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.
You act like the bottom of a car is hermetically sealed.
These things act as deflectors for debris and channel airflow better. There may be nominal protection for belts, but that’s not a massive factor given most belts are behind the fan and aren’t likely going to take damage or get damaged. Particularly given the break angle from the underside of the car and where these things are positioned… neither this photo, nor the person’s attitude, connote that this is a performance vehicle.
Few non-aircooled cars require flashing for cooling, either. Older Porsches (993s and prior), aircooled VWs, Corvairs, and other aircooled cars need proper flashing to vent and restrict airflow. Water-cooled rely more on the radiator, thermostat, and fan.
Edit: typos and shit.
Don’t really see a major disagreement here other than the direction of primary exposure, belts some how being protected behind a fan when the main exposure is from the sides, etc. Puddles have a lot more corrosion potential than rain/snow. Point isn’t to seal, that’s unrealistic, but rather to deflect enough that every puddle isn’t pressure washing your engine bay with salt water. An example car where this was a major issue was a 97 galant, which had the crank shaft low and in alignment with the water jet from the driver side tire. There was a splash shield that directly intercepted the inner spray. I would classify that case as more than nominal protection.
Edit: Maybe you’re working mostly on RWD cars, could explain our misunderstanding. I mostly work on FWD Sedans and AWD SUVs
I have both. I also worked as a mechanic for many years. I realized that I was exhausted with this conversation, so I don’t feel like discussing it anymore.
OP is fine.