Effects of exposed engine bay to sun exposure

UV rays are the enemy of rubber and plastic parts.

It causes brittling, degradation, yellowing (depending on plastic/rubber in question) and leads to failure.

 

Agreed but I suspect that the heat load will kill all the stuff and lead to replacement way before the UV gets a chance.

 

At least with those cars you can wash the car without washing the engine electricals, as on our cars...

 

Forgot to add, I have a 355.

Sorry, above post didn't make sense without that tidbit...

John

 

So am I reading this correctly - just trying to understand here - the car is an F430,
and you're concerned about the UV light that comes in through the "window" to the
engine bay? I would surely think that the glass is UV-blocking, like on good picture
frames. Is it not then? That seems odd to me that Ferrari (et. al. with glass rear
decks) would not consider the damage that UV could cause to the rubber bits ... but
with Ferrari, nothing really surprises me.

Never even thought of the UV issue with an F-430... my 328 does not yet have a glass
rear deck

Jedi

 

To compensate, one must rotate their spark plug boots between fore and aft banks every 6 months to mitigate UV damage.

Same for spark plug wire jackets.

Just to be safe, I rotate the cam covers too.

 

I suppose it depends why the OP asked... I was envisioning a classic car left in a field with no hood... but if it's about a glass engine cover, then I think it's a non-issue.

It's true that the internal parts are susceptible to heat damage but I think they also choose materials for an engine bay based more on tolerance to the heat encountered vs. tolerance to UV. There are a few rubber/plastic products that will take heat no problem, but the UV will kill it.

I would also guess that any glass engine cover will have a UV protectant on it and probably will filter out most of the UV anyway.

 

How much time does it spend parked in the sun vs in the garage?
I would suspect that interior sun damage would be as big of an issue as many of the engine soft parts are maintenance replacement items anyway.

 

We have not seen rubber aging any faster on the 360/430 than on 355/550. In fact if anything the rubber seems to go away faster on the 550 than any other. It seems they, despite air flow from the radiator have the highest heat based on rubber deterioration speed.

I have always wondered it the UV played a part in all the CS carbon panel discoloration.


If you are worried about the sun, worry about the leather. We do a lot of leather dash repairs because no one uses sunshields. 50x more than perishable repairs under 360 hoods.

I guess sunshields lower Ferrari owners self esteem based on the comments I get about them.

 

The sunshields go nicely with the BluBlockers on the dash...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Png-PC0ews

(just kidding you Brian)

 

LOL no self esteem issues here My first two purchases were a UV car cover and a windshield sunscreen to try to shade the flat 328 dash.

 

Be easier if'n you just rotated the engine twice a year...