Hot doghouse

[allagante]

Hi everybody,
The wife has found a new problem she does not like. We have a 2015 3051S, but this problem is in all E450 motor homes. When she drives or rides in the passenger seat she like to have her leg against he doghouse.
It is hot to the touch and not comfortable to place a leg against. When I drive or ride I do not normally sit in a position where my leg is against the doghouse.
Anybody or everybody have the same problem of a hot doghouse?
Our old motor home also had a E450 chassis (2001 Jamboree) and we never had this problem.
Anybody done a fix or ideas for a fix? Other than this no problems except dealer waiting for parts to replace cosmetic problems from factory and a refrigerator door that does not stay closed while driving (domestic is trying to figure out to replace handle or latch, I said if they can not figure it out send both).
Thanks you any help you have.

[wana65stang]

The only thing you can do is go to a auto speed shop and get some heat mat and add to the inside on the doghouse. The right exhaust manifold runs VERY!!! close to the doghouse hence the heat inside.

[jrwalkerpa1]

Yep. That is common to most all of them unless you put some extra insulation in. I only really notice it when wearing shorts but they do get warm.

There are not as bad as they used to be though. I had a 96 with the ford 460. Had to put a beach Towell over my leg to drive that one 😀

[jonrjen]

It's not just limited to the exhaust manifold putting out excess heat. It has a lot to do with the flow of air around the engine. Due to the design of limited air flow around the motor the heat has extremely limited ability to scrub off heat and it radiates up in the dog house area.

It also doesn't help the passenger much since the dog house is slightly off set into the passengers side food well.

But as stated they are much better now then they were back in the days of the old Econoline Van where the dog house was all metal construction with no insulation. You could fry an egg on one of those.

[HappyGuy]

The best fix I've found for radiant heat from the engine bay is to either pull your exhaust manifolds and down pipes and send them out for a high temp coating or purchase a set of headers. Some headers already come coated while some have to be shipped out to a vendor. If your parts are new many companies will give you a lifetime warranty on the coating but there is no warranty on used parts. Jet Hot has been my coating of choice for no other reason other than I've used their product and it works. There are other companies out there (HPC High PerformanceCoatings) that do the same thing.

Jet-Hot Extreme 2500 | Jet-Hot High Performance Coatings


The coatings make a huge difference. I can put my hand on a coated header and feel the heat immediately after shutting off the engine. It hurts but it won't scald or burn. The same header uncoated in the same situation has stripped the skin right off of my knuckles after an accidental brush.

You can cheap out and buy header wrap but be prepared to pay some extra $$$ down the road to replace the wrapped pipes when they fatigue. Oh, and you can't wrap the manifolds with header wrap...

[harderd]

What about a pipe wrap like the put on choppers and bobbers?

[poorbuthappy]

X2 in the ceramic coating. Used it on a bike, world of difference on heat radiating off of the pipes. Bonus, supposed to flow better after.

[HappyGuy]

Option two is to apply a ceramic coating to the firewall and doghouse directly. The problem is that some of these coating can't hold up to the high heat of the engine bay on the E450 and most folks will need a body shop to apply the coating since it should be prepped and sprayed just like new paint.

Car Ceramic Insulation - Spray On Auto Insulation - Automotive Heat Insulation | LizardSkin

[allagante]

Thanks for all the ideas. Now just need a reason to have to take the doghouse out because it is probably a lot of work. Any information from anybody that has done that?

[HappyGuy]

The Doghouse is held on with four clips and comes out in under five minutes. I pulled mine on my 2013 and found that there is already a large amount of insulation as well as a reflective barrier on the doghouse interior. Adding any additional insulation would likely negate the effectiveness of the reflective surface resulting in more heat transference and it might bring the new insulation into contact with the engine resulting in a potential fire hazard. Based on what I saw in my doghouse I wouldn't recommend a spray. My wife has complained about the same thing and the only option I see is to yank the exhaust manifolds and get them coated. That or add 50 lb ft of torque and 30 HP with a new set of coated Banks Torque tubes. Jegs sells the headers for about 1200.00 and I got a quote of 720.00 plus shipping from jethot to coat the headers. So that power wouldn't come cheap Coating the manifolds and Y pipe would cost much less and should easily give you a 30 degree drop in doghouse temp.

[AquaMan]

I would tell her to not put her leg against the doghouse. Problem solved.

[wana65stang]

Thats what I did with mine, ( Its hot when I put my leg there, well then DON"T!!!)

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by AquaMan

I would tell her to not put her leg against the doghouse. Problem solved.

Or carpet or insulate the outside and cover the insulating material.

[CJnDD]

We had noticed this problem when we first purchased our 2012 Forester. We were on our "practice" campout making notes of things that needed fixing. Our dealer took our notes and fixed them all...they added insulation to the right side of doghouse...much better...I can rest my leg there now.

[bclemens]

Or move to the back area. You can't drink forward of the cab area.

[poppytoymaker]

I took note of that and ordered mine with the Chevy chassis, more room.