Red paint on front of engine.

I recently purchased a low mileage 2000 M1045A2 with the 6.5 and 4L80E. The front of the engine pulleys etc are painted red. Rather sloppily done. Anyone know why this is or if it means anything? I've seen a few others with the red pulleys.

Everyone knows red paint lets you go faster. Discovered by Enzo Ferrari.

My grandad would also joke that red socks keep your feet warmer in Winter. So maybe winter advantages?

I’ve never seen any documentation about red engines before.

Best,

T

I am guessing ??? it is someones idea to spray "red rust-oleum" on the cast / bare steel parts after a rebuild. It say's front end is done sign off. Quick and dirty, MTCW

Who cares at 37 MPH with the hood down, CAMO

Ive seen that, too.

I also wondered what it was about and it seemed to be mostly on serpentine belted engines missing the belt. My guess is it was done to warn that the belt was missing, or to not start the engine or something like that???

The red is a protective spray used to ward off corosion during long term storage. Same as the foil on the intakes, exhaust tips, winshield wiper pivots, etc.

Hi

If the fan blade tips were painted red, I would have suspected safety warning turning part. Fan blade tips on all my engines are painted for that reason.

The painted to protect from corrosion during long term storage, makes way to much sense to be the reason.

Cheers Phil

Desomodromic has the correct answer. Do a search for mil standard 3003 (B) to learn preservation methods used when storing rolling stock long term. The paint will wear off after a short period of use. We preserved a lot of HMMWV's where I work at because the decision to rebuild versus adopt the new J.L.T.V. was still up in the air.

My best guess was belt dressing since its not on all of them.

Mine has it too and storage would make sense; an 01 w/ 2700 mi on the clock