Bent Metal 'thing' hanging from bottom of car, you name the part
 

It snowed two feet today and I drove over what may have been a large chunk of ice and heard a loud thud. Late in the day I noticed the car was bottoming out sometimes, looked underneath and saw this 4" wide black metal thing hanging down to about 2" from the road. Jacked it up and banged it back up into place. Photos taken are after I moved it back up. It is under the tranny on the driver side, past the wheels. It extends up into the engine compartment and I cant see anymore of it. My concern is the notch at the end, if anyone can identify what it is...Im afraid something was ripped off the car. If anyone wants to look under their car for this part and see if there was any more to it, that would be nice. Thanks guys.

This is the best pic of it I have:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48...axx/246246.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48...axx/346356.jpg

it could be your heat sheild.

Air deflector for tranny. Just beat it back up, not the best design or location.

Allright, I was hoping since the car still ran right nothing was broken off...but it still was pretty suprising to see a thick piece of metal pointing at the ground under my car, I pounded it back with the car jacked up, it was a pain in the a$$. Thanks.

mines also sticks out and scapes the ground on my driveway..

That's funny, I had the same thing happen. I always wondered what the heck that metal piece was.

WOW 2 feet of snow already.

It's to shovel snow off your driveway, saw it in the owners manual! :eek: :shiner: :eek:

BUMP...

I ran over a "roadkill" this morning and when I looked under the car, I saw the same "metal" thinh hanging down towards the ground. My questions is, if I wont fix this right now, would it pose a problem later on?

Thanks guys and sorry for resurrecting this thread.

I don't think that this is a "problem," it is just a bad design and it's how it's supposed to be imo. I looked under my car and it was like that and I looked under a few other 6th gens and they had the same exact thing! :gotme: but I think it's just supposed to be there...

dan

thanks! but are u saying the metal is designed to point down towards the ground? if so then i dont really have to "push it back", correct?

that's what my dad and I concluded after looking under another 6th gen and seeing the same exact thing.

Perfect timing!

My daughter and I changed the oil on my car today and saw the same thing! I wondered what it was. The only thing I can think of was that it was designed to cool the tranny.

And Voila`, that's exactly what it is! What awesome timing.

If you look under a 6thgen 6-speed, it isn't there. At least it isn't under my neighbor's car. I assume it wasn't there because it is a different tranny altogether.

So glad you pulled this thing from the dead!

Thanks,

Swee

I dont know if its the same piece you guys are talking about, but I used to have a metal piece (about 1" by 1") that was sticking out from the rest of the underbody and my dealer shaved it off a long time ago.

If it's the black deflecter thing, push it back up but not all the way. It suppose to deflect air to the trannie cooler.

Question for you, was it designed to hang down or was it dragged down? I guess what I am getting at is, if it is designed to hang down and we hammer it up, wouldn't we be defeating the purpose of it?

I tried pushing it back up but it wont move! But i didnt try hard enough though because I was also scared I might break it...

if anybody can take a picture of their underbody with that "appendix" hanging down, I would appreciate it. (I don't know how to post mine if I took a pic...)

Ill do that right now:

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e3...rannyvent1.jpg

thanks!:jump:

You're welcome.

I took pics of mine and it looks like it's really "bent"...not like the way yours is hanging. I might have to drop by the dealership this morning and have them look at it...:bonk:

I must have deleted the pics, but yep thats it...kind of a scoop for something, but mine got huing up on somehting and i was hitting it on the pavement when the suspention compressed. That thing is very heavy and I had to hit it pretty hard with a hammer to pound it back in place :tardsmash

will it be a "problem" for the tranny cooler if I wont "push it back"?

with my driving, I'd rather have more ventilation for the tranny, instead of smacking it up! :gapteeth:

yeah, but my concern is if I dont push it back up, it might cause small stones or other things to get up there somewhere while im driving...or does that make sense at all?

ya, it makes sense, but maybe I just don't know how the actual tranny cooler works...:hide:

just got back from the dealership. The guy there said it's an "air guide" to cool the engine. it's $8 and I ordered one. They'll install it for free since I had my 60K mile maintenance done there. Lesson learned for me: I should have avoided that roadkill instead of trying to go "over" it!

Joe, I too just got back from the dealership this morning. The Service Manager (Gary at Crown Nissan 864-254-7700) said that it is a guide for air.

I wouldn't recommend hitting back up under the car, unless it is bent and hanging. It serves a purpose!

Actually I already ordered the part for $8 and they would install it for free. thanks alot for your replies...

No problem. It helped me out too.