I'm not sure. that's what I'm worried about.
|
|
|
I would replace it but get the replacement from a scrapyard. I nearly drove in to a 'pond' in the middle of the road this morning at 3am. If you accidentally go through a big puddle and you get warnings flash up on the dash further down the road because the water's got somewhere it shouldn't, you will wish you replaced it. :o)
As a general rule whenever something drops off of my banger I do try and stick it back on again. Bad practice not to!
|
|
Lost the one on my Xsara within the first couple of months, drove it for 4 years after that with no problem whatsoever. Do you mean the sort of plastic cover under the engine? My feeling was that it was more for sound-proofing than water-proofing.
|
Yes, thats the one. Its kind of like a thick spongeboard cased in plastic.
Whisky, I didn't know there was two the one that came off does indeed appear to be under the oils sump as it was soaked in thick black gunge. There are no leaks though as far as I can see.
Edited by GreasyGringo on 27/05/2008 at 12:19
|
|
|
|
There are 2 boards underneath the 406, one under the engine at the front and one further back. I only have the front one on mine, took the rear one off as it got on my nerves when when changing oil etc. That was about 3 years ago and it hasn't made a difference and I have gone throuh some big puddles (small boy syndrome jumping in puddles etc).
I have noticed recently just how many of the front boards on 406's are hanging down, the cause is not the crazy 90 degree twist screws that hold then on but the clips these screws go into are rusting away to nothing. I actually changed mine this weekend on the front board, picked 10 clips up for £2.95 on ebay, was a quick 2 minute job.
|
|
I can just see it being added to the "weekly checks" for 406s and 407s - check the clips which hold the splash boards are still tight! ;)
|
They are inclined to improve aerodynamics. Take them off and your petrol consumption goes up.
|
I agree, I believe these covers under the engine are to improve aerodynamics but I also believe they don't do much good.
I had one on my old shape Ford Maverick. When you went off road it filled up with so much mud and silt that the extra weight probably knocked fuel consumption.
I was forever taking it off to give it a good clean.
When I replaced the Maverick with a Nissan Terrano 2, same car basically, they'd given up fitting the wretched thing.
Another interesting point re these covers. My friend has the latest model Diesel Golf and to access the sump plug you need to remove one of these covers. We took it off the other day looking for a leak or something and it was obvious that it had never been removed before, neither had the sump plug. VW dealers must do oil changes by sucking the oil out through the dipstick hole. Is this such a good idea?
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 27/05/2008 at 14:42
|
|
The splashguard on my MK3 golf was supposed to prtect the PAS belt, sometimes it didn't, causing the PAS to temporarily turn off in wet weather.
Edited by maltrap on 27/05/2008 at 15:53
|
>Whisky, I didn't know there was two the one that came off does indeed appear to be under
>the oils sump as it was soaked in thick black gunge. There are no leaks though as far as I
>can see
Mines an 2002 model so maybe they are slightly different although I can't see why it would be, you should be able to tell if it had the second cover if there are 4 extra clips further back, although its quite restricted clearance that far back. Without looking under mine to check (its wet :-) ) the second cover started around the back of the front suspension. Think the front cover kind of locked into it, so the back had to come off to get the front off (IIRC thats the very reason why my back cover is in the shed).
|
|
|
|
|
