We're in Florida. It's hot as balls until late October.

 

It's Florida hot.

And air flow is Very important. My 1968 does NOT like sitting in traffic at all.

 

I moved North to get to Orlando. Doesn't feel hot yet.

 

We just got above 70F. Took out my garden furniture in April when the weather was good in expectation of a hot spring.
That did not happen so we still wait to move outside for dinner for the first time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

On another note. Back in January I went through Germany in my 1st gen CTS.
Lost the engine shield in the left lane above 200 kmh. The Ford Kuga just behind me got all the crap thrown at him.
Decreased speed waiting to take the next exit and was preparing myself for exchanging insurance info with the guy. But apparently he did not care.
Went into a service station and took the rest off the car. The plastic devices keeping the shield on are bound to fail at some point.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

The plastic devices keeping the shield on are bound to fail at some point.

In these days of plastic fasteners (all cars have them) it makes sense to keep a few spares in your toolbox to replace as needed. The shield doesn't fall off if the attachment "hardware" is kept in good condition.

 

My splash shield has those dumb plastic things, AND 4 bolts that hold it on. do you guys not put the bolts back when putting the splash shield back on?

 

Hell, yes, you gotta put those 10 mm bolts back in place. Watch out if your dealer does an oil change. I have known of folks ending up with only two of those bolts installed.

I will probably not install a new shield on my car. Screw it, let's drive.

 

Even if the tech re-installs the bolts they probably over-tighten them and eventually the plastic wears through. I just did my first oil change recently and luckily both shields were still intact but I had to add washers to those bolts because the holes in the shield were enlarged. I've also replaced about a dozen broken or missing push fasteners on both shields. I bought a bag of them from Amazon. Unfortunately I received the wrong size (larger) and had to enlarge the holes a little to use them.

I will try to keep my shields intact and believe they are beneficial but if the second shield fell off I might just go without it. It would make oil changes a little easier and don't think it's absence would cause any serious issues.

 

OK this is the way to make all of this easy. Taking off the plastic under pan sucks. So, you get yourself a Fumoto valve and then you only have to loosen one side to attach a clear plastic tube. Flip the lever and the oil is drained. Flip the lever back to lock, change the oil filter and fill her up with new oil. Very easy and the plastic stayed in place!

 

I removed my rear shield exactly one time for an oil change and decided to cut a wrench sized hole in it for easy oil changes. So far no negative affects noticed. With that said I would prefer to have it in place.

I have used Fumotos in the past with tremendous success. They are great, albeit a little slow on the draining. That is the only downside other than if you offroad and break that thing off! As for the hole in the shield, I have read about that with some old timers as well, and it is handy, too. Both winners.

 

I removed my rear shield exactly one time for an oil change and decided to cut a wrench sized hole in it for easy oil changes. So far no negative affects noticed. With that said I would prefer to have it in place.

 

What bout the oil filter - I've not looked under my car (missing back shield) - does the shield have to be removed to replace it?

 

Oil filter is topside, driver side of engine. Canister type.

 

"Oil filter is topside, driver side of engine. Canister type." Just like a Mercedes V6 except fewer O'rings.

 

Who needs O-rings?

 

Why would you need more than one o-ring??? Typical German over-engineering...