Lx 570 engine covers

[lx570westtexas]

Howdy all!

Is there a major function to the engine covers on the LX 570 for any who have one? I have a 2014 and I’m always taking them on and off. Should I just leave them off? Is it worth it?

 

[Heckraiser]

I have heard some say they provide some sound reduction, but I took mine off and can't hear the difference. I left them on the shelf in the garage so it's easier to keep an eye on stuff under the hood. Might consider installing a LC front cover so I can keep the under-hood gasket that goes from one side to the other. Right now I only have the small center section of the LX plastic in there (so only a small gasket centered above the radiator).

 

[FxFormat]

I took all the black plastic surround off so I can check my fluids and stuff. Some say the plastic piece is for airflow but sequoias and tundras don’t have it so I don’t know how much of an impact it has.

 

[lx570westtexas]

I took all the black plastic surround off so I can check my fluids and stuff. Some say the plastic piece is for airflow but sequoias and tundras don’t have it so I don’t know how much of an impact it has.

Awesome. Thanks all

 

[radman]

there's a difference between the LX and the LC skins.
Our LXs have the big sides that cover part of the radiator opening... the LC has one big piece in front over the radiator.

IMO, it's helpful to have the front fully covered to force air into the radiator. You could chop up your LX covers or get a front LC cover...

 

[TeCKis300]

They're important to keep. They do serve to attenuate noise but more importantly, they also manage airflow through the radiator. At low speeds, it keeps hot engine bay air from recirculating. At speed, it channels airflow through the radiator.

It's not a problem until it is. There's at least a couple reports of low speed crawling and overheating without it.

I took all the black plastic surround off so I can check my fluids and stuff. Some say the plastic piece is for airflow but sequoias and tundras don’t have it so I don’t know how much of an impact it has.

Many other models including Sequoias and Tundra's seal via a gasket on the hood. They don't care about noise, but do need cooling performance.

 

[TomEf]

The front center piece is worth keeping. Many radiators and fan shrouds have some foam or foam tape to seal them together for airflow, but if I remember correctly the LX is largely relying on that front center plastic piece to channel that airflow.

 

[bloc]

The front center piece is worth keeping. Many radiators and fan shrouds have some foam or foam tape to seal them together for airflow, but if I remember correctly the LX is largely relying on that front center plastic piece to channel that airflow.

The sides of that along the core support are important as well for the same reason, to guide all of the air in front of the core support through the radiator. Any air from that zone that bleeds around the core support isn’t cooling the engine.

The ends of the side pieces that extend rearward past the core support, not so much. Those can be chopped off without impacting the airflow control negatively.

 

[FxFormat]

I'm willing to run some tests, will run highway speed and bumper to bumper traffic speed with and without the covers and see if there's a difference in the engine temp. I have the torque APP that's reading from the OBDII port is that accurate?

I'm leaning towards no difference in temps, Lexus has been putting these plastic covers on for years and their toyota counterpart hasn't so. Makes me wonder if it's all aesthetic.

 

[Heckraiser]

Torque coolant temp should be pretty spot on in my experience.

Keep in mind the toyota has a cover too, but it only goes from the front fascia to the core support. So *parts* of the LX covers probably do serve a real engineering purpose, just not the whole "cover up everything so you can pretend this fancy lexus has no mechanical parts" bits further back. This is part of why I kept the center/front peice. Maybe a better move would be to locate a LC cover.

 

[bloc]

Coolant temp readings won't determine anything unless you put the cooling system under a whole lot of load. Regular driving on the freeway or in traffic isn't close to stressing our cooling capacity.

And toyota "not using them" is an oversimplification. If you look closely those toyotas that don't have a plastic cover will have a rubber gasket on the hood that seals it to the core support, which effectively does the same thing. Toyota's term for it is "seal, hood to radiator support." I just did some digging in the parts system. The 80 had it, the 100 did, a 2013 tundra did, a 2006 corolla did.. In ours, being fancier than a Tundra, the plastic cover is used to isolate that zone similar to what the gasket would do in those vehicles. Different methods of accomplishing the same goal.

To be clear we aren't saying if you remove this your truck will burst into flames the next time it is started.. just that this is one part of a system that has proven to be very good at keeping our engines healthy. Reducing the effectiveness of that system, even incrementally, is unwise. Whether the average person can look at those covers and understand that they are part of a system is another issue altogether. And yes, Lexus did confuse things with the giant covers along the side of the engine that are solely to make it look shiny and clean.. but the ones along the core support are functional. They can be trimmed and still work, but they are functional and should stay.

Keep in mind the toyota has a cover too, but it only goes from the front fascia to the core support. So *parts* of the LX covers probably do serve a real engineering purpose, just not the whole "cover up everything so you can pretend this fancy lexus has no mechanical parts" bits further back.

This.

The LC headlights and grille have a different profile so that part probably won't work on an LX.

 

[TeCKis300]

I'm willing to run some tests, will run highway speed and bumper to bumper traffic speed with and without the covers and see if there's a difference in the engine temp. I have the torque APP that's reading from the OBDII port is that accurate?

I'm leaning towards no difference in temps, Lexus has been putting these plastic covers on for years and their toyota counterpart hasn't so. Makes me wonder if it's all aesthetic.

It won't make a difference in temp. Unless the system is really stressed. It has bandwidth to cool to towing some 15k combined vehicle weight while maintaining nominal temps. Taking out the cover will reduce it's heat shedding capacity by some factor.

For those that have taken apart the radiator before, there's many seals and gaskets under alongside and at the top meant to manage air into the radiator. That top cover has a job too.

If it makes it easier, someone else said the covers need very minimal clips to stay in place. It's ultimately not hard to take off and more of a mental thing.

 

[lx570westtexas]

Wow what a discussion!

To sum up a consensus:
The front part of the cover is there to help direct air and manage temperatures under load. This is probably a factor when I’m running it Offroad in the summer.

I could look at a LC cover (anyone help with a part number? I don’t have the service manual with me). Or I could do some cutting.

I the clips aren’t awful. Just in the way when I’m trying to … say access the battery for air up.

 

[TeCKis300]

Wow what a discussion!

To sum up a consensus:
The front part of the cover is there to help direct air and manage temperatures under load. This is probably a factor when I’m running it Offroad in the summer.

I could look at a LC cover (anyone help with a part number? I don’t have the service manual with me). Or I could do some cutting.

I the clips aren’t awful. Just in the way when I’m trying to … say access the battery for air up.

Yup.

The LC cover is a different profile at the grill/front end and will not fit the LX. Could cut the LX covers beyond the radiator support bracket. Would like to see if someone has done that, what it looks like.

 

[Heckraiser]

I might just do that. This thread has me questioning only running the middle section, but I definitely don't want to put the whole shebang back in.

 

[paulunm]

You can leave most of the clips for the side covers out, making it a whole lot easier to access the air filter or PS reservoir.

This seems like the easiest solution while keeping the cooling system at full capacity. They don't move around since the hood does a good job of holding them down.

 

[bloc]

I have a message in to a friend who’s we trimmed. Will post a pic when I get it. It isn’t as clean as the cruiser for sure, and someone could probably do a better job than I did.. but it is functional and makes room where needed.

The other thing about those clips is at least here with hot summers they have a finite lifespan before the plastic hardens and wings snap off. So while I do keep them installed in my cruiser, I keep a few spares on the shelf.

 

[TX4Runner]

When I picked up my 2011 last January, I realized it was missing all 3 engine cover pieces. Kind of a bummer, but it was still a good deal and I wasn't going to let it get away. I haven't done any off-roading, but I do tow a small boat and haven't had any temp increases. I've watched it knowing I don't have the covers but haven't yet seen any ill-effects.
I may order the center piece aftermarket, but the price for all 3 OEM parts with clips is about $600... oof.

 

[bloc]

We could have done a better job of aligning the new back edge of the center piece with the new back edge of the side.. but it works.

 

[TomEf]

We could have done a better job of aligning the new back edge of the center piece with the new back edge of the side.. but it works.


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I’ll probably end up doing a similar cut in the near future, but I might even extend them back a little farther. Going onboard compressor so less need to access the battery. Might cut right at the edge of the airbox and fusebox.