Plastic thing under the engine

[schmal]

As you can tell from the title, I'm not particularly mechanically adept.

I was driving at 70 MPH on the motorway when said plastic thingy decided that it no longer wanted to be a part of my A3. I had to drive another 2 miles before I could safely exit the motorway and then rip the remaining corner that it was hanging on by off and stick it in the boot.

I recently had some body work done and was wondering if it could be down to the fact that the part was not replaced properly when the bumper was replaced?

Is it an essential component on the vehicle and would it be relatively easy and inexpensive to replace or can I safely leave it as it is????

All help greatly appreciated....

[MalcQV]

I think you mean the under tray. Essential... I guess not, I think an awful lot of these have fell off over time. They help keep the engine bay a little cleaner but are there to smooth the airflow under the car and therefore improve aerodynamics and economy.

There may be other reasons too anyone?

[00161wj]

Stops you smashing your sump off etc. They wont just fall off over time and should be securly fitted by 10 or so screws. Id go back and tell them they havent fitted it properly, and tbh if they cant put an undertray on id have doubs about the repair theyve done to my bumper!

[schmal]

TBH, I cannot say for definite what the cuase was, I work in a building where the road to from is rough cobble stones, so it is quite possible I might have knocked it on that.

It was a new bumper, that was being replaced due to an unplanned offroad excursion, which may have also damaged the undertray.

I'm wondering whether I can pick up the assembly from a scrap yard and get it fitted when the car goes in for a service in a few weeks, as it seems that part of the plastic wheel arch protection came away with it......

[paul b]

TBH, I cannot say for definite what the cuase was, I work in a building where the road to from is rough cobble stones, so it is quite possible I might have knocked it on that.

It was a new bumper, that was being replaced due to an unplanned offroad excursion, which may have also damaged the undertray.

I'm wondering whether I can pick up the assembly from a scrap yard and get it fitted when the car goes in for a service in a few weeks, as it seems that part of the plastic wheel arch protection came away with it......

I have seen undertrays for Audis on e-bay, not sure about seeing an A3 one but it might be worth a look. When I did the service and timing belt on my A6, it took an hour just to take off all the undertrays and front bumper!
Paul

[sdk778]

The undertray on my wife's A3 came off during the floods last year (we live near Tewkesbury!!!) never found it, never bothered to replace it, the only comment i ever had was from my spanner man who was extremely grateful about it being missing!!!! As far as economy goes, i have noticed no difference, neither with airflow either, i will say that the engine bay is a little grubbier for it though!!!
Still keeps me out the house longer when it comes to cleaning the old girl.