Necessary shield?

Just had. work done, needed rear bearing...oil change was one of the things they did. Left shop, returned, told them I could hear a sound like something dragging. They put it on lift, found nothing. 2 days later ( today) sound noticeable louder. I looked under front end. A plastic shield which seems to have covered bottom of engine, was disconnected and the noise was this cover hitting ground when I went over bumps. Anyway the shield is falling off. Should I just remove it? I'm told it may impact cooling? Could mechanic have removed shield to change filter?

Filter is accessed from top, but he had to remove it to drain the engine oil.

Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk

Unless they used a suction method to drain the oil. More than likely though they removed the lower plate to drain the oil and then didn't replace it properly. They should be on the hook for getting it back in place. If it is damaged from dragging they should replace it. You should look into a skid plate as well to protect the engine. Something like this.

https://www.dieselgeek.com/products/mk4-panzer-plate-heavy-duty-aluminum-skid-plate-kit

I'm seriously considering buying a 2014 diesel...don't want to put much more into this car. I'm torn because I've put about 2,500.00 into this car in last year or so. It runs perfect (except for this shield) only issue is dented door and speakers should be replaced. I use it every day. My 2 concerns: How much longer will this be available and how much can I really expect to get for an '01 with 160k miles.....its been suggested I keep this one, but that will mean I have 3 cars....seems excessive , but one is a work van and I need it for hauling building materials

You won't lose anything by keeping it then. Service parts should be available for some time. Other parts (new) are getting close to their lifespan (interior plastic parts for one). I would consider getting the 2014 or 2015 and just use this one for the time being to keep the miles off the other one. When something big happens you can always let it go.

kathie659 said:

Just had. work done, needed rear bearing...oil change was one of the things they did. Left shop, returned, told them I could hear a sound like something dragging. They put it on lift, found nothing. 2 days later ( today) sound noticeable louder. I looked under front end. A plastic shield which seems to have covered bottom of engine, was disconnected and the noise was this cover hitting ground when I went over bumps. Anyway the shield is falling off. Should I just remove it? I'm told it may impact cooling? Could mechanic have removed shield to change filter?

Click to expand...

I had mine rip off a while back after hitting something in the road. I remembereplaced with an aluminum plate off of idparts. The plate is good but it was missing the rivnuts so I welded the brackets on. This is on an a6. You don't want to leave your bottom part exposed.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

I discarded the plastic bottom plates on all mine when the platesw came loose and started dragging. Many hundred thousand miles without any problems

Shield was really important on older Golfs, which seemed to drop oil pans faster than coeds' panties at a Beatles concert. I haven't heard or seen any Golfs after 2006 dropping oil pans because of road damage.

That being said, I still put a Rennline on mine.

It should be said that the factory plastic lower cover offers zero protection for the
oil pan beyond reducing potential corrosion. Minor dirt and stone impact maybe...

My old 2003 Beetle oil pan was only one key fob length off the ground, and that with a new stock suspension just in. Scraped a hole in it on a rutted road less than 1/2 hour after getting it fixed. Had to take it directly back to runonbeer for a new pan. Full armor plate after that.

It will be louder in the drive through lanes without it. It keeps crap off the bottom, like flying debris that slapped the wires to my AC compressor.

My formerly owned 2000 Jetta hasn't had the bottom plastic shield on it in about 10 years and 250k miles ... Side skirts, yes!

The ALH in my Vanagon (mounted in the rear) stays rather clean without a bottom shield but I did install side skirts..