA and costs about $7.00. It didn't help my Jeep.
Quad City Jeep
Member
My TJ is a 97 4 cyl 2.5. Strangely enough, I had a misfire when I first got here to CA, but it was not a high temp situation (early January). I might just get the $7 part anyway. Ounce of prevention can't hurt at that price.
Maso
TJ Enthusiast
I have been playing with the idea of hood vents for a long time, not to try and cool the engine, but to get rid of the excess heat. Especially heat soak. I don't know if it does much, but I just remove the seal at the back of the hood on hot days. With the seal removed there is a gap that runs all along the back of the hood where heat can exit. Just an option for people if the want to try it.
BeardedNTejas
New Member
Great topic I am just down the road from you in Temple and was wondering the same thing!
Being in Yuma AZ (arm pit of AZ) the temps here are worse than the devil's ass Crack.
That being said, haven't had any issues with non vented hoods on the past Jeeps. Don't see it being an issue for the current one.
I have a vented hood now. I didn’t do it for performance, I did it to get rid of the huge area in the middle of my hood where the paint was coming off
