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I was talking with a fella while at the local mower junkyard, (he's lookin for a hood for his machine ) anyway he asked if it would hurt to use the machine without the hood.
My Murray is my first riding mower and I really don't know the answer to that ...... seems other than the dust and dirt , it should'nt be a problem , he stated he read somewhere it would cause over-heating problems , HUH ??? Anyone know anything about this .......... ???? ......... ........... Thanks much, .......Boobala

Boobala said:

I was talking with a fella while at the local mower junkyard, (he's lookin for a hood for his machine ) anyway he asked if it would hurt to use the machine without the hood.
My Murray is my first riding mower and I really don't know the answer to that ...... seems other than the dust and dirt , it should'nt be a problem , he stated he read somewhere it would cause over-heating problems , HUH ??? Anyone know anything about this .......... ???? ......... ........... Thanks much, .......Boobala

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Common practice to put vents in the top of the hood with a duct to the debris guard on the mower engine.
Thoery goes that cooler cleaner will be pulled in through the top of he hood and forced out the bottom of the mower.
This prevents hot air hitting the mower floor running along to the firewall being blown up the firewall then back across the top of the engine and sucked back down through the debris screen.

Then there is the noise issue the hood can help to direct noise away from the operator.

OTOH you will not do any dmage running the engine without a hood except yo might need to clean around the fins a bit more often

You won't hurt it at all. Most hoods are not duct type anyway, and in some cases the hood side shields have actually caused overheating problems on some mowers.

I refer to the hood and side shields as cosmetics, because that is what they are.

It won't hurt anything not using a hood. It actually allows more air flow to the engine.

If the hood was designed to direct cooler air by all means install it. If the air surrounding the air pump is 120°F without the hood and 98°F intake air with the hood it doesn't take a rocket scientist to determine that little hot engine is better off with the hood and will see a cooler oil temperature. Heat kills these things no matter the favorite brand.

I have a couple of customers that run their mower without the hood on. I have never seen any damage from doing so. I personally think it looks like a pile of junk and wouldn't do so on anything I own. They are the ones that have look at it not me.

reynoldston said:

I have a couple of customers that run their mower without the hood on. I have never seen any damage from doing so. I personally think it looks like a pile of junk and wouldn't do so on anything I own. They are the ones that have look at it not me.

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Mine is designed to run with the hood and it may not bother it to be without, but this old man isn't going to mow above 85°F outdoor ambient either. Possibly ride it to the mail box when 102° but not mow.

SeniorCitizen said:

Mine is designed to run with the hood and it may not bother it to be without, but this old man isn't going to mow above 85ｰF outdoor ambient either. Possibly ride it to the mail box when 102ｰ but not mow.

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This old man doesn't like the looks of a mower without a hood on it and sure wouldn't be seen riding one to my mail box on one. Maybe in the back yard in back of my house so no one can see it, just to try one out. Just doesn't look good for business.

That's right. We must be in style to ride to the mail box.:thumbsup: Some days there are as many as 10 vehicles, including farm equipment, traveling down my dirt road and I sure don't wanna be seen without my hood :laughing: so it's hood on for me, always.

No lika da heat? Put on an oil cooler and drop oil operating temperature from 300F to 240F. Old soap box theme.:laughing:

SeniorCitizen said:

That's right. We must be in style to ride to the mail box.:thumbsup: Some days there are as many as 10 vehicles, including farm equipment, traveling down my dirt road and I sure don't wanna be seen without my hood :laughing: so it's hood on for me, always.

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very smart move