I was driving in Bellevue on a normal street not even speeding, when all of a sudden I bottomed out on a very slight slope. Later the next day I heard a weird noise so I pulled over to find that part of the plastic in the front middle was dragging. Question, if I pull this off and don't replace it right away do I risk doing any damage to the engine? How expensive do you think this will be to fix? Thanks for any input.
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Which plastic peice? The air dam, front spash shileds... theres a few under there... -
I don't know the name of it, it's behind the front lip of the bumper, it's about 1.5 feet long by 2-2.5 feet wide. I think it just protects the engine from water, maybe?Comment
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I was driving in Bellevue on a normal street not even speeding, when all of a sudden I bottomed out on a very slight slope. Later the next day I heard a weird noise so I pulled over to find that part of the plastic in the front middle was dragging. Question, if I pull this off and don't replace it right away do I risk doing any damage to the engine? How expensive do you think this will be to fix? Thanks for any input.
All of my front undertray is gone. It fell off after a chance meeting with a set of cement stairs. I had to rig up some radio backstraps to hold the rest of the stuff together(brake ducts)
Car does not run any different temps, still right in the middle.
I wonder about highspeed stability as the factory piece has a roll to it that has to be there for a reason.
Mine has been off for about 5000 miles.Comment
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very, very common. most people (like me)just took it off, and haven't replaced it. you can get an aluminum one from JT I believe....or do nothing.Comment
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very, very common. most people (like me)just took it off, and haven't replaced it. you can get an aluminum one from JT I believe....or do nothing.
You can take off the front one AND the splash guards in the wheel wells too? I just had the ones inside my wheel wells rebolted to the body of the car b/c it was hanging loose.Comment
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Mine fell off and dragged for like an hour without me finding out.Comment
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Hows it going bro? I've just joined the forum, so not sure if you lot are in UK or US, I'm in UK. I lost my undertray a little way back. Was doing 145MPH on motorway and road dipped a bit, then Crunch, stopped and had a look and one side was totally hanging down and half of it had disintegrated from rubbing on tarmac. Anyway, I had something else come from underneath and hit some sort of pipe which gave it an oil leak. Took it mechanics and was told whatever I had hit had sheered a pipe and I got oil all over engine as well, fan had sprayed it everywhere, looked really messy, thank god no bad damage was done, In short mate, get it replaced, or you might get something hit stuff thats not protected by the under tray.
regards
KashComment
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Mines been off for a good while, maybe 8k. Nothing that i would blame it for, but then again if you look at a thread i just started, my car just started overheating, have to take it to mechanics and get it checked out to see if i could or should blame the underpanel.Comment
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I know I should know this one.. but do our cars have a lower engine cover? I have haerd varying stories from all over the place about that....
I don't think the E36 has a lower cover that goes all the way under the engine, like the E46's do.Comment
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Without the panels under your car, you are creating a low pressure area right underneath the radiator. The air that's supposed to reach the radiator will just bypass it and in turn will make your car run hotter. The panels are there for a reason. Replace them or you could be chasing problems down the line.
DougComment
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Without the panels under your car, you are creating a low pressure area right underneath the radiator. The air that's supposed to reach the radiator will just bypass it and in turn will make your car run hotter. The panels are there for a reason. Replace them or you could be chasing problems down the line.
Doug
Exactly - you can put the panel from a 325 on the car if you want as well. It doesn't sit as low so it has a better chance of not getting ripped off by and dips, etc... The piece is also called a "front air dam" by the stealership, it was ~$110 from the dealer. I found that mine didnt rip off b/c the plastic ripped, rather the cheap ass plastic inserts that connect to the frame rails pulled out. I had to go back to the dealer to get those before I could put it all back together. I also used zip-ties to hold all of the plastic pieces together under there. I didnt trust those little plastic type screws anymore after having the thing rip off at 130 or so.Comment
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My undertray blew off when I was doing about 120. It sprayed sparks and little pieces of plastic behind for about a mile. It ground about half of the thing off. My buddy thought my car exploded.Comment
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My undertray blew off when I was doing about 120. It sprayed sparks and little pieces of plastic behind for about a mile. It ground about half of the thing off. My buddy thought my car exploded.
If it was making sparks you did more thae damage the under panel!! There is no metal on that what so ever.Comment
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It could have been one of the screws holding the panels on causing the sparks.
DougComment
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