Marine Blue

So a topic about shutting the engine after a hard drive came up on the 997 forum. My suggestion was to either let the car run at lower RPM's or let it idle to cool down to normal temperatures before shutting down. Others suggested opening the rear hatch to let the hot air out faster.

With all of the previous cars I've owned I always opened the hood after a drive regardless how hard I drove the car. The main purpose of doing this was to prolong the life of plastic and rubber components. As we all know, the Boxster doesn't allow for quick access to the engine without some minor disassembly and it's unrealistic to do this after every drive. Currently I shut the A/C and let the car idle for a minute before shutting it down. Does anyone have any methods of cooling the Boxster's engine faster to help keep things as new? I'm wondering if a fan which helps direct air underneath the car would be a benefit? Other suggestions or ideas?

Only1Buck

I do basically the same thing as you as I collect whatever I may have in the car with me...

VGM911

I appreciate your idea about keeping the plastic and rubber components in good shape, but the idea of opening the hood on a car after driving it seems unnecessary, and a bit obsessive to me.

By the way, I know that we're all obsessive about our cars in one way or another (me, included).

No HTwo O

I park in the garage. Open the rear lid on the Turbo, the Boxster stays closed, and then turn this fan on (about $100 at Grainger), placed by the front of the car. I try to leave the garage door open for a little while too.

San Rensho

The engine compartment has a cooling fan that comes on when the compartment gets too hot, even when the engine is shut off, so I would think that any attempts at additional cooling would probably be overkill.

When I drive the car hard, like on a track day, I do let the car idle for a few minutes before shut down, but this is to allow the oil accumulated in the heads to get back down into the sump. If you drive it hard and shut it down right away, you can get smoke on start up because of all the oil accumulated in the heads.

Marine Blue

That's a good idea. I wonder if it would make sense to blow into the passenger side air opening at the side of the car to help push the hot air out of the engine bay.

I know it sounds like total overkill, even to me but anything that reduces wear to the car is worth it for me.

ClintonM3

I always take it easy during the last part of a drive. I don't think additional assist is necessary. It is probably better to let everything cool down naturally and linear-ly.
I do pay special attention to the brakes. Never yank the ebrake right after a stretch of hard braking. And I never clean the wheels before or after a drive, where the braking components are about to get hot, or cooling down. I clean them usually on a random day, pull the car out, clean, then pull it back in the garage.

cabriolet

blowing cold air at the engine sounds like overkill. that said, i like to let a turbo engine run for a minute or so after the turbo has done its thing, before shutdown. i also tend to shut down the a/c a minute or so before parking (when i remember) - in the old days, it reduced the load on the starter motor; with auto start-stop this is probably irrelevant; now, it's to get rid of condensate.

Macster

Ideally -- but no need to obsess about it -- would be to 1) drive at moderate speeds/throttle openings for a while after coming off the freeway or after a hard run or take a cool down lap if at the track; 2) let the engine idle a minute or two. In this case if you really want to be obsessive let the engine idle until the radiator fans come on -- unless they are already on -- then continue to let the engine idle until the fans switch off.

(Now for the turbo-charged cars the owners manual states to let the engine idle 2 minutes before shutting off the engine, so some idle time always for a Turbo is called for.)

Some might want to turn the A/C on to help cool the engine for with the A/C on the radiator fans run all the time.

However, I do not like to run the A/C right up until I shut off the car because I want to avoid mold/mildew forming on the A/C evaporator. So, if the A/C is on I shut it off -- say when I leave the freeway -- and adjust the temp/fan settings to move air through the cabin vent system in order to dry the moisture that can build up on various surfaces in the A/C system.

About the only thing obsessive I do with my cars when possible is to park them into the wind. That is I try to take advantage of mother nature and let the wind carry away mainly the engine/exhaust heat.

With my 03 Turbo, the engine compartment fan will come on even with the engine off, the key removed from the ignition.

With my 02 Boxster -- this may not apply to later models -- the engine compartment fan doesn't come on after the key has been turned off. On real hot days I have noticed when I get back in the car after a short stop and turn on the key the engine compartment fan can come on.

In the case of the Boxster when I had a garage to park the car in what I did was pull the car into the garage and shut the engine off. Then on my way out of the garage I would turn on a small fan aimed at the front of the car. This small fan of course was intended to help carry heat from the hotter parts of the engine/drivetrain to reduce the heat soaking that arises from a hot engine sitting in still air.

On some particularly hot days I'd leave the garage door open just an inch or two.

I would never bother trying to remove the engine compartment cover of a Boxster (or Cayman) and for cars that have an engine compartment fan that runs even when the key is off (if the engine compartment temperature requires it (IIRC a temp of 135F is what it takes to trigger the engine compartment fan to come on) I'd never open the engine compartment lid.

Leave the lid closed and let the fan do its job.

Sincerely,

Macster.

Alan Smithee

I don't think so - the fan extracts hot air out through the passenger side opening.

I thought I was OCD, but reading these threads makes me feel rather normal.

No HTwo O

It does not. It pulls cool air into the engine bay.

Alan Smithee

Hmm...I will have to give it a test this weekend...could swear hot air blows out from there...

No HTwo O

Hold up a paper towel to the vent. You'll see it get attached.

orthojoe

+1 LOL! Me too!

You guys DO realize you're talking mostly voodoo magic, right?

Afshin, don't ever learn how to drive your car at a track. I don't want to you have a heart attack.

the_vetman

I concur. The right "intake" is for the fan to suck air in and blow into the engine bay. The air escapes from the bottom of the car. Alan, the hot air you felt may have been hot air coming all the way around - engine bay -> ground -> sideways -> up at you.

At the Tech Tactics, a guy from Porsche was even joking how it's not a good idea to park a Boxster on a dusty road with the top down. The fan will blow air out the bottom of the car and create a dust cloud... you get the picture.

I don't worry about cooling the engine much, but this is an interesting thread because I thought that the fan will come on even if the car is turned off. Usually doesn't do it immediately but will do so after a few minutes. I thought I read that somewhere and thought I've seen it in my Boxster... now I'm not so sure...

Don't know why but I've been thinking about this recently. The fan definitely goes off when you turn the car off. However, IIRC it is supposed to come back on in a few minutes *if* the engine bay gets too hot. I was told that the older, oil-cooled turbos should be idled after hard driving (e.g. track) because the turbo turns cherry red hot. The same person then said that it's not a concern on modern turbos because it's built to deal with it - don't know how... maybe the fan coming on?