The Prius has an easily removed, silver-colored plastic cover on top of the valve train. Does this plastic serve any purpose other than appearance? Could the engine cooking be slightly improved by removing it? Any disadvantage to keeping it off?
Depends on what you're cooking. Sometimes you want it to show those grilling stripes. The surface of the valve cover underneath it is more just flat.
Actually, when you think about it, it’s just one more place the car maker can display their corporate logo. Think of it as a bill board under your hood.In the old days when you could actually see the unobstructed view of the engine, it was usually the valve covers that would display this identifier.
And a way to sell another replacement part. Mine cracked behind the silver sticker straight down when I pulled it directly upwards from the rubber point end points, pulled it off many times w/o problems until the last time. At least this car doesn't have plastic panels blocking the engine bay like newer cars, I'd probably break all of them by now if I drunkenly buy a new car
I think you would get a more even distribution of heat and thus baking if you lay down the cover on top of your dish. For something thick like leg of Groundhog, I expect it would help keep it properly juicy. This would of course matter less if you do thin slices or if you had something small like a squirrel. Leaving the cover off would be more like roasting and less like baking.
Every car has these plastic engine covers these days. Older engines had gorgeous, machined valve covers, and now the top of most engines is cast aluminum, so it’s cheaper to give a clean appearance with a piece of plastic. My six-cylinder BMW has a much larger cover, with a thick piece of rubberized foam beneath. Quiets the valve train. I remove it in the summer months and replace in the fall.
