Aluminum plate under floor

[campaxton]

Just wondered if anyone could tell me wat the aluminium plate is under the floor on the drivers side?

I went over a speed bump yesterday and heard something catch it and when I looked under the car this "plate" which looks like a cooler of some sort was hanging down at one end.

I plan to get under the car and see what is going on tonight but just wondered what it is?
:confused:

[kenney]

Hi The aliminium plate is for heat protection and the plate is,the fuel cooler and is located under the vehicle (right-side).In extreme cases the fuel lines and the fuel can reach a temperature of 100 °C on vehicles with unit injector engine. Allow the fuel to cool down before disconnecting the lines - danger of scalding.

[campaxton]

Thanks Kenney - now I know what it is I have found another post from someone who had exactly the same problem.

The cooler is hanging by the rear bolt only and it sounds like a carpet out job to fix but simple enough compared to the £300 notes he was quoted!

[chuffingaudi]

Hi campaxton,

My friend has just had an audi main dealer fail her A3 2.0 Tdi car on MOT reporting that the fuel cooler (Located under the drivers floor pan) had been hit and the front bolt had ripped out of the floor pan. They wanted £350 to replace the bolt and told her it would cost in excess of a £1000 if it fell off. This she refused and took the car away as it sounded suspicious.

I checked the car myself and found that the cooler was undamaged with absolutely no sign of impact damage or even a blemish. Yet the front fuel cooler stud had pulled out of the floor pan and the cooler was hanging on the rear stud and fuel pipes with the front of the cooler being prevented from falling on to the road just by snagging the plastic undersheild of the car.

Having examined the hole left in the floor pan I can see that the gauge of the material is so thin that it was most likely that this front mounting stud would fail. Furthermore, I believe that these mounting studs are likely to experience repeated stress, due to the heat range that this alloy cooler experiences in comparison to the steel floor pan that it is rigidly bolted too.

A search on this site has shown that others have experienced the same problem, which leads to a general conclusion that this is possible a very serious design fault with the car.

I am going to post this fault under a new heading on the forum and see how many people have had the same issue and if necessary take this further with Audi and Trading Standards.