Importance of sump guard?

Soldato
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Was driving along the dual carriageway today and all of a sudden heard a loud scraping, fortunately a layby was within 100m so pulled in and had a look.

The sump guard which was pretty ropey anyway (missing a couple of mounts and partially torn plastic) had come away at the front and was scraping on the ground with the wind.

Being at the side of the road and all I just unbolted the remaining mounts and shoved it in the boot, but should probably consider replacing it..

How important are they? Do I need to fix it this week, or this year? :p
 
You might see a marginal increase in fuel consumption and higher risk of dust and water getting into the engine bay.

Try and locate a second hand one and save a few quid...
 
If its just the plastic under tray I wouldn't worry about it, I'd bet there's lots of cars running around that stated life with one but have lost them along the way.
 
Cool, yeah will try to pick one up at a scrappy at some point. Good thing with Mk4 Golfs, there's a lot of spare parts around :p
 
I bought one brand new for my mk4

Wind noise, temperature and keeping things out of the engine bay (oddly ive had to take the car through a foot of water a couple times)

The whole under side is surprisingly flat with a full length tray
 
I bought one brand new for my mk4

Wind noise, temperature and keeping things out of the engine bay (oddly ive had to take the car through a foot of water a couple times)

The whole under side is surprisingly flat with a full length tray

Going through water killed mine. Tray filled with water and the weight of it snapped the mountings as I drove out.
 
Get the sheet steel one for your mk4 had one on my 4motion and octavia great bits of kit


edit: this is the mk4 platform sumpguard,

tis a very solid and substantial bit of kit, you have to buy the fitting kit but if you do go down this road pm me, I've got a fitting kit you can have for postage costs sitting spare from when I got one for the Cupra R(the stock fiting kit doesn't work with the LCR as the intercoolers get in the way.

DSC00259.jpg


heres the etka page for the sumpguards for a mk4, bottom one is the plastic one, top one is the steel one with the fitting kit shown, bolts directly to the chassis

sumpguard.jpg
 
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It's not a sumpguard, there is no way that flimsy bit of plastic will do anything to protect your sump :D It's there to improve aerodynamics, reduce drive by noise levels and it helps to keep the engine bay cleaner.
 
It's not a sumpguard, there is no way that flimsy bit of plastic will do anything to protect your sump :D It's there to improve aerodynamics, reduce drive by noise levels and it helps to keep the engine bay cleaner.



so true, normally reffered to as ****trays all their good for is expending cable ties on after you loose the clips when servicing.
 
Going through water killed mine. Tray filled with water and the weight of it snapped the mountings as I drove out.

lol thats bad luck. mine encloses both sides and all the way back to the subframe.

if you were in deep water it would keep water off the belts and keep a lot of important parts getting drenched.

there was a vw technical blurb about what it does for cooling. directs air around the engine/bay blah blah blah

i spent a fair bit of money to make sure i had a full length one because i felt it was important. might have to make one for the BMW though.
 
I put the larger version of that on my MK5, helps to keep more crap away from the engine and little less road noise.
 
I put the larger version of that on my MK5, helps to keep more crap away from the engine and little less road noise.

With my BMW having such a naff history i think there are a few panels underneath the car missing

as such the belts and fan make a horrible mess

also these undertrays can improve handling :D
 
With my BMW having such a naff history i think there are a few panels underneath the car missing

as such the belts and fan make a horrible mess

also these undertrays can improve handling :D

This is the MK5 one, a lot bigger than stock :)

1360118356.jpg
 
Depends on the car as to whether it matters much if it isn't there. My old E39 had lots of vulnerable pipework low down, so the undertray was best left in place. You could easily have a catastrophic leak or worse should something like a wild branch appear and wang itself up in there.
 
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