Paul Bunions
ArboristSite Operative
The shutters are mainly there to improve aerodynamics a tiny bit in order to give Ford a miniscule increase in average mileage. This information is available on the web from solid sources. If they make the engine heat faster, it's not by much. My car reaches its top temperature within two miles of the house with the shutters jammed open and the rubber blanket on the garage floor. I checked.the diapers suck to deal with, but are from customers wanting a quiet ride. The shudders won't make your car run hotter then it should either, given they are working properly. At worst you will get less efficiency from the engine from being over cooled. Engines run the most efficient when they are maintained at a desired temp. Cold weather shudders are generally just in use to help get the engine up to temp faster. Yes there are some emissions gain from this, but also effect efficiency. It's not there to kill your pocket book nor directly because of the government. Years ago shudders were std equipment. Not the best design or idea, but functioned well enough.
In the case of the saws there has been a balance of epa stupidity with keeping cost reasonable and increasing performance while having some sort of longevity. It all come into play. Non of it is specifically done to screw the customer over.
If they don't open when they should, they are a real problem. If they never close, they are no problem at all.
The engine heat concentrator doesn't make a perceptible difference in the noise level inside the car. It was removed from later models. In Europe, they are forced to use them--get this--to make hood collisions with pedestrians' heads less dangerous. It sounds insane, but you can check it out yourself. The idea is that your head hits the hood, the hood hits the rubber, and somehow this is safer than having the hood hit the manifold.
This car has a lot of wind and road noise. The engine isn't a factor. I've been listening to it since removing the blanket, and I can't tell the difference.
If you root around Internet forums, you will see people claiming all kinds of explanations for the rubber blanket, but most of them are wild guesses. That's why they're different.
It doesn't protect the paint, either. The sun is what kills two-layer paint. The layers expand and contract at different rates in the sun, and that makes them separate. Waxing and washing don't help, in spite of what people who make money from these things say. I miss the old days when car paint lasted as long as cars and the isocyanate fumes didn't give painters crippling permanent asthma.
I hate greenie products that cause problems and don't really solve any, but the thing that really makes me mad is the way manufacturers keep quiet about them and pass the problems on to us without warning us.
