Engine splash guard help

[Carlo]

Hi guys, It is dangerous to drive without the engine splash shield or belly panel(same thing I believe)? Mustang gt premium 2017. Thanks for the help

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[KingKona]

Nah.

Vehicles existed without them forever and a day.

Still, replace it when you get the $$

 

[EFI]

No it's not dangerous at all. Cars have only had full covers like this recently, before that engine bays were fully open underneath for many decades and noone had issues.

 

[Crew4991]

No not dangerous at all as others have already pointed out. If I remember correctly, I think the splash shield is really only used for better aerodynamics and to keep road crud off the bottom of the engine. Simple piece of plastic protection is all it is.

 

[Biggus Dickus]

It's a good idea to have in place. I'd replace ASAP.

 

[ORRadtech]

Are they absolutely necessary, probably not.
Is it unsafe to run without one, eh - it depends on what you're concerned about. They protect from water and debris damaging the engine and accessories. They help with aerodynamics. My assumption is they help keep the nose down. And they have a bit of affect on MPG.

I'll attach a link to an article below.

But first a short story about something that happened to me. A few years ago I owned an '06 Ridgeline. One day, driving to work, I had a sudden loss of oil pressure. When I pulled over I had oil pouring onto the ground. I found the oil filter with a big dent and a 1/4" gash in the side near the bottom. Apparently the front tire had flipped something up from the road and just happened to hit the oil filter. I needed a new filter and 3.5 qts of oil in a 5qt engine. That truck didn't have a shield but the incident makes me not want to run without one if it's supposed to be there.

https://www.mechanicfortmcmurray.co... drive,dry, they offer aerodynamic advantages.

 

[Decosse]

I don't know if it's apples and oranges thing, but after the air dam part of my splash guard on my 2016 was torn off, I started getting a lot of hood flutter at 70+ (live in southwest, so 75 and 80 mph are posted speeds. ahem).
As a matter of fact, the hood flutter started after straddling a "road gator" on a road trip. I had it put on a lift at Ford garage and ended up replacing the whole thing-air dam and splash shield-it is sold as a unit. Hood flutter went away.

 

[HKusp]

The '17 still has a metal oil pan, so not as critical as a first line of defense on the oil pan, but as ORRadtech points out, not a bad idea to run one.

 

[EFI]

They protect from water and debris damaging the engine and accessories.

Sure, but as I mentioned before cars have been driving around without one for decades and nothing really bad happened due to water or debris.

And to go further on the debris part (since you mentioned a truck got damaged from road debris)...the plastic splash shield is not really there for protection from road damage. It's not a skid plate, it's mainly there for water. If something is going to rip through your undercarriage, a little plastic shield ain't gonna stop it. My old GTO had a beefy steel skid plate right under the oil pan, that thing must have been 20lbs and it was a bear to remove. That is for protection, unlike a flimsy plastic piece.

 

[ORRadtech]

It's absolutely not to protect from hard hits like an off road truck needs or even a tall curb. But what's under the Mustang would absolutely have saved my oil filter had the Ridgeline had one.
And you're right, older cars never had them and they were mostly fine.
But modern cars have many times the amount of electronics, wiring harnesses and sensors than those did. I'd rather not take the chance.
Will the OP suffer something catastrophic? Likely not.
Would he be better overall to have it in place? Probably.

 

[illadvised]

Everybody here is wrong. If you just take it off without doing anything else, it is very unsafe

Yours fell off, or you are taking it off? So the thing with that splash guard is that it has 2 holes on each side to hold your wheel well splash guards in place. When you are parked and underneath the car, everything looks fine and dandy. But when you are driving on the freeway, the wind pushes those wheel well splash guards into your tires. Those splash guards get chewed up quick and it will destroy your tires at the same time.

If you just take that piece off without doing anything else, you will need new tires and new wheel well splash guards pretty fucking quick (ask me how I know). The wheel well splash guards are also known as fender liners and are quite cheap when you need aftermarket ones. Tires not so much... mine went down to the banding very fast

You can ziptie the the corner of the wheel splash guards and it will be safe. They are quite flexible and bendy at high speeds though. Mpg will not be as good due to aero, but dirt and rain is not an issue

 

[Carlo]

Thanks for everyone help, mine falling apart for some days and now Is totally gone, I’d just order a new one today, as soon as I get it I’m going to install it. Id better to pay 100 buck for the piece than paying a mechanic to fix electrical components or something related to a hit.

 

[illadvised]

Thanks for everyone help, mine falling apart for some days and now Is totally gone, I’d just order a new one today, as soon as I get it I’m going to install it. Id better to pay 100 buck for the piece than paying a mechanic to fix electrical components or something related to a hit.

I wouldn't drive it around without it. Or if you do, then make sure you zip tie the wheel well splash guards

 

[MAGS1]

Everybody here is wrong. If you just take it off without doing anything else, it is very unsafe

Yours fell off, or you are taking it off? So the thing with that splash guard is that it has 2 holes on each side to hold your wheel well splash guards in place. When you are parked and underneath the car, everything looks fine and dandy. But when you are driving on the freeway, the wind pushes those wheel well splash guards into your tires. Those splash guards get chewed up quick and it will destroy your tires at the same time.

If you just take that piece off without doing anything else, you will need new tires and new wheel well splash guards pretty fucking quick (ask me how I know). The wheel well splash guards are also known as fender liners and are quite cheap when you need aftermarket ones. Tires not so much... mine went down to the banding very fast

You can ziptie the the corner of the wheel splash guards and it will be safe. They are quite flexible and bendy at high speeds though. Mpg will not be as good due to aero, but dirt and rain is not an issue

So long as you put the clips for the wheel well liners back in after removing the belly pan, you’re just fine.

 

[Pistol_91]

Im not huge on plastic coverings. But I do think it's a good idea to have one. Like everyone else said. It's not dangerous without one by any means, unless you drive on gravel roads all day. If you care about the engine bay at all then it's a solid idea to have one. Roads are dirty, all that gunk will eventually be on the bottom of your car. It's a little of a pain to remove with all the screws but it's not bad. Get one

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