The 2004 to 2007 TSX belly pan can be a pain. The oil filter spills oil all over and you have to remove it, at least partially, to service the transmission.
Is the belly pan essential ?
- Thread starter andrew_j
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This girl seemed to have trouble with it.
Its not essential but very nice to have. Keeps salt and water out of your engine bay.
If its not too bad you can use use a drill to drill some holes around the breaks and stitch it together with zip ties. If it's really mangled I'd try to find a used one because they generally run $300+.
If its not too bad you can use use a drill to drill some holes around the breaks and stitch it together with zip ties. If it's really mangled I'd try to find a used one because they generally run $300+.
If it's a U-shaped belly pan that also acts as the lower half of the fender liner, I'd say it's wise to keep. Or if it protects electrical components.
Other than that, as experienced by a bunch here, pans/covers beyond the engine bay are nothing but problems for dirt road travelers or rust belt drivers.
They pack and hold onto so much dirt that electronics and what ever is above them get encapsulated and ruined or the pan just gets so overloaded it sags down and falls off anyway.
Other than that, as experienced by a bunch here, pans/covers beyond the engine bay are nothing but problems for dirt road travelers or rust belt drivers.
They pack and hold onto so much dirt that electronics and what ever is above them get encapsulated and ruined or the pan just gets so overloaded it sags down and falls off anyway.
The pan got ripped and appears to be around $150 shipped and shares part number with 2013 Civic.
Just need to figure out all the fasteners involved.
Just need to figure out all the fasteners involved.
I've repaired -- or at least salvaged and improved -- a '14 Rogue and an '09 Rav4 with nutserts.
I've said elsewhere I feel a bit hack-ish using 1/4-20 on foreign stuff (I've got a big bag of them and it's easy) but you can get M6 or M8. Use stainless bolts and a little antiseize if in a rust prone area. Source fender washers to spread the load on the plastic guard. If you wanna get really fancy you might be able to find flange head bolts with an extra large flange -- not sure......or OEM bolts sometimes have a large dia free-spinning washer for certain body parts.
I've said elsewhere I feel a bit hack-ish using 1/4-20 on foreign stuff (I've got a big bag of them and it's easy) but you can get M6 or M8. Use stainless bolts and a little antiseize if in a rust prone area. Source fender washers to spread the load on the plastic guard. If you wanna get really fancy you might be able to find flange head bolts with an extra large flange -- not sure......or OEM bolts sometimes have a large dia free-spinning washer for certain body parts.
The belly pan is essential. At speed, air from underneath the vehicle collects under hood and can create a high pressure zone behind the condenser/radiator stack, thereby lowering airflow through.
I've heard of NA/NB Miata's struggling to maintain operating temperatures due to not having a belly pan. All car models will react differently however.
Also, don't treat the car like a slob. Replace it.
I've heard of NA/NB Miata's struggling to maintain operating temperatures due to not having a belly pan. All car models will react differently however.
Also, don't treat the car like a slob. Replace it.
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FWIW: I removed the damaged and oily belly pan on my 2003 Passat 1.8t and live in northern Maine where we have 6 months of winter...no joke. The car is still rust free and has well north of 300k on it past time I saw the guy I sold it to locally.
I bought the car wrecked in 2006 and didn't want to save and have to remove the pan for servicing stuff.
It consistently got 34mpg all on T6 5w-40
I bought the car wrecked in 2006 and didn't want to save and have to remove the pan for servicing stuff.
It consistently got 34mpg all on T6 5w-40
Search the different sites by part#. I just went by 2.0L engine size on a search. 1st link was AcuraPartsWarehouse that showed pictures and #'s. If you just need the aluminum parts they are like $30 on many sites including parts geek.
HondaFactoryParts with same part#
Crazy I was just thinking about posting a thread about this!
Had to take ours off of the CX-9 and had contemplated whether I wanted to put it back on. The only reason I was even thinking about it was because half of the fasteners are 10 mm bolts the other half are those stupid center pop out snaps and they don't seem to work very well. I don't know why they didn't just do all of them the 10 mm bolts would be so much easier.
Anyways reading this thread makes me think I will just put it back on after I do one more drain and fill on the transmission
Had to take ours off of the CX-9 and had contemplated whether I wanted to put it back on. The only reason I was even thinking about it was because half of the fasteners are 10 mm bolts the other half are those stupid center pop out snaps and they don't seem to work very well. I don't know why they didn't just do all of them the 10 mm bolts would be so much easier.
Anyways reading this thread makes me think I will just put it back on after I do one more drain and fill on the transmission
Cars never had belly pans till recently and never heard of a rock taking out an oil filter. As for mpg, I doubt you will ever recover the cost of a new pan with mpg. My daughter did the same thing, lost the belly pan about 9 years ago on her 2008 VW jetta Se. Currently it has 185k miles so I really dont think it has too much effect. I wouldnt remove it if it was there, but wouldnt loose sleep if I lost it.
Road debris certainly could come up and hit the oil filter, rock or otherwise. I'm not saying it will happen but it's possible, just something to consider. If it didn't serve a good purpose manufactures would not spend the money to install them, cost cutting and all.
It happens…
My sister-in-law was driving a Chevy Uplander and a chunk of concrete in the middle of the lane appeared… fell off the back of a demolition trailer. Hit the oil filter and sheared it off at highway speed. She didn’t know until a minute or so later (probably assuming it hit the undercarriage and wasn’t critical). It was. The V6 engine didn’t like oil-free operation and made noise until she killed it.
Towed it back and engine was trashed. We put in a salvage engine and she gave it to a down on her luck friend who ran it until the transmission failed. I told them don’t bother fixing the heap, but just junk it. It’s likely crushed and recycled by now.
My sister-in-law was driving a Chevy Uplander and a chunk of concrete in the middle of the lane appeared… fell off the back of a demolition trailer. Hit the oil filter and sheared it off at highway speed. She didn’t know until a minute or so later (probably assuming it hit the undercarriage and wasn’t critical). It was. The V6 engine didn’t like oil-free operation and made noise until she killed it.
Towed it back and engine was trashed. We put in a salvage engine and she gave it to a down on her luck friend who ran it until the transmission failed. I told them don’t bother fixing the heap, but just junk it. It’s likely crushed and recycled by now.