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most engine bays will be stock for the most part as the majority of the folks here don't do too many engine mods outside of intake, headers, strut tower bars, and coilovers. there are exciting ones like 1JZ swap or a supercharger but they are only one or two members with such.
Toyota apparently told the Plastic cover engineers to go ape***** on the newer ones, as an LS460 looks like a toy under the hood. My 95 at least looks somewhat impressive and well thought out under the hood... but i wouldn't be proud to show this off unless a few of those covers were gone:
And hides the oil leaks and other problems that you now can't see because everything is all covered up. Wonder what the labor charge is to remove/replace all the plastics that don't serve any real purpose?
I think the engine undercover would hide and oil leak more than those top covers. You would smell coolant without having to remove covers. I have no need to look at the engine unless I'm trying to locate a problem and then I would be removing covers anyway. You have to remove the top cover and air inlet if you want to see anything on the LS400 anyway......
Toyota apparently told the Plastic cover engineers to go ape***** on the newer ones, as an LS460 looks like a toy under the hood. My 95 at least looks somewhat impressive and well thought out under the hood... but i wouldn't be proud to show this off unless a few of those covers were gone
Well all the plastic covers help reduce engine noise in the cabin and outside the car.
Plus, I'm pretty sure the people buying a $70k+ ultra luxury barge are of at all concerned with what the engine looks like... The fact that virtually every luxury and even typical car manufacturer is going the way of more and more plastic covering also says that you are a minority in the car buying market.
The covers take seconds to pop off on my dads 2013 LS460, not like it's an extra 1hr to remove them or something ridiculous.
Can we clean engine bay with water?
Mine is very dirty!
Need to be careful...I've always washed my cars with simple green and then followed up with spraying them off with water, either power wash or hose... but on two Lexus LS400 cars I've gotten water where you're not supposed to. Into the spark plug tubes which caused rough idling and into the intake valley with the starter causing a no start condition. Of course, I was washing with the covers off.
I don't have good stories for you and at this point I don't recommend it. Others have said yes with a very hot engine and keep it running and use a power washer as the volume of water is less.