To start:

2003 Enthusiast 6mt, 61k miles, oil change 4000 miles ago, 5w30


I had drove home from work, stopped by taco bell, and came back, all of this was about 20 miles of driving over the course of about 50 minutes if you include the time i spent waiting in the drive through.

Car is driving completly beautifully and normally, i didnt really notice anything but my brother was in the driveway when i pulled in, and he said " do you smell that?" and i kind of smelled something but it was a faint, dry heat smell, if that makes sense.

I put my hand by the hood and it was a little warm, and then felt the fender well area above the front passenger tire, and it was rather warm.

I popped the hood, and there was definately a hot, dry heat that came up with the hood and the same smell we noticed earlier...

Well then i felt what i belive is the intake manifold ( The silver flat area above the black plastic peice that says nissan in the middle of the engine bay)

Well the silver part (intake manifold? sorry...) was hot to the touch, i couldnt leave my hand there for maybe 3 or 4 seconds before having to take it off.

All of my gauges read normal, and the temp gauge was about one third of the way up from the coldest temperature. I gave it some gas and the oil pressure gauge read normal, the temperature gauge still read the same thing no matter what.


Maybe this isnt anything, like i said i never noticed it before, but i wasnt sure so i knew that this would be the place to ask.


Thanks alot guys.

- Matt

 

yea, engine bays tend to get kind of hot. metal tends to transfer heat pretty easily. i would not be too worried about it. i mean, if you REALLY like touching your plenum, you should consider investing in an iso-thermal gasket, such as the one that comes with the motordyne spacer! this would lower your plenum and intake temps, though minimally.

 

Temperatures inside the engine bay will reach 100 degrees plus. No matter. What matters is the temperature inside the motor.