Passat belly pan torn off - how screwed am I?

The pan is only plastic, but I would be more worried if you did other damage such as the engine oil pan. Is there anything leaking? If not it may be ok to drive.

I would think that you should be able to remove that plastic belly pan under the engine and drive safely. Don't you think you can install another one, or you need to have the dealer install another one for you? Easy fix! What a way your year has started huh? :-(

Happy New Year!

later, dave (One out of many Daves)

I would worry about driving it if part of the pan is still there and flapping around or maybe will scrap something on the road and damage something else on your engine. I would also worry that something else on the engine may have been damaged.

A new pan will not be all that cheap, but not all that expensive. They just screw on, but you likely don't have the screw driver needed to remove and install it, but you can get one an any good tool source including the auto parts store.

Thanks. I looked around underneath and didn't see any mechanical damage. Looks like the muffler just caught on the lip of the pan and tore it away.

-- Mike Smith

Thanks for all your replies. I'm pretty sure there was no damage beyond the pan, but I'll take a look at it in daylight to be sure. I guess rather than risk the rather precarious rehanging that I did, I'll just tear/cut the rest of it off and try not to drive around like that for too long.

Thanks again,

-- Mike Smith

Yah... stuff like that happens... On my Golf since the suspension is naturally low I scrape it on some speed bumbs, and right now a few of the screw positions have been torn, so it hangs down a little - hence the tie wraps.

On our Volvo the mechanics would loosen the screws a little, and just rip the plastic thing out... instead of un-doing all the screws properly... After a while the front fell and hit the pavement, and then eventually we saw it thru our rear view mirror, had to stop the car and pick it up... good thing it wasn't on the highway!

We blamed it on the Volvo mechanics at the dealer and got a new one for free... it wasn't just them, it seems everyone who touched that car would just rip it off. Our new one has no battle damage from mechanics with a bad work ethic, so we're happy. I guess the dealer hired better people in the mean time, more then likely the boss gave them a good reaming out. The owner of the dealership was quite offended to hear that his mechanics had a hand in damaging our cars dust-plate and was very co-operative with helping us... Too bad you can't try the same thing tho ;-)... Oh well.

Your part cost will probably be around $250

You might want to check at tdiclub.com as they have links for those pans on Passats. I understand there is one company out there that makes those pans made out of sturdy metal. They are more expensive than the stock units but some folks just swear by them.

gck

Thanks, but I'm just gonna go to the dealer - I need the 10K service and a DMV inspection anyway.

-- Mike Smith

I'll make the general suggestion that you do not use the dealer for standard service items. Not that the dealer will do a poor job, but that the dealer is no more likely to do a good job than a good independent mechanic and is almost certain to charge you considerably more. Note: it is not necessary to have your maintenance work done at a dealer to maintain the warrantee.

There's one good reason to do it - when I bought my GTI part of the deal was every other service was free, if you figured it all out it would have been cheaper to do the work myself, but not by much. factor in the free loaner car and it was actually a decent deal and if there's any problems down the road I can just call the dealer and have them pull the service records.

nate

No, it's not *necessary*, but I've heard enough stories about people being given the runaround when they had their work done elsewhere that I'm going to spare myself the headache by having my work done at the dealer, at least until the car's out of warranty. And with the belly pan thrown into the mix, I think it makes even more sense, rather than deal with the hassle of an independent shop having to get the parts. Plus I can walk around the showroom and drool over the Phaetons and Touaregs while I'm waiting... ;-)

-- Mike Smith

Snap! Must have been the day for it because the same thing happened to me on the same day. Car is a 2000 Passat GLX wagon. I bought the car off a Ford dealer (it was a trade-in) a couple of weeks ago and the oil had just been changed by the dealer. They declined my kind offer for them to pay for the repair - they said "we lost money on that that one". Hve now been told by a local (Bethesda, MD) independent workshop that the part is $280 - seems a bit pricey. Anyone else replaced one of these recently?

Cheers, Brian.

Here is an aluminum one for almost the same price!!!!

Got mine here for $140 + shipping for my 98 Passat. Very fast shipping and knowledgeable sales staff.

Arn