Most cars are now fitted with an undertray. It makes servicing a bit of a pain with siezed bolts and several fasteners to remove to get to sump drain
plugs and oil filters. For many years now I have bought cars just over 3 years old as they cost a lot less than new and often with very low
mileages.
A few years ago a Citroen Pluriel for my wife which had 20k miles and 3 main dealer services. It's replacement a couple of weeks ago, a DS3
Cabrio with 16k miles on a 16 plate with, again, 3 main dealer services from Citroen Chingford, the last 4k miles ago. And then I serviced my
daughters 15 plate DS3 Cabrio with 38k miles and 4 main dealer services.
In all cases the undertray was missing. In all cases the captive (spire) nuts were in good condition indicatiing that the undertrays had deliberately
been left off.
Is this just a coincidence or is this a more general issue?
Last car I bought (57 plate VW Passat at 3 yrs old) had the under tray present, but my friendly independent VW specialist changed the cam belt and
forgot to refit the under tray. As it happened they phoned me the next day and ask me to pop back so they could refit.
I can however imagine mechanics choosing to leave them of if they see the car regularly to save time on the next job.
I'm sure they have aero and splash benefits, but they do take time to remove and refit.
With the cars I have owned, removing the undertray has been easy. For instance, Focus Mk2 - remove 8 or nine screws with no difficulty at all, slide
tray to release front end and drop, reverse to replace. I had that car from when it was 12 months old, until it was 10 years old and never had any
problem removing the screws.
Never more than 2 minutes to do.
[Edited on 28/3/20 by SteveWalker]
Personally not really had too many problems with undertrays, I always refit them as they keep the engine bay much cleaner.
Cheers
Davie
Thanks for the replies, I don't find an issue with removing and replacing undertrays myself but it does annoy me that some very expensive main dealers allow their lazy 'technicians' to fail to replace an undertray as they either forget or want to make the next service a very few minutes less work. What else do they 'forget'?
The older citroen's used a cheapo copy of a dsus fastener that often fall out in use and rattle or leave the tray dragging the road, later cars
use several kinds of spire nut which usually corrode, sieze in and rip the plastic out of the wheel arch liners, or spin around in the crossmember and
require grinding off.
I would agree main dealers either just chuck the tray away after this, or give you a price for new wheel arch liners and fittings that will make your
eyes water.
I usually drill a couple holes and zip tie together on the side fittings, not ideal but doesn't cost the customer anything and won't fall
off.
Quite a few petrol models don't have a undertray fitted at all, so that could be why the fittings aren't broken.
Dave
Frustrates me that manufacturers always use cheap, easily corroding fasteners in a place of maximum spray and salt impact.
Had to buy a new undertray for the tin top as it was missing when I got it. Nice sheet alu one cost me 140+vat, the Nissan original was 340 something
from the dealer.
quote:
Originally posted by obfripper
Is this because they are mainly fitted to reduce drive by noise ? my last car didnt have one fitted when i got it and the present one i removed it when i first serviced the car and have never got around to refitting it as the fixings were suspect.I havent really had any issues with road dirt under the bonnet that it would have prevented.
Paul.
Quite a few petrol models don't have a undertray fitted at all, so that could be why the fittings aren't broken.
Dave
Does any one actually believe that "some garages" actually do anything on a service ?
As I don't, they just take the money, and put a stamp in the book!
I know this might sound harsh, but I do not believe much is done to a car on a service, just my opinion, and I do have some
evidence to collaborate this,
My mother is fastidious with her cars, and the "servants car" a 18k 16plate Vauxhall corsa, HAD to be mot 'd and serviced, despite it
only doing 3 miles since last years MOT, and when it was done last year had a full main dealer service, she has had the car from brand new, and has
been serviced at least 3 times, all the same main stealer
Anyway, in another post, I had to sort the car out, and it ran like a pig, misfire the lot, bad fuel being the obvious one ( a year old) But no, the
fuel was ok, and did burn, so I changed the plugs, 3 were GM original probably from new, and one was a rusty manky Bosch plug, that did not look as
though it was in the right place as the plug hole was spotlessly clean
I was going to take the evidence down to the the main stealer, and still have the plugs. but now with the current goings on, it isn't worth the
hassle, but either the main dealer changed the 3 plugs last year, or it was built like this from the start, either isn't inconceivable
I would not take a car to a main stealer at all
steve
quote:
Originally posted by steve m
Does any one actually believe that "some garages" actually do anything on a service ?
As I don't, they just take the money, and put a stamp in the book!
I know this might sound harsh, but I do not believe much is done to a car on a service, just my opinion, and I do have some
evidence to collaborate this,
steve