I posted this over on 'Escape City', but thought I'd post it here as well, to see if anyone here had and ideas:
2003 Mazda Tribute LX V-6, 123k miles.
When I bought it about a year ago, I looked under it, checking for rust. Floor pans were good, the only rust I could see was heavy, flaky rust on what looked to be a metal sheild over the plastic(?) gas tank. I figured it was no big deal, just some surface rust on a sheild over the tank.
Fast forward to yesterday - I'm walking away from my vehicle, and something is hanging down below the car on the drivers side near the back door. Get down there and look at it, and the sheild has rusted so bad it's broken in half, and is starting to hang down.
At some point soon, I will have this taken off. so it doesn't catch on anything. Question about this: can what's left of this sheild/guard just be taken off, and that be that - the tank just doesn't have metal sheild over it, OR, do I have to get the sheuld replaced, as it is a structural part of the tank?
Would love to hear what you know, or if others have had this happen.
2003 Mazda Tribute LX V-6, 123k miles.
When I bought it about a year ago, I looked under it, checking for rust. Floor pans were good, the only rust I could see was heavy, flaky rust on what looked to be a metal sheild over the plastic(?) gas tank. I figured it was no big deal, just some surface rust on a sheild over the tank.
Fast forward to yesterday - I'm walking away from my vehicle, and something is hanging down below the car on the drivers side near the back door. Get down there and look at it, and the sheild has rusted so bad it's broken in half, and is starting to hang down.
At some point soon, I will have this taken off. so it doesn't catch on anything. Question about this: can what's left of this sheild/guard just be taken off, and that be that - the tank just doesn't have metal sheild over it, OR, do I have to get the sheuld replaced, as it is a structural part of the tank?
Would love to hear what you know, or if others have had this happen.
