Survey Says Scariest Part of the Engine Is the Plastic Cover?
Haynes Manuals has suggestions of what to do with that pesky plastic.
The truth is, most people don’t work on their own cars. Even if it’s as simple as changing the oil, the average Joe would rather take his car to Jiffy Lube than take some time to learn how to do it themselves. With this in mind, the people over at Haynes Manuals, the world’s leading publisher of vehicle repair content, decided to do a survey to find out what is actually preventing people from working on their own cars. The answer will surprise you.
Apparently, the main thing stopping people from working under the hood is that damn plastic engine cover. You know, the thing that’s supposed to make your engine look clean and attractive? To most people, it might as well be some sort of medieval torture device because they’re not touching it. The reason given by those surveyed for not wanting to touch the plastic cover is they are scared to break the cover and void their warranty. It’s a sad state of affairs when most of the general public is scared to touch a flimsy piece of plastic. If you listen closely you hear is everyone’s grandfathers being utterly disappointed that their family members are afraid to get their hands dirty.
“You won’t fix what you can’t see,” says J Haynes, CEO of Haynes Publishing. “Most people don’t realize that removing a few simple screws will provide easy access to undercover workings of their engine and allow them to work on their own cars and save lots of hard-earned money. We say there’s no need to fear the plastic engine cover.”
Worst part of the plastic cover is that it actually doesn’t serve any purpose. You can remove it and your vehicle would be just fine. It’s more of a cosmetic addition. So, Haynes suggests to actually remove the cover and put it to actual use. As you can see in the accompanying pictures, this silly piece of plastic can serve many purposes, such as becoming an interesting serving tray that will no doubt draw the attention of local hipster foodies. They also recommend using it as a new litter box for your cat or as a very chic piece of modern art.
The moral of the story is clear, don’t be intimidated by a stupid piece of plastic. Take it off and explore a little bit. Who knows? You might just save yourself some money.