A while back, I went to one of those corporate places for an oil change. They fucked up putting the metal thing back on the undercarriage, but a family member told me it would be okay without that. So I’ve been driving without the metal protective layer thing.
This fell off sometime on my drive home from work. We are currently experiencing tornadoes, so I can’t examine it too closely at the moment. It appears that it was just zip tied back on…
I am dead broke - my money this month has to go to car insurance, I can’t even afford registration at this point.
Can I just rip it off? I need an oil change soon, but I’m going to try to stretch it out a month or so.
Yeah, it’s fine. If that is the part I think it is, it’s a cover for the bottom of your engine - not strictly needed (my previous car didn’t even have one when new).
It somewhat protects your cars nether regions from minor damage from rocks and similar, but for the average driver it doesn’t do much - Most debris that would damage your engine would also easily pierce through the cover.
There is an aerodynamic component at play here, but it’s not critical. It might also shield your cars innards and prevent turbulent airflow to reduce noise, but again; not critical